Blog

Orlando Art and Living Expo (BEWARE):

I’ve started seeing calls for the Orlando Art and Living Expo stating:

-175 “juried” artists

-Art lovers of Central Florida have “strongly” supported the festival.

I did this show in February 2010 (before I became a member of ArtFairInsiders. My booth was directly across from Ron Mellott (who introduced me to ArtFairInsiders).

I applied about a month before the show. As soon as they received my application, Jim Barton (the promoter) sent an email stating that I had been accepted but the only way he could reserve my spot is if I sent my check in immediately. Which I did.

My designated setup time was 6AM on Saturday (before the opening of about 10AM). I arrived early but no one was present. At just prior to 6AM the promoter and crew arrived and stated “just wait and we’ll be with everyone in a moment.” They had to unload all their refreshments and brochures and registration materials. About 6:10 they said to come in from a different direction from where I had been parked for the past 45 minutes. That put me much farther in line (even though I had been the first one to arrive). I did and waited in line as they registered each artist is single file. After they asked “what is your name”, the next question was “HAVE YOU PAID YET?” I asked “was that even an option? And don’t you even know if I’ve paid or not?? What a circus!

Once registered, I asked “OK where is my booth”. Their response was just wait in line and someone will tell you where to set up. After waiting patiently, Jim Baton finally showed up and direct the next few vehicles into the site. By the way, some artists had already set up on Friday which apparently would have made everything much easier. I only had a standard van and I almost touched tents on both sides of the vehicle as I traversed the street to where Jim asked me to set up. He was merely picking spots at random as vehicles arrived so that no two people would be setting up as neighbors at
the same time. Apparently he was doing this to avoid congestion in any one spot. Once unloaded, I had to move my vehicle to the next block to park on the street. No designated parking was provided.

Load out was IMPOSSIBLE for anyone to get their vehicle into the tiny venue until most people had dollied out. So if you’re in a hurry, just be prepared to dolly everything to wherever you may be parked. I was not in a hurry and I took down my display slowly and waited until the site was pretty vacant before I retrieved my vehicle. If it had been raining it would have been a nightmare for me.

OK, let me backup. About a week before the event, I had received an email from Jim and I happened to jump over to their website and see their announcements, etc. All of a sudden, instead of this being
billed as the “Orlando Art and Living Expo” (and promoted as an arts festival), it was not ONLY referred to as something like “Orlando Musik Festival” Their advertisements stated “just bring your dogs, your kids and your blankets and lay out on the lawn to enjoy the music of [band 1] and [band 2].
After all artists had been filled the attention of the promoter seem to have turned to nothing but the entertainment. And the entertainment was LOUD. The stage was at the end of the street where the artists had their tents. I was located about half way down the street (right in the middle of the artists row. If I stayed in my booth I could have conversations with patrons. UNLESS they were outside my tent. It was difficult to carry a conversation in the street. Later I went to the restroom near the stage and asked several artists who were closer to the stage. They said the sound was “deafening”.

OK, how about ‘sales”? Ron and I had continuous conversations for both days of the festival about how NO ONE was carrying a purchase. There were people there, yes. But no one was buying. Only lookers. I know at least 20 people near me that zero’d or didn’t make their booth fee (of perhaps $150). Even the jeweler beside me (who was a local artist with no travel expense) stated he would NEVER come back to this show again.

I happened to get two purchasers which actually paid my booth fee and about half of my expenses. Another photograher, who ended up winning an award, zero’d for the show. And I know two more
photographers who also zero’d. That’s incredible given the fact that all the photographers also had
affordable prints in a bin.

And was the show juried? Hell no! I saw buy/sell locations. I had someone next to me yelling at patrons to buy his book. Later he offered to give me one but cautioned that it was a little vulgar.. Dogs were everywhere (because they were invited). And they loved to excuse themselves on our tents.

Bottom line… I think this show is a lie. It is NOT an art show. It is simply a way for this promoter to fund his event. If you do happen to apply anyway, I do recommend that you NOT pay until you arrive at that show. At least that way you can skip if the weather forecast looks bad.