I have to do an eight hour ride to St. Louis today in order to set up for the show. Thought I would leave you with some meaningful observations, criticisms and summaries.
Previously, I did a running blog of the event day by day. This is a summary, chock full of meat and meaningful data which could help you decide if this is your show to do.
With that said lets get on with the show.
My Credentials:
I am a color photographer. I do scenes in the tropics, also strong architecturals and also a line of good humor--sorry, no Teddy bears.
I have done art shows for 36 years. Have won more than 400 awards in juried events. Lastly, after my first four years in the biz, I have always showed a profit at year's end and made a living at it.
I work by myself. I have no helpers to help me cut mats or set up at shows.
I am lucky to know about 100 artists who make a living at this biz year after year. We share info with each other.
So listen up. What I am going to tell you is very helpful.
Royal Oak, Michigan--Geography and layout of the event.
Royal Oak (RO) is a suburb of Detroit slightly west of downtown off I-696. The show(ABE) is held right downtown on city streets.
RO is chock full of bars,restaurants and retail, all housed in some of the ugliest,dull architecture I have ever seen. That said, it still attracts a shit-load of young people--and a bunch of adults.
The art show is just one small part of the event. As my buddy, Michael said, "We are just a small dot on the tail of a big dog,Nels."
The whole event is run north to south on three parallel streets. The art show is located on the very south end of the show.
Art starts on a small stretch of 7th (there are more booths past the fudge truck on 7th--we will get to that) then mainly takes a right turn,south on Washington where the bulk of the art show is held. One block down on Washington the show takes a left turn, on Lincoln, and there are about 40 booths there.
Back to the fudge truck. This Mackinac Fudge truck sits right at the intersection of 7th and Washington where it pretty well blocks anyone's vision of seeing that there are another 40 booths behind it. Also there are about 20 booths set up in a "U-Shape" on a city parking lot. A bunch got wiped out by heavy winds Saturday night. Obviously, one fudge truck trumps 50-60 artists. For the most part, most exhibitors there made little sales. They barely covered there expenses. There were a few exceptions, but they did not get the whole crowd looking there.
The folks on Lincoln street suffered the same fate. Poor sales, poor attendance. It is a narrow street that dead-ends at a chain link fence with no gate. Poor Patty Stern, and Bob, were the last booth on the street. They paid for a corner booth that basically looked out to a chain fence. Oy! such value for your money. Most exhibitors were not happy campers.
All booths art set against the curb looking out. You have ample rear storage. You have no room side to side, unless it is a corner, to hang anything. It is so tight you can barely zipper your tarps. You can pull a van right in front for setup and teardown.
OK, that was the layout--lots of good meat, a lot more then most of you ever include in your blogs of a show. Take a lesson,please.
Show organization: Pluses and minuses.
This art show is run by our Connie and her bud, Lisa. They have a higherup they report to named John.
The show is full of many pluses, I will get to them. The only minus is the layout which put the people at Lincoln and those behind the fudge truck, and parking lot, in a bad position. They paid the same booth fee ($450) but got a slim part of the crowd. After running this event for years, I don't know why Connie and Lisa set this up. Maybe they had to defer to a higher up. It was not a brilliant layout. Lots of artists were really pissed. Some left early, some will never apply again. This was the only minus.
Let's look at all the pluses which outweigh the minus, (Unless you were an artist in those spots).
Overall, the show is well-organized. Great advertising, strong security, good artist info. They supply lots of water, offer and air-conditioned rest-lounge, good bathrooms and a great artist support service. They will give you ample breaks, even fetch food for you. Nice artist breakfest. Nice awards. They give free food tickets to us. We get guaranteed parking for our vans, excellent communication. Overall, I give Connie and Lisa an "A" for their efforts. Would not want to be in those bad spots though.
An aside. Connie had heard about Ellen fainting at Krasl so she put us right across from the AC break room. It was very kind of Connie to do that. She also put Munks two booths away from me. That cost me a lot in sushi money, but Munks is a true gem.
SALES--THOUGHT YOU NEVER WOULD GET TO THEM!
For me, in these times, where we are al off by at least 40%, I expect to do at least $1500 per day. Don't always make it, but it is a reasonable expectation. This was a four-day show. So $6K was my goal--didn't come close to making it.
There were almost 160 artists in the show, a small number. Not as much competition, the pie isn't getting sliced as thinly. We all oughta make money.
So here is a modest breakdown.
I know at least 10 artists there who did $6K or better. There are at least 15-20 others, I don't know, who did that or better.
That still leaves 130-odd artists.
Again, I know at least 15 artists who did not break even at he show in their sales, my wife was one of them. I bet there were at least 20 others in the same situation, definetly Bonnie Eastwood.
Hmm. That leaves about 95. I would say, most made their expenses and a little more. A small return for being at a show for five days (Setup on Thursday, then four days of the show.) That is a pityful return on your time and money.
Don't forget the show was almost $500 in fees, then probably a tank of gas, or more, each way. Then five days in a hotel, then five-six days of food expense (forget about tequila and sushi), this gets the average exhibitor, who came from outside the area, up to $1200 just in making your nut. Local artists don't have gas, hotels or food costs. A better investment for them.
OK, FINAL OBSERVATIONS AND SUMMARY
Jim Parker, who lives locally, came over and visited me on Monday. He had some sage observations about why this show was not as successful this year. I will paraphrase them.
Basically, he said, last year it was a new event in RO. The weather was perfect, the crowds came in incredible numbers. They bought a bunch, artists made thousands.
This year a lot of those same people stayed away. Why? For several reasons.
One, they didn't want to do the crowd scene. Arts and Apples in Rochester is this weekend. They could go there and see good art. Two. Parking. A bitch at RO. The lots were charging $14. You can't park in the neighborhoods, you will get towed and ticketed. You could park in the high school lot and take the bus to the show. That inhibits making big purchases.
Three. This was not the same crowd as last year. Too many people with too little to spend. They were not the brightest either. Lots of dumb questions. Like when they walk into my booth and ask if I am the photographer? I got my name badge on, it matches my sign, it matches my signature on my images. I know, America hates to read anything, anymore. Sometimes, for fun, I would tell them my cat took the images but he is too shy to sell, so I do the dirty work. I think Parker was spot on in his observations.
My summary.
You get one shot at the crowd, very few be-backs. They only like a narrow field of arts and crafts. Most don't have more than $60 to spend. Lots of blue-collar with tastes only for the cliche.
We are just part of a big carnival. Most folks were going on to do the music and the food and the drink. It is not like Homer says to his wife, "Come on honey, let's go to ABE and buy that picture for over the couch."
If you think you got the right stuff for this event, then try it.
Ooh! The weather. Don't forget the first two days were in temps in high nineties with heat index over 100. Sunday was nice and Monday was freezing cold. So temps had a big impact on the show sales. But guess what? Most years it is going to be hot and rainy there. They lucked out in 2010 but don't count on it for the future.
Me, I am going to take a long time to think about doing the show again. Not saying no, not saying yes.
Well there. That is my blog, chock full of meat and info. Chime in with your comments. Me, I am off to St. Louis, hopefully to make a lot of serious moola. Will report about it.
Aloha, Nels.
including statement, material, technique and dimensions. 
