Posted by Paul Flack on January 17, 2011 at 5:31pm
I just got the Jan. Sunshine Artist, they posted a review of a show from September. Highlights included, 40% were pleased with the show (that means 60% were not pleased), and the big seller was $4k with the second place coming in at $2.9K. Are you kidding? I know we are artists but the standard deviation suggests that the mean income was in the area of $750 with show fees pegged at $325. A major show in a major market. Is it me or is it time for a reality check here?
I find networking with other artist to be far more useful than magazines. Also have found Atlanta to be a hostile environment for artist. Kick shows out of the park ,stay off the grass, move this , move that, boot vans , supreme confusion & hassles at VaHi and show monitors out to make your life miserable. I wanted Atlanta to be my go to town but it has turned out to be life is too short to put up with this towns crap. SAD but true for me. Glad for you if you realize obscene profits in hotLanta.
Anyone out there actually making any money after all of the fees that are tacked on plus everything that is put into making the product. In today's market I don't know of anyone that are unless they are lucky enough to win the golden egg.
I am going to put most of mine up on my site and word of mouth. I am also going to try the consignment route. You used to be able to make some pretty good money now the only one making money are the promoters and the food venders, they are pulling in the bucks. Everyone loves the junk food at those places and charge a price of a painting for a hot dog. Oh well, I am still going to try a few in the spring and I hope my son does well. Good luck to us all and have fun running the roads.
I'm with Michael on this one -- you can't have too much information and we subscribed to Sunshine Artist for almost 30 years. There are many sources for info and there would always be something in this magazine, some detail or tip that might be useful down the line. Reading between the lines helps too.
SA’s an ok magazine to get general information on but I would not depend on it to find out about shows. Word of mouth and this site are two of the best tools that we have.
The reality is that too few of people turn in any kind of show reviews. That might be something that could be incorporated into our site that would be of benefit to all.
Paul, which ATL show was the review in SA referring to? The Atlanta Arts Festival in Piedmont Park? I tried to find the article on the SA website, which is for subscribers only, and it stated that there were only 3 show reviews for all of 2010. Far, far fewer than this website! Not worth subscribing to, in my opinion, if show reviews are what you are looking for.
Right you are, Michael my boy about SA. I still keep a subscription for reasons you stated. Most show reviews you have to take with an ounce of credibility. Too many of the writers are "shills for the promoters." I know that comment will generate some activity--bring it on.
I find SA magazine useful for the informative articles, such as on credit cards, lodging sites, etc. Also, it's a good source for shows that don't use ZAPP, of which there are still a lot. But it's also important because the reviews often tell me about shows I never want to do, such as "I did zero in sales, but I made some good contacts, so I'll try it again"!!! Or "I made $180, but I think I can build on this next year."!!! You can't make this stuff up!
The magazine is just another tool in our show information tool kit to help us try and survive the current (three years?) economic downturn. It's the cost of one good dinner and drinks at an art show. So eat cheap one time! And those "I just love the corn dogs" stories really give me a laugh when I need it the most.
I always fill the cards out and if I don't get a card I fill one out on line at Sunshine. When I read a review on Sunshine on a show I have done it is a joke. Talk about sugar coating, roll in honey, deep frying, covering in chocolate, adding whip cream and a cherry on topp bad reviews. You really have to read between the lines on these reviews. This is the first year I have had a subscription to Sunshine. I don't know if I will renew.
For what it is worth-who knows who fills those cards out-or how many responses really come in- My neighbor-wood artist- probably did 0ver 10k- my glass sales sucked and we had a piece stolen(-$450) with the cops 30 feet away-- THE WORST SET-UP // TAKE DOWN ever Sure wish this major market had it's old karma and the Atlanta Arts Festival// I will be sailing or anything else than Atlanta next year. Reality check--add lodging (priceline, Hyatt downtown $50. nightly) and food and the alcohol to take the pain away. We will stay away--maybe the new Midtown show on piedmont the following week is Atlanta"s next?????????? Fair Winds
So far I've not put much into artfair insider but I feel relatively safe here about being honest and also reading honest reports from others. I've dropped Sunshine a couple years ago and mainly rely on personal networking to scope out worthwhile events.
Comments
Anyone out there actually making any money after all of the fees that are tacked on plus everything that is put into making the product. In today's market I don't know of anyone that are unless they are lucky enough to win the golden egg.
I am going to put most of mine up on my site and word of mouth. I am also going to try the consignment route. You used to be able to make some pretty good money now the only one making money are the promoters and the food venders, they are pulling in the bucks. Everyone loves the junk food at those places and charge a price of a painting for a hot dog. Oh well, I am still going to try a few in the spring and I hope my son does well. Good luck to us all and have fun running the roads.
SA’s an ok magazine to get general information on but I would not depend on it to find out about shows. Word of mouth and this site are two of the best tools that we have.
The reality is that too few of people turn in any kind of show reviews. That might be something that could be incorporated into our site that would be of benefit to all.
I find SA magazine useful for the informative articles, such as on credit cards, lodging sites, etc. Also, it's a good source for shows that don't use ZAPP, of which there are still a lot. But it's also important because the reviews often tell me about shows I never want to do, such as "I did zero in sales, but I made some good contacts, so I'll try it again"!!! Or "I made $180, but I think I can build on this next year."!!! You can't make this stuff up!
The magazine is just another tool in our show information tool kit to help us try and survive the current (three years?) economic downturn. It's the cost of one good dinner and drinks at an art show. So eat cheap one time! And those "I just love the corn dogs" stories really give me a laugh when I need it the most.
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