I am very new to exhibiting at outdoor art festivals but having lived in Tampa for fourteen years before moving to Fort Lauderdale, I felt like I knew what to expect when I was accepted into the Gasparilla Festival of the Arts this year. Nope. Here is a rather disorganized discourse about my experience.
First of all, worst load-in experience ever. They moved the venue this year to a pretty park by the river, just in front of the brand new museum of art. It sounded great but the city refused to let cars drive into the park. So if your space was in the park, you had to lug all your stuff from the street. Not unheard of at a festival but then they would only let a few cars at a time pull onto the street by the park to unload. Sooooo, you had to wait in a two hour car line up just to get to the street where you could unload in a hurry, move your car, then shuttle your goods to your booth. They couldn't do much more than that because the city wouldn't shut down the street in front of the park until six p.m. A lot of artists' booths were located on that street and they had to set up in the dark after the street was finally closed and all the artists in the park had unloaded. Crazy. I was at Coconut Grove a few weeks ago and they had it right. Through traffic was diverted from the entrance to the festival grounds early on. There was an artist welcoming party at Gasparilla from 5 to 8 but I wonder who was set up and able to enjoy it?
Excellent weather and seemingly large attendance numbers. Once you finally were set up, provided you weren't in one of the badly located booths behind the entertainment stage, there wasn't much to complain about in terms of environment. The artist amenities were very good and I found the staff of volunteers to be very accomodating and friendly. The weather was postcard perfect and a lot of people turned out, especially on Sunday. I had a very good booth location. From my vantage point, however, it didn't seem to be a buying crowd. I didn't see a lot of people carrying purchases.
So about those sales. I talked to a few people at the end of the show and as often happens, a couple of people said that they had an excellent show for sales but most just reminisced about years past. One five-year Gasparilla veteran told me that she made four or five thousand in sales every other year but only $800 this year. I heard stories like that over and over again. A few people confessed to big ole goose eggs this year at Gasparilla. Luckily, Gasparilla has kept the booth fees down.
About that goose egg. I learned a VERY IMPORTANT lesson at this, my sixth show yet. I had a weekend full of people telling me how much they loved my art and that I was in their top picks, etc. But when the show ended at five o'clock on Sunday, I had sold nothing. NOTHING. Goose egg for me. Then, at 5:05 pm, a woman who had been considering one of my pieces all weekend showed up and bought it for $1,600. The lesson? Don't close up early. Ever. So it wasn't the spectacular weekend I hoped for but I went home with a profit in the end. The very end.
It wasn't until very near the end of the show that they passed out instructions for load-out. I didn't even read them. I had paid to park close to the festival and I lugged out my stuff on my cart. A lot of artists I spoke to had done the same thing. It took me twice as long to take down my booth and load up but at least I got it loaded in daylight. Another lesson learned: have a proper cart. My cart was too lightweight for this weekend and got stuck in a rut on the street. Then a truck ran over it before I got it unstuck. So now I am forced to buy a proper cart. It was fate.
I give Gasparilla 2010 a passing grade and will apply again next year. I think that the big problems about loading in and out can be fixed. This was the first time in this venue location so a few kinks could be expected. Sales are all over the map at each show I attend these days and it appears that I am not alone. Hopefully next year the economy will have improved. I really found the festival to be very artist-friendly apart from the noted problems and the art all around me was top notch. I felt privileged to be a part of the festival and would have said so even if the goose egg had remained on my head.
Comments
Your big lesson learned is that the show isn't over until your van is closed up and you are on the road and out of town. Actually, Kathrine Allen-Coleman sold a painting at the hotel after the show...never too late.
And guess what -- just like any other show there are those who have their best show ever, some who sell nothing and a good smattering in between. Right? Doesn't that sound like your experience.
Your sales experience reminds me of why artists do shows. It is what Buckminster Fuller called "intermittent reinforcement." If you get rewarded every time you just expect it, but if you just keep going for the reward and now and then you get it - Wow! you are in for another round :)