Subtitle: Don’t rely just on the word of other artists
I will start out by letting you know that I am on a bit of a rant right now due to feeling grumpy after another artist, who called to ask advice on shows, also “chewed me out” for recommending a show last year that for us was great, for her this year, not so great. A lot of the new artists I meet are unaware of the various websites that post show info. Some of them seem to rely entirely on other artists or ZAPP for new show ideas for future months or future years. Over the past year I’ve seen several newbies at shows I would not have expected to see them at and they seem surprised when their results are less than what they expected or they tell me about a particular show and complain about how bad it was. I even got asked by one artist why I didn’t warn her about a particular show. Well, she didn’t ask about the shows I thought were bad, she only asked about shows I thought she should consider.
As has been stated on this site numerous times, as people are asking advice on shows, each artist needs to do their homework including:
- Searching AFI, both the discussions and the blogs
- Searching Art Show reviews
- Searching AFSB if you have a subscription
- Searching the Sunshine Artist Forum
- Reviewing any other art / craft subscriptions you have
- Talking to other artists
- Searching other Internet sites for any input, even if it’s just the local paper giving some idea of attendance, events, parking, etc.
- Review the demographics of the area, number of expected attendees
- See if there are other “big events” scheduled for the same weekend – example: does the show clash with the annual cross state football game, etc.
- Look at previous artists if they are listed on the events website – does your work fit?
Once you make a decision, own your decision. I understand, it sometimes feels like a roll of the dice, a lot of factors are out of our control such as weather, Wall Street, etc. Shows also change over the years. We all know what it’s like to do a show that didn’t meet expectations. Whatever you do, if you haven’t done your homework, don’t pass the blame to the artist who told you about the show.
Any other “homework” ideas? I’m sure I’ve missed something, but I’m about ready to email the list to this other artist and ask her to please do her own homework! I don’t mind sharing info but I don’t need a rude call that managed to distract me from important stuff, like taxes. LOL, usually I enjoy a distraction from taxes but today’s distraction was most unwelcome.
Comments
my question is how do you check out what is going on in a town and a certain weekend?
I always ask other artist about shows, but you just have to realize that no two artist sell the same way, mostly what I want to know is what shows bring the people, the rest is up to me. I am sorry Ruth that some people are so small minded to think that you control their sales.
Personally, I run the other direction from any advice coming from Sunshine Artist. Interesting to note that it works for some people-
I too felt badly when I recommended a show to a friend and her sales were far less than stellar, however they were down that particular time for me too. But if people ask, all you can do is give your opinion and you're 100% correct in your provisos!
Dick Sherer
www.sherersaddlesinc.com
Another thing that artists new to the circuit don't seem to fully grasp is that it may take a few years of trying different types of shows in different geographic areas to figure out where they fit. During those first few years there WILL be shows with very poor, or no, sales. Sometimes that show and that particular market is just not the right place for your work. I have done $5K at poorly ranked shows and only $500 at really "good" shows. Both the reviews of artists and the rankings of shows are mere guidelines, which you have to combine with your own experiences and "gut feeling" about shows. Bottom line: read everything you can find about all the shows. Pay attention to the overall market the show is in and the promoter/sponsor. Plus everything that Ruth has already said!
We have found through our own experience that it can work the other way as well. This past July we needed a show to fill a week in the middle of an 8 week road trip. Our original target shows did not pan out a.k.a. rejection letters. We found a show for that week and stared asking around with fellow artists. Most all the responses were the same, "not a good show". Even reviews and ratings showed this event to be rated fairly low for fine art. However, it was a good event in the past and had gone downhill then the last few years seemed to be coming back. Anyway, we decided to give it a chance as the booth fee was pretty low at around $200 and we had nothing else other than sitting at a campsite for the weekend. It turned out to be a good event for us, our second highest gross total of the 8 shows we did. Now mind you, it still had a large selection of lower craft, buy/sell etc, but sometimes that just makes the fine art stand out more. We had a similar experience last summer again with an open weekend and did a small inexpensive show at $80 booth fee and ended up sellling $2500 worth of our work in a show that was easy to do setup and breakdown. Go figure! My point is you really never know in spite of research ahead of time. You can only do your homework and make your best judgement for yourself but sometimes it just comes down to a gut feeling and some luck. We have done highly rated events and come up way short on the opposite end of the spectrum too. BTW, the 2 shows I spoke of as successful were Wyandotte and Thunder Bay in Alpena, MI. Don't know if either would work again as we have done each only once.
Melanie - with the week I've had, it would be way too easy to go on too many rants, LOL!! Appreciate the support.
Regarding election years, I'm still on the fence, is it due to an election year or due to the fact that the economy keeps showing minor signs of recovering and the ongoing uncertainity? This is only our second election year (or maybe I should say Presidential election year) in the art show biz, so I don't have a long history.
Love the "Rant" Ruth!!! Bring it on.
What about adding Election Year to the mix :) It is REALLY hard to advice others about a show, and it is also hard to take the advice of good or bad shows from others. Not your fault, and it is wonderful that you are willing to share.
Ruth, what a shame that she found the time to complain about a show and direct blame at you! It is hard to recommend shows to an artist you don't know very well. It's really a guess that their work would be liked at a show and they may have success. But what if they don't have the skills to sell or the flexibility to be positive when the $$$ aren't flowing. Maybe they don't "know" what a good show is vs a great show. Heck I am still figuring that out myself! And then there is always the posibility that they aren't as good as they'd like to be (yet). When someone recommends a show to me, first I thank them, I appreciate any suggestion that may lead me down the path of sales, but then the research starts to see if it is feasible. I have to admit I reasearch even harder when a customer suggests a show, because they are telling you they would like to see you at another show they like - and that is all, they have no way of knowing the costs, logistics, demographics etc. that can lead to a good show.
Use all the things Ruth mentioned, if you meet another artist ask if they have done the show and feedback about your style of work and price points, etc being a good fit. Research starts a year ahead of time, go to the website. Ask the promoter. I'm shocked sometimes at the responses, once I was told that at least 65% of the show was jewelry...say what? I hope you not tainted Ruth, I look forward to your reviews!
Thanks Brian and Jackie - I am totally not feeling bad or blaming myself for the other artist's failure, I was just fuming that they wasted my time to call and complain, gripe and ask me why I didn't tell them not to do a certain show. Sheesh, we did that show for 2 years, haven't gone back, why the heck didn't they ask why we haven't done it for 3 years? That might have been a legitimate question to ask.
I know I'm always curious why artists quit doing shows they've done before, which might be another good question to add to the list.
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