Blog

May 11, 12 and 13
Greenville, South Carolina
Presented by: Artisphere
135 Artists
Deadline: October 6

 

Application fee: $30; Booth fee: $400

Despite its short history, Artisphere has distinguished itself as both a national and regional highlight.  A supportive, art-loving community, beautiful setting, and over 600 volunteers make Artisphere an enjoyable experience for 135 exhibiting artists.  

In addition to a Purchase Awards Program that provides an average of $10,000-$12,000 in art sales Artisphere distributes $15,000 in prize money to eleven award winners each year.

APPLY: https://www.zapplication.org/event-info.php?ID=6184

More Information:    www.saintlouisartfair.com
Contact: Laura Miller   lmiller@saintlouisartfair.com   (314) 863-0278

January 20 & 21

• Soccerdogs.org is our non-profit outreach.
• Food truck rally
• Expanded kids area
• Classic and European car shows

October 14 & 15
Las Vegas, Nevada
100 Artists
Deadline: June 1

Application Fee: $25   Booth Fee: $300-$575

Summerlin Festival of Arts is celebrating its 22nd year in 2017 and its second year located on a grassy park-like area in beautiful Downtown Summerlin. Held in the affluent Summerlin area of Las Vegas, this established outdoor art festival also features music, food and entertainment, but the celebration's focus is to support fine artists and artisans. 

September 8, 9 & 10
Clayton, MO

• Avg. Sales: $13,095 (AFSB)
• Jury Images:  4 Images of work plus one booth image, viewed simultaneously with images horizontally across the screen (booth image is last image in the row)
• Jurors: The jury is made up of arts professionals, peer jurors, and local buyer/collector (all paid), a total of 5 jurors.
• Scoring:  yes, no, maybe
• Cash Awards: Up to $20,000
• Booth Space:  10'x10' with 2' buffer all around
• Electric:  500 watts provided free, no generators
• Produced by:  Cultural Festivals 501(c) 3 Non-profit corp.
• Artist Presence: Required
• Reproductions:  Not allowed
• No. of Applicants in 2016: 1176
• No. of Exhibitors from Jury Pool:  145
• No. of Exhibitors Exempt from Jury:  36
• Security:  24-Hour
• Parking:  Free/Reserved

Apply:  
https://www.zapplication.org/event-info.php?ID=5350

I did the Temple Beth El fund raiser Art Fair for the first time this year. This event has a stellar reputation among career artists because they bring in the money. Their members do a pre-buy in the form of purchase awards and they support the event. The week before the show I talked to one of the committee members who told me they had $145,000 in money spent in purchase awards. They take 35% of your sales, less than a gallery. It is set up as a gallery. I'm not sure whether you can apply to this show. The committee goes around to many art fairs and finds work they like and invites artists. You still have to fill out their forms. I think you can send them images asking to be in the show. Actually, I am not sure of any of this except for the people they invite. You'll have to google it to get the info.

Setup and take down are really easy. All you do is bring the work, or, ship it. They set everything up and have a storage area for backup pieces. If you have fragile work they let you set up your own work. They have pedestals and pegboards. My work looked better in their gallery than in my own booth.

They make an effort to have a top quality show. There is a main gallery room with work $500 and up and a "boutique" room with work under $500. Since my main work starts at $250, I had all my work in the main gallery. I believe that as long as the majority of your work is above $500 they let you put some under $500 in the main gallery. I had a number of pieces at $90 and $125 that were supposed to be in the boutique room. By the time I was ready to bring those pieces in, that room was filled, so, I couldn't show those pieces. In fairness to the committee, they want you to A) get your work to them on Tuesday so they can plan where they go and B) send your inventory sheet at least a week in advance so they can print out their proper labels and prices. I did neither partly because I didn't know what to expect. Next year I will do things differently if I get invited back. I won an award so I believe I'm invited, but, nothing is etched in stone.

They do a very good job of presenting the work and there were very knowledgeable patrons. I had some extremely good conversation and the people who bought my work knew what they were getting. I didn't do as well as I thought I would do. It seems that clay and glass did OK. 2D, 3D wall pieces, and jewelry did extremely well. However, the potential for doing well is sky high. I will go back next year if they have me and I will bring pieces based on what I learned. I expect to do much, much better, next year. A third of the artists were there and the rest shipped work. I could have dropped my work off and done another show, like St Armand's Circle. I would suggest being there to talk about your work, but, it isn't a requirement.

I forgot to mention that they took care of us all weekend. There was no shortage of really good food, even on the setup day. I, also, forgot to mention that I saw some old friends and fellow artists that I haven't seen for a while, potter Jan Richardson and jeweler Barbara Sucherman.

June 2, 3 & 4
Mount Clemens, Michigan
Presented by the Anton Art Center
75 Artists
Deadline: March 1

Application fee: $20; Booth fee: $125

New this year: 

Marketing:

Suburban Collection Showplace

200 Artists

Deadline: February 26

Application Fee: $30; Booth Fees: $400-$950

Want to stay close to home AND earn money 

in April? Then please consider applying to our show.

The Showplace is a first class expo building situated right off the freeway in an affluent area of Detroit's western suburbs. The show offers fine artists in the region a reliable, regularly scheduled, weather-free venue to showcase their freshest and most beautiful work, and word is spreading rapidly that this is a destination event for artists and patrons alike.

Consistently lauded as one of the most artist-friendly Art Fairs, accepted artists are given postcards and free tickets for their customers, email blast content for their patrons, free electricity, a roving snack cart with complimentary snacks and drinks during the show, complimentary morning coffee, muffins, drive right up to your booth for unloading and loading, plus more! 

What to expect:

• Elegant Grand Gallery entrance showcasing your art
• Delectable cuisine and relaxing entertainment
• Community partnerships and other fresh components, to create a regional marketplace for artists and their patrons.  

Effective promotion is as crucial to overall success as the selection of artists.  Our mission is to deliver a high quality experience for patrons and artists that will assure qualified buyers, return visits and exponential event growth. 

For more info:  www.GreatLakesArtFair.com 
 

Apply: http://greatlakesartfair.com/artistapply.html

June 3 & 4
Quincy, Illinois
Downtown in Washington Park
60 Artists
Deadline: February 3

Application fee: $20; Booth fee: $100

February 4 & 5

Apply to ArtFest Fort Myers -- Southwest Florida's premier art festival and largest weekend event. Creating an artwork-selling festival for artists is the focus of our year-round professional staff with 17 years of consistent management.

ArtFest Fort Myers takes place in Southwest Florida's largest metro area, featuring an international airport serving 8.4 million passengers.  Ever increasing residential and commercial construction, lots of new jobs and record-breaking domestic and international tourism are spurring an exciting community.

• Oversized booth spaces-3 feet between booths & behind-booth storage 
• Easy Friday set-up with scheduled staggered drive-up access
• Breakfast Saturday and Sunday
• Indoor bathrooms; 24 hour security; Booth sitters; Discounted hotel rates
• Easy communication with festival staff, pre/post festival and at the festival
• Reserved artist parking with complimentary trolley transportation

February 18-20
Jupiter, Florida
Presented by:  Palm Beach North Chamber of Commerce
300 Artists
Deadline:  September 16

Application Fee: $40/Booth Fee: $505

Celebrating 32 years ArtiGras Fine Arts Festival has grown from a small, local art show to a nationally recognized fine arts festival attracting tens of thousands of art lovers and collectors.  

ArtiGras is a three-day ticketed event held on President's Day Weekend at Abacoa in Jupiter, Florida.

President's Day weekend is the busiest tourism weekend of the winter in south Florida. The shoppers descend from around the state as the snowbirds taking advantage of the beautiful weather and they love our art fair.

Produced by the Palm Beach North Chamber of Commerce, ArtiGras was recently named one of the top 50 fine art festivals in the country and features 300 juried artists along with artist demonstrations, Youth Art Competition, ArtiKids children's interact activity area, entertainment and more.

During ArtiGras, three of the judges from the jury panel will choose 14 award winners in the Fine Art Showcase and give out $16,000 worth of prizes.  

Apply: www.zapplication.org
Learn more: www.artigras.org 
Contact:  Angelique Allen, angelique@pbnchamber.com
Phone:  (561)748-3955

June 3-5 
Edina, Minnesota
50th & France, downtown Edina
280 Exhibitors
Deadline: February 21

10 a.m. to 7 p.m - Friday and Saturday
10 a.m. to 5 p.m – Sunday
Extended music, food and craft beer garden hours on Friday and Saturday evening until 10pm

The Edina Art Fair has grown to 200,000 visitors throughout the 3-day weekend, while displaying 280 artists diverse collection of art, entertainment, kids zone, craft beer garden and community art project.

The Edina Art Fair is the first art fair of the summer and is rated one of the top 50 art festivals in the nation. The fair is held annually in the streets of 50th & France in downtown Edina. 50th & France is the pre-eminent shopping destination in the Twin Cities; known for its luxury and lifestyle boutiques! This unique neighborhood has a reputation for bringing a lifestyle that caters to distinction– a distinction its members take pride in.

• Celebrating the 50^th annual art fair in 2016
• The First Official Art Fair of the Year
• Top 50 fine art festival in the nation
• Over 200,000 in attendance
• Discounted hotel rates, and free artists parking
• 24 hour security
• Artists sales averaged $4,500 in 2015
• Featuring the top 280 fine artists from Minnesota, the U.S and Canada
• Artist amenities include booth sitters, helpful volunteers and organized staff, load-in /load-out assistance available, free water throughout the weekend, and a complimentary light breakfast Friday through Sunday.
• Marketing outlets are through several channels of social media. The Edina Art Fair creates an Event Pamphlet with the largest local Minneapolis publication and is distributed to over 500,000 homes before the event and on-site to visitors.  Ad space is available at a low cost to artists. We work with a local PR firm that gains many radio, TV, print, artists features, and social media exposure, valuing over 1 million dollars.

Additionally, the event offers a community art project lead by a community artist, a large Kids Zone, booths featuring young artists, Music, food, and entertainment.

Testimonials:

It was a great weekend and I did very well. Edina has always been my favorite fair to do. Thanks for your efforts. Job well done!!!! ~Joy Mardo King

Had a great show, many returning customers and new ones. ~Sharon Burns

Hats off to the fine folks of Edina that volunteer and financially support the Edina Arts Festival. We travel throughout the U.S. and always look forward to your well run event! We had a great show! It is a festival of UnCommon Merit! ~ Bill and Lauri Keitel

Now accepting applications until Sunday, February 21, 2016

Apply: https://www.zapplication.org/event-info.php?ID=4307

Information and application:  www.edinaartfair.com 

Contact:  Rachel  Thelemann, director@50thandfrance.com

Phone:  (952)922-1524