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Hi has anyone done this show? I am looking for some shows to do in FL in Feb and March that I can still get into.
I am a painter and I live in Atlanta. Thanks!
June 10-12 - new date!*
Downtown Omaha, Nebraska
135 Artists
Deadline: January 10
Downtown Omaha, Nebraska
135 Artists
Deadline: January 10
The 37th Annual Omaha Summer Arts Festival invites you to be a part of one
of the most lively art festivals in the Midwest. Located in downtown
Omaha alongside a beautiful park, the award-winning Summer Arts Festival
draws a diverse crowd of 80,000 people for a weekend of unique visual
arts, great music, tasty food and hands-on children's activities.
Festival patrons enjoy browsing and buying an eclectic mix of
functional and non-functional pieces by 135 artists in 14 media
categories. High-quality work in the $50 to $200 range tends to sell
most frequently, but, of course, higher priced artwork does not go
unnoticed (or un-purchased) by Omaha's fair share of art-lovers.
This is an excellent, well-organized festival," one artist said. "I have my highest sales here and always encounter enthusiastic, loyal customers.
In addition to $2500 in cash awards, artists can expect hospitality and
concierge services that are a step above the rest. The Festival offers
you:
- discounted hotel rates
- complimentary snacks and beverages
- an Artists' Awards Brunch on Saturday and an Artists' Meeting on Sunday with continental breakfast
- an air-conditioned lounge with indoor restrooms
- booth sitters; water delivery; overnight, indoor storage
- 24-hour security
- reserved parking and electricity
Artists also reap the benefits of the festival's substantial marketing efforts and media coverage.
[The Omaha Summer Arts Festival] is my favorite show to do; and [the] treatment of artists is the best! said one artist. Not many shows do anything for artists anymore-it is very important to us.
*New date info: The move is being made to accommodate 
the opening of the new TD Ameritrade Park. With the College World Series
relocating in 2011, Farnam Street will provide direct access to
westbound travel out of the downtown area. As a result, the Festival
was asked to change its dates to avoid traffic congestion.
the opening of the new TD Ameritrade Park. With the College World Series
relocating in 2011, Farnam Street will provide direct access to
westbound travel out of the downtown area. As a result, the Festival
was asked to change its dates to avoid traffic congestion.
For more information about the Omaha Summer Arts Festival, please contact
Elizabeth Balazs, Visual Arts Coordinator, at (402) 345-5401 or
ebalazs@vgagroup.com
.
Learn more: www.SummerArts.org
For more cool information like this sign up for our free email newsletters.
Click on this link: http://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Sub=373715
Market Days
December 4 and 5, 2010
Tallahassee, Florida
Market Days is an annual show held at the fairgrounds in Tallahassee, Florida. Artists are set in fourbuildings that line the road in and out of the fairgrounds. Thereare additional booths between the buildings in the median. Theirwebsite (www.marketdays.org)advertises approximately 300 artists with 15,000 people inattendance. However, paperwork delivered to the artists for nextyear noted 20 – 24,000 people in attendance annually. The weatherwas nice both days. A little cool in the morning but in the upper60's in the afternoon.
Most items were hand made by artists exhibiting. Of course there was some buy and sell, and then therewas an imported metal booth that covered approximately 10-12 10*10booth spaces; they did tell folks that they bought the items forresale.
Saturday was crowded by most show's standards. It was approximately 10-12 feet across the isle and manytimes it was impossible to walk across from booth to booth due to thecrowd. While there was plenty of people, they appeared to be goingfor lower end items. The mustard and soup mix ladies next to me hada booming day. Unfortunately, Sunday was dead. Even the niceweather could not bring out the buyers. 80% of my business onSaturday with sporadic sales on Sunday. All of my sales except onewas under $50, and I had one sale that was over that amount.
Fellow artists I spoke with didn't have much good things to say about sales, however, I spoke with severalthat did very well with their Christmas and under $20 items. Thebooth fee was $450 and I did ok. It's an easy show to do and I gotto visit with my friends that drove down from Atlanta for theweekend. Plus I found a nice gift for my lovely wife.
The folks running the show do a great job. They are friendly, constantly checked in to see if Ineeded anything, had coffee and donuts all day. Additionally, I hadfour of the main show staff including the director to spend timetalking with me and thanking me to be there. I just can't say enoughabout them They really make an artist feel special.
This last Saturday was the Winter Market held at the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis Indiana. This was my 5 or 6th Eiteljorg show (I also participate in the Women in Art show in the spring) and overall it was in keeping with past shows.
Load in is not the easiest as you have to park at a curb - traverse a winding ramp to gain access into the museum and then depending upon booth location possibly load onto a very small elevator.
This year, layout was more challenged by the addition of an exhibet devoted to trains that took up much of our prior artist space. Because of this - upstairs space was utilized, booth sizes were greatly diminished and artist numbers were reduced greatly.
We were not thrilled to find ourselves upstairs in a smaller darker location - but our neighbors were friendly - we bring our own lighing just in case and we made it all work.
Being upstairs - we believe our foot traffic was not what the main floor artists had in numbers - but we were still happy to be in the show at all as many past artists were not accepted due to the diminished numbers.
Load in was helped by being able to load in the afternoon prior to the Saturday event (thankful I did that as it was snowing hard and very wet Saturday morning). Load out was slowed because of the bottleneck at the elevator - but still only took us a bit longer than our usual hour strike.
My husband and I paint and do photography. Sales were fairly good - this is always one of our better shows as the crowd tends to be a little more high end. We sold one nice sized painting as well as a couple smaller ones, some photographs and notecard sets as well as a number of smaller miniscape paintings.
I have been noticing a trend lately that people are purchasing more what I would call purposeful art - ceramics and jewelry and perhaps a bit less decorative.
All in all a great way to spend a snowy Saturday. This was our last show of 2010 - next up is the Indiana Artists show at the Indiana State Museum in February. This will be a new one for us - so I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes.
Happy arting all!
-k-
Has anyone heard what happened to this event? I heard nothing but kudos and thought I'd love to give it a whirl. Since I couldn't find an application for anything more current than 2009 I e-mailed the promoter (Venues). No response, site not updated since 2009. I called and left a message, and although it is still a working number, no reply. So, I called the Chamber of Commerce in Ponte Vedra. They've never heard of it, have no information. Now, I'm curious.
Did this once great event simply disappear? Any decent Jacksonville area shows to recommend?
Looking for art fairs in Houston TX. Anyone can provide a lead? Thanks.
Also, I have a new idea for a 3-D art item. I am looking for a good craftsman in Houston that can manufacture things for me, using all sorts of materials. Will appreciate any leads for this as well.
Thank you all and have a blessed holiday season.
'I am considering doing the Community Affairs mid week shows in February on the gulf coast. The entry fee seems pricey for the show. I am coming down to Fl in February from Atlanta, will do Mt Dora and looking for another show.Did not even bother to apply to the bigger Fl shows as many friends had a tough time with sales last year..
hey this looks like a great show- I just got my acceptance, and before I paid I figuired I would see if anyone here had experience with it
Thanks
Sean
I actually have four oil paintings I did that are from our vacation in Cedar Key last winter. Here they are on my website... http://584mar.aquinas.hostingrails.com/paintings/by_category_available/176
Thanks for any feedback!!
Marie Scott
I started Phoenix Rising Designs in 2004 after about 6 years of apprenticing and selling for other artists and designers. I have worked some really great art shows and one really muddy one. Seriously, shin deep in mud and sleeping in my van. The bathrooms weren't finished with walls between the toilets so... Anyway, I've done my share of moving around with my work! haha I am a wife and mother to one son and I homeschool him. I also fill in at a vintage clothing store and a bead store and teach classes at a wellness center on Gemstone Therapy.
I mentioned "people", right? Well those of you who have helped me in the past are free to add your stories as well. Rozee, we almost got stolen, remember? haha Brittany, you helped me for about 6 or 7 seasons and fell asleep with mud and rocks in your hair, right? My husband and son helped be run stuff to the van in pouring sheets of rain in Huron, Oh. Cambrey, how many lunches did we eat at that apple festival again? These are the silly, crazy, and (sick, right?) fun stories but I also have met some great people, had wonderful sales and fantastic times on circuit too.
I am currently working like crazy to add more wholesale accounts to my business. My styles are tribal and steampunk jewelry. I have an online store http://www.phoenixbartender.etsy.com/. Why "phoenix bartender"? Well I like the mythical creature and I've been a bartender since 2001 at night and an artist by day.
Rambling on...thank you for reading and thank you for adding my business to your "LIKE" list on facebook.
June 3, 4 & 5
Columbus, Ohio
230 Artists
Deadline: January 12
Columbus, Ohio
230 Artists
Deadline: January 12
The Columbus Arts Festival presented by Time Warner Cable will celebrate its 50th year of bringing the best in fine arts and crafts, food and entertainment to downtown Columbus. We invite you to apply to be one of 230 visual artists selected for this nationally recognized festival.
Fast Facts:
- Estimated attendance of 350,000 in 2010
- Over $650,000 in marketing/advertising support and partnerships
- Special promotions and innovative programming planned to celebrate the 50th Anniversary
- Booth fee $450 for 10'x10'
- $6,000 average sales
- Produced by the Greater Columbus Arts Council
Artist Information:
- $11,000 in Artist Awards
- Indoor hospitality area with beverages and snacks
- Contact information and booth number in Guidebook
- Name and image listed on website with live link to artist website
- 24 hour security provided by Columbus PD
Jury Process:
The jury will be held February 5 and 6 at The Westin in downtown Columbus. This blind jury process is open to the public. Please contact Leah Alters, Festival Director at 614-221-8531 or lalters@gcac.org for the weekend's schedule or to RSVP to attend the jury.
For more information visit: www.columbusartsfestival.org
Apply today at: www.zapplication.com
We look forward to seeing you in June 2011!
------------------------------------------
Find more art fairs looking for artists: www.CallsforArtists.com
We enjoyed answering your questions and invite the rest of you to visit the website to investigate January's seminar that will talk about gallery representation, social networking, how to sell art in a down economy, the art print market, how to price your art, turning your website into an art marketing machine, licensing images and, oh yes, art fairs!
Visit this link to learn more about joining us in January: www.smartist.com/connie
Here is the link to listen to the telesummit phone call: http://smartist.com/live-telesummit/2011-2/connie-ariane-recording
Hi,
Does anyone have any info on this show?
My shoplifter tale was fun. A notorious "potential" shoplifter made her way to my booth and actually made a great sale from her yet some of my neighbors were warning me about her and one thought they saw her stole something from one of my shelves and put it in her bag. I alerted security and they acted fast. I did have to say I would press charges in order to nab her and search her bags. Someone else came forward and said "she" stole $100 necklace - this is from a Slipada person however decided it wasn't worth pressing charges as she didn't want to have to drive there again. This has been the pattern for 5 years - shoplifter is thought to have stolen something, no one wants to press charges, then she gets away. This time she actually didn't steal anything - the thing she put in her purse was a free sample that I encouraged her to take. So, she and her friend was left to go. I do plan on doing a topic on the blog series about this when it comes to spotting a shoplifter and what you should and shouldn't do when you suspect someone of shoplifting. So the good news was nothing was stolen and perhaps she might think twice before coming to that show again.
Of course I have been getting a lot of questions from friends, family and even customers if I would be back and Imost likely not, IF I can get into a better show. I love the handmade shows - everything I do is handmade by myself and more high end than traditional crafts/country crafts which is where my target marketing audience is. A nice added plus is that I did get to talk to a local store owner who most likely will be a new wholesale client of mine, I think more will happen once the holiday rush is over and after narrowing down some fragrance specific ideas for her area geared for tourists in the area. All in all nothing horrible to sneeze at. I also am starting to get orders from the sample tea light candles that are of some of the fragrances my larger candles and past repeat customers. Tis the Season right!
Well, I have to run - I have an order to fill for another wholesale client that is due Friday. Not enough time to find the photos from the show, but hopefully will post it via the Facebook page or something like that... Thank God my shows are over for the year now.... Ahhhh! - Michelle, By the Bay Botanicals
What happened? Did Nels take a picture of some guys painting hanging on a fence? Really? Let's organize a bunch of torch holding town "folk" and go chase him out of his castle. Where was the outrage when the 10 or 11th "art" photographer shot the same slot canyon? Once again...with feeling. The problem is not that Nels did this, any more than several of the "art" photographer's, when not totally ripping off good men like Ray Hartle, are out shooting statues and such. Once again my children...you are killing the goose by becoming a decorative market place...Instead of rising up like rabid dogs in opposition to the tape measure and swatch caca that prevails, it appears you jumped on a poor old guy for doing wrong...and maybe it was. The problem however, is not Nels. it is the constant pandering to the swatch/tape mentality. As long as fine art/craft biz is dictated to by decor there will be an ongoing march towards average.. Remember, if you can't make it good, make it big...and if you can't make it big, make it blue...or watever this years color is.. F..k it, who wants pie? . .
Generalisamo Hippie
Set-up was real easy, Tear-down not so easy. The parking behind the hall that the show was in looked like a trailer park. I got there real early on Sunday morning to get a place for my econoline, so it worked out for me. Fri morning got there just before show opened and had to go across the street to park as well as Sat. Morning. There was parking at the show for exhibitors but it was mostly trailers. Vans parked where there was space. HA HA! The show cost the public approx $5.00 but there were coupons galore. Newspaper had $1.00 in it. She does a lot of advertising. I believe this is the last show of year in albu. but could be wrong. I thought there were less people this year than last. I did not do as well this year as last. Location is not that important since people walk the whole show. A lot of lookers at the show but then there are the people who come to this show to buy xmas presents. I usually hand out a lot of business cards but not so much at this show. I told my wife if i lived in California I would stay home this weekend I used to do a show in Palm Springs thanksgiving weekend but those days are long gone. The aisle that was crowded all three days was food. Someone selling bread sold out and was gone by noon on Sunday. It says that the artist must be there but there were a few reps. Sunshine supposedly has this ranked very high on their list. Not sure about that. It is inside which makes it nice. Ruth Gore treats everyone real well. More promoters should be like here. I think Ruth is one of the best promoters and i am not just saying that. I enjoy working with her. I had help setting up and tearing down and that made a world of difference. Quite a lot of new artists this year.
This was the first of three winter-season Howard Alan shows in Delray, an Atlantic coast community just north of tony Boca Raton. HA will be back for two days right after Christmas (Dec. 26-27), in Boca on January 8-9, and back in Delray the following weekend (Jan. 15-16). Patty Narozny's HotWorks show comes in to Boca the following weekend. Allan is bringing a craft show to Delray in mid-February. Then there's a breather before the well-known, locally-run Delray Affair show on April 16-17.
Attendance was pretty good at this show. The streets were active, if not packed...and people even came back out on the street several times after Sunday squalls moved through the area (which shows me that they're interested in being there, not just trying to find a way to pass the time).
Which led to an increasingly common dilemma: Visitors were unfailingly pleasant and appreciative, but there didn't seem to be much energy around actually buying anything--particularly at moderate and high price points. Artists with large canvases and few or no reproductions were having a tough time. I had several customers offering to pay cash for small ($20) prints, but when I managed to offer them add-on sales that boosted the tab to $40 or $50, they switched to credit cards. I didn't have any cash customers at all until mid-day on Sunday.
One of the most common questions I fielded was: "Are you coming back for ?" And for most of the weekend, I responded the way I always have: I took their question at face value and talked with them about my schedule, or asked them which show they were planning on. But sometime Sunday morning, as I pondered that question, I thought of Einstein's quote: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
So I paused, smiled, and responded: "Honestly, I'll make the decision on that show based on the results of this one. And right now, I'm very much on the fence. So how can I help you today?" Two minutes later, the customer walked out with a decent-sized print. And later that afternoon, a similar response kept the customer engaged, and eventually netted a sale of two large canvases that saved the weekend for me.
The lesson for me is: When we artists are presenting work to under-funded customers in overworked markets, we need to think not just about the quality of our art, our display, and our email marketing, but also about how we respond to questions we've heard a thousand times before.
So, some points to ponder:
What kind of questions do YOU hear that cause you to go on "autopilot", like I did?
And what can you do or say differently in order to create opportunities to buy today?
