Susan and I have been exhibiting at this event for 10 years or more. The art section is considered secondary to the music lineup. But what we have found out over the years is that the crowds are strong and there are many loyal art buyers that attend Sunfest for the art first and the music 2nd. The event is located on A-1A right on the water.
The jury fee is $30 with the booth fee being $300. Any corner location is an additional $50 and there are many more requests than available corner spaces. We are one of the few lucky artists to obtain a corner space. The music starts on Wednesday with the Art Show beginning Friday at 5:00 pm. Art show hours are Friday 5 - 10, Sat. 12 - 10 and Sun. 12 - 9. Yes these are long hours and there are times during the afternoon where the customer traffic can be light. But once 4:00 comes each day the customer crowds pick up and continue to grow the rest of the evening. Be prepared to have booth lights for the evening hours, especially from 7 - 10 pm. Sunfest includes electricity to all exhibitors which is included in the booth fee cost. They also provide free parking in a local parking garage about a block away for the 3 days. Looking for a hotel/motel shouldn't be difficult as many options are available and relatively close. We were able to find a special Sunfest rate at the Holiday Inn for $79/night about 5 miles away.
Set up starts on Friday at 10:00 am and goes on till 4:00. The set-up is pretty smooth with very little hassle. Sunfest offers art exhibitors a nice dinner at 4:00 pm friday before the art show starts that consists of Lasagne, Salad, italion bread and your choice of water, lemonade, ice tea or beer. Snacks, fruit and water, ice tea or lemondae are offered throughout the show at the artist oasis. Btw I love their lemonade and drink it all weekend. I heard that over 2000 cups were used by the artist and volunteers for the weekend.
Judging starts on Friday around 5:00 pm and the judge does enter your booth and reviews each artist body of work, even asking questions if need be. Total prize money is $13,500 with overall best of show being $2000.
I counted 160 artist exhibiting. The category breakdown is:
Glass - 9 (5%), Jewlry - 28 (17.5%), MM 2-D & 3-D - 22 (13.75%), Painting - 37 (23%), Watercolor - 5 (3%), Woodwork - 9 (5.5%),Pottery/Ceramics - 7 (4%), Fine Art Sculpture/Metal 10, Drawings/Graphics or Printmaking - 8 (5%) (6.25%), Fiber/Textiles - 7 (4%), Photography - 11 (6.9%) and Fine Craft - 7 (4%).
The art show chairman Will White and his vice chairman Phil Barbee are seasoned veterans. They assemble a solid support staff that will help you any way you need including booth sitting and stocking the artist oasis with snacks, fruit and beverages throughout the event. Everyone is friendly and prepared. Will and Phil are on site the entire show and do whatever they can to make sure the artist have a pleasant Sunfest experience.
Sales can be very good at this event. It is my opinion in order to optimize your sales you should have something that is either tropical, contemporary, very unique and a wide price range that are $25 - originals. There is some extremely high value, tremendous art being sold here. You have a mix of young people to wealthy socialites. It amazes me each year how many young kids buy art. I don't know where they get the $$$$'s but as long as they spend it on art work, I don't really care. We even had George Hamilton come to our booth and strike up a conversation with Susan while she was demonstrating. I did speak to a photographer who has been a loyal exhibitor for 28 years at Sunfest and he stated that sales had been good for him this year. Another photographer didn't faire as well. A metal clock sculpture was busy with sales all weekend. Our neighbor a mixed media artist/painter did very well. Both Susan and I had another stellar Sunfest. We sold two originals to a wealthy West Palm Beach socialite and two one-of-a-kind pieces as well as other framed and mounted pieces. It was the 3rd weekend in a row we had a "home run" art show. There is hope in Florida.
Sunfest concludes on Sunday night at 9:00 pm. with a 20 minute or so spectacular fireworks display on the water. Susan and I take this time to relax in our booth observing the fireworks. When the fireworks conclude the tear down begins. We managed to get all packed up and on our way home by midnight. Everything went smoothly as Will and Phil and their staff always do a bang up job facilitaing the tear down. By the time we arrived home it was 3:05 am. I can't say that we are an advocate for the late Sunday hours, but I know it's just one time a year so we accept it and sleep in till we wake up which in this years case was past 1:00 pm Monday.
There is plenty of opportunity for artist to make $$$ at Sunfest. Come to exhibit with an open mind, be prepared for the long hours and all types of art customers.
Comments
Hi Christine,
I don't know how well your art etchings would do at Sunfest. From what I recall I haven't seen art etchings at the event. Being traditional art that may work in your favor. If you live in Ohio though, I am not sure I would drive the 1000 plus miles just to exhibit at this show as any other art show with that distance. On the other hand if you can line up a few art shows in a row down in Florida with Sunfest being one of them, you may want to give it a try. That is how Susan and I discovered Sunfest years ago. Just be prepared for the long hours and the big crowds that roam the event, especially in the evening. Susan and I live both in Florida and Ohio so perhaps we will see you at one of the many Ohio Art Shows this summer.
Hello Kelly
I read your post and it doesn't surprise me that you had a theft incident. Sunfest draws so many people and the crowd is getting younger or we are getting older. Both Susan and I have exhibited next to you for a few years at Jupiter's Art By The Sea. We are the husband/wife team that turns a 2-D photograph into a 3-D piece of art via acrylic paint extensions/additions. Your work is awesome which probably raises the theft % from low life customers. Luckily we have never had any kind of theft experience to this date including exhibiting at Sunfest.
I e-mailed Will White and asked him if he had any confirmed thefts at Sunfest in the past few years. He stated that another jeweler at this years event did state he had a few rings lifted from his booth right before the fireworks started Sunday night. He also said that he can't confirm any other thefts over the last few years, but that it doesn't mean that there weren't any.
According to Will, Sunfest has the entire place fenced in with locked gates and with security (actual police officers) patrolling the event grounds. Unfortunately Kelly , that didn't prevent your jewelry from being shop lifted. It is my opinion though that art show thefts are not centralized at Sunfest only. Exhibiting at St. James Court the jeweler next to us had two incidents of theft during the show two years ago.
There comes a point when we the artists need to step up and minimize the loss of art via theft by creating a booth design that makes it difficult or impossible for theft to occur. The art show staff can only go so far.
When I think about Sunfest as any other show we exhibit at I look at the number of exhibitors that keep coming back each year. As I stated in the original blog, there are artists that have exhibited there for 28 years and many others 10 years plus including us. There has to be something good happening that continues to bring back these exhibitors.
That's what I'm talking about. Now that is the show I used to do. Thank you for being honest and laying out the exact information that would be helpful to another artist. The art show life is simple all we want is a bit more information to help us make the best decision we can on which shows to apply for instead of running a muck. We know this job is a gamble every time we leave our studios, which is part of the appeal. As I get older I don't want to gamble as much. Call me crazy.
We participated this year. Sunfest is an outstanding Festival. Juried Art Show staff are helpful, expert and well organized. The professionalism and maturity of this event shows prominently throughout. Those who are long-time participants reminisced about the days when the art show was connected to a FREE jazz festival. The crowds then were 1/10th the size (20k vs. 200k) but they included a high % of art lovers who had money to purchase. The average age of attendees was 40-something and the music seemed to be a vehicle to draw people to the art show. Sunfest is now a huge MUSIC festival with a bit of art culture strung along the roadway between two giant performance stages. Average age is is now 20-something, and the entrance, food and parking cost (about $50/person) is more akin to a pro-football game. The smell of cooking food and plenty of beer complete the scene. It is a rocking' party!
Having said all that, however, the end result is that many artists spoke to us about very low sales. The Best of Show award winner told us he sold only a couple of pieces. We sold $700, but the show cost nearly twice that to participate (we rented a trailer, ate at the festival and stayed in an area hotel). Some jewelry vendors and arts/crafts with a music theme seemed to do okay. but 2-D art sales were sub-par.
Thanks Bill and Susan for the report. Of course, with all shows, you should do some research like Kelly has mentioned. It just makes sense that you always know what you are applying to and know what to expect from the show.
an d thats what I have heard but every show is different & one crackpot cant stop you..I hope
I don't usually get involved in this kind of stuff. I hope I don't regret it, but I have to say something for those of you that don't know the full story. I have done SunFest on and off for the last 15 years. I read this review and thought...is this the same show I used to do? It isn't all wonderful at that show be aware and ask around before you travel too far. I live 15 mins. from this show....I don't do it any longer. The crowd shifted younger. My jewelry doesn't do well with the younger crowd. This is the only show I have had my jewelry taken with a cop in my booth! He couldn't find the guy in the crowd. Gone... a section of my jewelry. The next night during the fireworks I had another cop standing in front of my booth. A guy in the crowd took his pepper spray off his belt and sprayed it into the crowd. They never caught him as far as I know. Have you ever been peppered sprayed? Not good. This show is good for some people, it just isn't for everyone. Will, Phil and the committee are the best they are always there and ready to help. I miss the show when it was a Jazz Festival that was a better age group for my work. I am not saying don't do it, I am saying do your research and know your market it could be great or you could live to regret it.
Hi Dennis,
I did see you at the show but you had a few customers in your booth. Glad you did well. Sunday's have always been a good day for us even before the fireworks were moved from Friday to Sunday. Hope to see you there again.
Any chance for a traditionally-oriented artist in Florida? I've never even considered it because I don't do colorful contemporary work. If we ever decide to head that way, Sunfest sounds like a good bet. Thanks for the review, Bill.
-
1
-
2
-
3
of 3 Next