This is my first year of getting back into doing art shows after an almost 20-year hiatus. As such, I am very much a newbie and relearning the ropes, including what types of shows to watch out for. Reading the call for artists for the Old Town San Diego Art Fair, I was expecting 20,000 customers to come through with money to burn. Oops. Not so much. Of course, part of it can be blamed on the fact that gas prices leapt by 40 cents per gallon that very weekend (!) and perhaps a lot of San Diegans were reluctant to get out and about, but I think that my husband's observation of Old Town being a tourist destination was also a valid point. Many of the artists I spoke with were having a stinker of a show. A couple of nearby booths seemed to be hauling in the bucks, however. What I noticed about them was that they had great price points for impulse buys, such as less than $25. I mention impulse buys because one customer said to me that my prices seemed high for impulse buys, and so I learned something here: tourist destination shows are something very different from shows that people go to specifically to buy art.
The show was organized by two entities: West Coast Artists and the Old Town San Diego chamber of commerce. The people I met from these groups were VERY nice and helpful at the show, but I had some issues about getting juried into the show: 1) Artists had to pay the usual application fee, but also had to pay the booth fee up front at the time of application. I had never seen this before, and I didn't like tying up my money, not knowing if I would be accepted. I would not apply to shows like this in the future unless experienced artists told me directly that the show was worth it. 2) The organizers were very slow in letting me know if I had been accepted. When I called West Coast artists three weeks before the show to ask about my status, I was told that the Chamber of Commerce people hadn't even sent them my photos yet. As an out-of-towner, this gave me short notice for being able to arrange lodging and send out announcements to my email list.
I would love to get feedback from seasoned pros about what to look for in shows where the art buyers go, and what to watch out for in the future. Thanks!
Comments
I realize that this comment is very late in coming (I just found this site about a month ago), but I am part of West Coast Artists, and felt I should say something. In regards to the Old Town show - working with the Chamber was a pain. Which is one of many reasons why we are not doing it again. As for show fees - our policy is to not charge a jury fee when you go to our website, and we do not cash your check or charge your credit card until you are accepted into the show. And as soon as you are accepted, we would then send out your confirmation letter and postcards (if requested). If you had sent your application to the Chamber, there is no telling when we would get it. We tried to have all apps sent to us, so we could have some consistency, but that was not part of their plan. The Old Town Chamber of Commerce brought us in to do the show so the quality of the artists could be brought back up. As for the crowds and their inability to open their wallets, who can say why that happens...
Hi Connie. We had our RV and the RV park was in a great location and reasonably priced, but getting to San Diego was VERY expensive! Thanks for reaffirming that I need to watch out for tourist areas.
P.S. I just received the show announcement postcards five days after the event took place. !!!
Lulu, this does not sound like fun at all. Used to be (you may remember) shows would ask for payment - postdated checks - with the application but that has really gone away with 95% of the shows now asking for payment upon acceptance.
Sounds like this event is not very up to date and yep - tourist areas are not great places to sell art. One exception might be Key West where the tourists get off the cruise ships and have a great time shopping, but that is what they do at all the stops on the cruise, so they are primed.
These organizers need to be tuned into this site (not trying to be self serving here, really) because they can see there is a bigger world of art events out there than this one where it is strictly easy impulse buys.
It's pretty expensive to stay there too. Right? Must have been an expensive weekend.
How was the La Jolla show, Corey?