How to do Art Festivals
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- Опубліковано 25 чер 2024
- Art Business Guide, Michael Steddum, shares secrets that you need to know in order to get into the top Art Festivals in the country, This is part one of a playlist and is an overview of subsequent videos, where we will look in-depth in each subject matter. Learn the secrets to make the most of your Art Festival as an artist.
Selling Your Art at Art Festivals
Resources
• ZAPP www.zapplication.org
• Art Fair Source Book www.artfairsourcebook.com
• Tents www.flourishdisplays.com (my tent)
• Tents www.lightdomecanopies.com
• Tents www.showoffcanopy.com
• Walls www.propanels.com
• Walls www.flourishdisplays.com/meshpanels_for_trimline
• Juried Booth Shots www.bermangraphics.com
• Insurance www.actinsurance.com
Calls for entry, tutorials, marketing
Jurying Platforms and Call for Entry Sites
zapplication.org
juriedartservices.com
entrythingy.com
callforentry.org
callsforartists.com
artfairsourcebook.com
Listing and review of arts and crafts shows nationwide
actinsurance.com
Single show and annual insurance policies
Website: michaelsteddum.com
Facebook: / michael.steddum
Instagram: / michaelsteddum
My Mailing Adress
Michael Steddum
PO Box 162
Webb City, MO 64870
LOVE your sense of humour and information. You have another profession if you get tired of festivals..
Thank you. Stand up would be kind of fun too. 😂
@@theartistlife6988 🤣🤣
Stumbled across this video and absolutely stopped me cold on two juried shows I had already submitted to but the deadline was pending. Rookie mistake on using art images with my signature showing. Nowhere in submission guidelines mentioned this is taboo, this video scared the shit out of me with the "automatic DQ". I managed to contact the two show call administrators and they re-opened my submission on ZAPP and I was able to upload my modified images. THANK YOU so much for this info. In hindsight, it's obvious on the sig issue but as a first timer, this is a great lesson learned.
Thank you so much for your compliments and I am glad that anything I said helped you in your journey. The signature thing I learned from a show that was nice enough to send me an email that said they would reopen my app to fix the problem. Otherwise I would have never know. As well. I hope to see you as my neighbor at one of the upcoming shows.
@@theartistlife6988 ok...how did you find this stuff out and why is it taboo to have your name in the picture...I think it would help me the judge not mix up pictures.
"Left handed puppetry"...🤣Good one.
I’ve always wondered if something like UC Berkeley has a class like that. 😂
I've been working shows for nearly 40 years and _still_ gleaned several points I'd never heard or not heard expressed in this manner. Thanks for your wisdom, insights, and humour... especially "Goat Roper" which has just become my new favourite expression. Perfick.
Thank you so much. That’s quite a compliment and I appreciate it. Hope to be neighbors at an upcoming show.
Much Love teacher
Thank you so much.
The goat roper! 😂 they make me run to the hills.
Doing my first show tomorrow, and have been watching and researching for months! Your video was one of her best if not the most informative. And I appreciate your sense of humor!! Thanks so much
Thank you so much for your compliments and I wish you all the success in the world.
Doing my first art show this weekend. Non-juried, because the jury ones scared me! This video was SO helpful! I'll have a little more confidence with them moving forward. Thank you!
I hope your show was awesome. Thank you and I am glad this video helped you.
@joydumas2979 how was and whereabouts was your first show?
I couldn't thank you enough! It's my first time as an exhibiting artist at the Saint Louis Art Fair 2023.
Congratulations! I hope you have a great show and wish you all the best this year.
I am just starting to do festivals and have been watching quite a few instructional videos regarding this subject. Your video was very thorough and addressed many things overlooked in the others' presentations. It was extremely helpful. Thank you. I look forward to seeing more of your life as an artist on your channel.
Glad it was helpful! Thank you so much for your compliments and I wish you all the best with your career.
Very well done Michael. Thank you for taking the time to give out very sound advice. One thing we do to make it very pleasant is to meet our neighbors when setting up and taking down because chances are you are going to see them at the next one. Also, we make it a habit to assist those having a rough time getting their tents up or some other task. The big thing that surprises me is that no matter how much you research what customers are going to get excited about, you are always surprised. I told my wife that a few things were a waste of time and then, of course, she was right and people showed up out of the woodwork to buy those items like they were going out of style. Another thing to go along with what you said, is we watch to see how strict the people running the show are and if they are very flexible, we will usually ask if we can spread out a little if there is no one on one side of us. They usually say that is great since it covers up an empty spot! We will watch for more of your videos. Thanks!
Thank you so much Alan. That’s some great advice.
Your grandpa routine at the end had me bust out laughing and still laughing. Do more please.
Thank you. It is rare that anyone even finds the hidden part at the end of this video. I am glad you found it and enjoyed it.
Thank you! I found an ez up commercial with flourish walls, all in mint condition on Craigslist for $500. First show is in 4 weeks.
That is awesome! I wish you all the best on your first show. Congratulations on finding your set up for such a good deal. I look k forward to being a neighbor at an upcoming show.
It was a pleasure to listen to this
So glad it could help. Thank you.
Why has this video just popped into my feed? This video is so informative and dealt with just my kind of humor and honesty. I'd love to selling at art shows but with two young kids I feel that won't be possible for a while but, I can dream.
Thank you. I always think the the things we are looking for seem to show up like puzzle pieces at the right time. It might not be the complete picture, but it is another small piece of a ten thousand piece puzzle. I wish you all the success in the world.
@@theartistlife6988 I agree completely. Sometimes I spend too much time and energy looking for the piece but it always shows up when it's going to be most impactful.
Hello! I know this video is a year old, but its been incredibly helpful for me. I was wondering if you'd be willing to do a video or share some tips on the financial/business aspect. Things like taxes, receipt keeping, how to keep track of everything, etc. I've found a bunch of useful videos about how to set up, sales tips and all that, but not much in the way of the entrepreneurial aspect.
Thank you. That’s a great idea. Perhaps this summer I can do something like that.
Great video!!! Thanks for sharing your expertise. We met you today at the Southlake TX art show earlier today and you were a wonderful, fun, informative host with great art to show. Thanks for the advice and sense of humor. 🙏👍👍👍
Thank you David. It was so nice to meet the two of you as well and I look forward to being your neighbor at an upcoming show.
Such a helpful video Michael! Thank you for sharing
Thank you so much. Thank appreciate it.
Honestly one of the best videos on art festivals I've been able to find. You grabbed a lot of aspects others on youtube do not, so great work! I know you mentioned doing follow up videos twice during this; you should definitely get those out! 3 more years have passed, I'm sure you have some new advice too :)
Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you.
Love the advise! Thank you. Especially love the advise at the end…funny & useful!
You are so welcome!
Thank you
You're welcome
Great info from experience. Thanks for taking the time to do this!
Glad it was helpful, Thank you.
This is amazing advice! Thank you!!
Thank you
Hi Michael, Thank you for another great video! I am learning so much from you.
Thank you so much. I appreciate you letting me know. Happy creating. 😀
This video was amazing! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you so much. 😊
This is awesome, so thorough and helpful. Awesome Michael!
Glad it was helpful! Thank you so much.
Awesome video!!! Thank you so much for the wealth of information that you have provided here!!!
Thank you so much. Glad it was helpful and good luck at the shows.
Thank you for this great advice.
You are welcome. I appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment.
Very comprehensive video, thanks for the tips.
Thank you. I am wish you all the best.
I appreciate your video smooth and simple very direct. And very very informationable lol.
Thank you so much.
Loved your video advice also. Thank you.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you so much for sharing this video. I am in my second year and love participating in outdoor art festivals. I appreciate the advice you give regarding moving people out of your booth. I'm still learning how to read people. I do find that most artists are very helpful at the festivals.
Thank you for your compliments. I hope you are having a good year and I look forward to meeting you out there at the festivals.
@@theartistlife6988 Thank you! Will you be in Covington next month?
This was a great video…hope to see more
Thanks 😊
Thank you so much for the info. I am just now getting into doing art shows and I need all the help I can get. This video was very informative. Thank you again
You are so welcome! I hope to be neighbors at an upcoming show one day. Good luck to you.
Such an informative video! I'll have to watch it again with notebook next time. Thank you!
Thank you so much.
Thanks for this. First show coming up!
That’s so exciting. I hope you do very well and I wish you all the luck in the world at your first show.
Great job, well put together and helpful.
Thanks so much. I am glad it was helpful.
This was an awesome video! I'm getting ready to start doing outdoor art festivals the next year, and I really appreciated all the insight! You've got a new subscriber in me 😊 Keep it up!
Thank you so much and I wish you all the success with your art.
Thanks for the great advice as I prepare to get showing.
Glad it was helpful!
Great video. Thank you very much.😊
Thank you.
Thanks, all good advise !
Thank you. I appreciate it.
Michael, this is a GREAT video. It is well done and would be of great value to anyone thinking of starting to do art festivals. Valerie said the next time we are in a show together that based on your video, we will get a free dinner. Keep up the good work and we look forward to watching you other videos.
Lol. Free dinner applies only to the dollar menu. 😂
This is extremely helpful! Thank you!! Have you ever had an issue with adding stuff like signage and tables to the inside of the tent at the show and the show host getting upset that there is extra stuff that was not shown in the “booth shot” presented in jury selection?
Thank you. I have not had that issue. I have seen shows have an issue when your booth shot shows large paintings for example and an artist shows up with a ton of 6” x 6” paintings but no large sizes. It is so radically different now this case, but not having signage in the booth shot and then having it at the show is perfectly acceptable. One show I noticed said if you have bins they have to be in the booth shot. I didn’t have them in there and wrote asking about that rule. They actually replied, we can’t believe that an artist read the rules and that I was fine lol
That was fabulous! Excellent information and you made me laugh several times. Thank you. Subscribed ✅
Awesome! Thank you!
Thank you.
You are so welcome.
Thanks for such an awesome video. It takes a really generous individual to share so much information. I have one question What do you do to occupy your time besides talking to others while you’re at the show?
Thanks so much. The long hours at a show can be grueling for sure. I try to talk to everyone who comes into my booth, but sometimes I must admit I would love to take a nap. I try to remember two things. If I engage with everyone who walks into my booth,my sales triple from just sitting there waiting for someone to say, “I would like to buy this.” The second thing is, if I will engage with the customers, the energy I feel, keeps me awake and excited to be at the show and I won’t get bored or want to take a nap because I am having so much fun with the customers. People who attend art festivals are our people. They are interested in art and want to talk to the artist. A large portion of people in the country have never stepped foot in a gallery, museum, or Art Festival. So the people who do show up we can know are our type of people. The chances of selling our art to them is extremely high. I don’t always stay so up beat at a show through out the event, but if I can get the enthusiasm going within for a good part of it, the time fly by. Hopefully, that all makes sense and helps. Good luck at the shows and hope to see you as a neighbor at an upcoming show.
Wow 🎉 thanks so much for being so thorough - your work is also very inspiring - I just do crafting but artists selling at markets is so admirable. So stressful it must be to have all your lovelies out in the elements 😅
You are so welcome! Thank you
Wow, this was sooo interesting! New subbie for future reference!
Awesome! Thank you!
Great video, can you do a video on packing and shipping artwork while at the show? Do you charge for shipping? How do you know how much. Do you roll up paintings or do you crate with boards and such (sounds pretty expensive). If they say ship it to my home in ... Im on vacation now, what do you do??
Thank you. I’ll have to make one of those shipping videos in the future. I do charge for shipping at a show. I know my sizes and weights from experience and over time you will know too. If it’s an actual painting being shipped, then it will be oversized and cost more than say a reproduction on paper. People do say, I am on vacation and can you ship? Especially, in tourist towns. Sometimes the balk at the price and want me to eat the cost. I don’t anymore however, it will sell to the next buyer in ten minutes or five months at full price. It’s just my opinion so please keep that in mind, but I don’t think I need to be at a car lot negotiating every sale to the benefit of the wheeler and dealer that walks into my booth. Some artist do negotiate and that’s great too because it’s what they want to do. I am just not rich enough to give up hundreds or thousands of dollars off the fair price of my art to make a sale. I say that because I make sales. If I wasn’t selling anything in a year, maybe I would feel differently. Of course I wouldn’t be at art festivals because I wouldn’t be able to purchase the booth. 😂
In the end, we all get taken once or even twice on shipping. I know I have, but we learn what to do through trial and error. You could go to Go shippo.com and sign up for an account. Put in some numbers for the weights and sizes of your art packed. Make the receiver someone across the country and you’ll get an idea how much it will cost you on average for your art to be sent. This might save you a headache down the road. Good luck to you and I hope to be a neighbor at an upcoming show.
Just discovered your channel and appreciate you sharing these nuggets of wisdom. How does a first-timer make a “booth shot”? Buy a tent and stage it?
Thanks so much. I wish you all the luck in the future with your art festival career. I need to make a video about booth shots and staging a good one.
That was an incredibly informative presentation. Thank you Michael.
I'm about to set out to there to get my paintings in front of people in an art/craft or art festival capacity.
After watching this video I realize, they are wildly separate worlds.
Would you recommend me starting out more simply at an art/crafts situation and work up from there?
Thanks in advance!
Thanks Rodger. It’s hard for me to say without seeing your work but I think it feels wrong to be at a crafts show where your neighbor is selling hand made bee honey ointment one one side and crocheted cozies on the other. I think it might be better to go to the world you want to be in. We sometimes think less than we deserve when we actually need to take our proper place in this world. In my own experience being at the shows with better artists, makes me up my game and I learn a ton just from watching my seasoned professional neighbors. I wish you all the best and hope to see you as my neighbor at an upcoming show.
Wow thank for such an awesome and informative video. Lol I almost went thumbs up to the tv towards you, But pushed the thumbs up button. 😎 also sub’d!
Thank you so much 😊
Thank you for this video! Learned a lot! A few questions: do you find a certain price point is your best seller? Is it different at different shows? As far as difficult people, do you have people trying to bargain down your price? How do you respond? Do you have a set up to accept credit cards? I liked the part about leaving your phone off, and really engaging with the people in front of you.
It all depends Katie. I think now that the economic situation is a little different I am leaning towards smaller, inexpensive items and monster, large priced items. The middle of the road price points may sit for a while. I'll have it all but I think the bottom and top will sell best and the middle will slow down. It is different at different shows. I don't know how to predict it however. One year I set a record in sales at a show and the next time it was flat as a board for sales. Weather might have played a part in that. It always depends upon the customer for pricing. If they want three or four paintings, then I'll pick up the tax or offer free shipping, something like that, but I have taken a bit off the price for a large package of art. Some people say the price is firm and stick to their guns, but when there's ten thousand dollars on the line verses a no sale, I am tempted. I do accept credit cards. I use Square for my credit cards, but I also have Shopify and PayPal. Square is nice because often customers are in the Square system and they swipe and an text or email is sent to them automatically. In the art festival game, I think it would be rough not to take credit cards, especially for the large sales, because people don;t normally carry that much cash with them. I do get cash and an occasional check, but mostly credit cards. If I was just starting, I would do Pay Pal as everything you need will be sent to you for free. It's pretty painless to work their system as well. I carry all three systems for every show. Two are back up, but I have never had to use them. I need to get back to the second part of this video and go more in depth on the festivals. I am so glad that you got somethings out of it. Thank you.
Art Business Guide thank you so much!
Great video man, glad to hear about where i can get insurance. I have never done an outside show before and this Saturday is my first time. I have a 10 x 10 tent but no walls to hang my paintings. Would I look stupid if I used hanging chicken wire from home depot to hang my paintings on or would it look to ghetto? Thank you for your time. I say chicken wire because it would be light and Sat is a few days off not much of a budget. Thank you.
Thanks. I have seen folks use the chicken wire and make it look nice. Especially when you have a small budget at the start. It’s always a learning experience. Just last weekend I saw a few things that I want to incorporate into my set up from other artists. I wish you great success at the show.
Doing my first show at the end and of this month. Your tips on tents/display walls and everything else is very helpful! Which weighs would you recommend and how many would you believe necessary?
I wish you all the best with your first show. What I am currently using for weights are 60lb Kettle Balls, one on each corner. I got them at Walmart online and had them shipped to my local store. I use to use PVC pipes filled with concrete and had an eye hook inserted before the concrete dried to hang them in the corner. Many shows say you need at least 45lbs of weigh at each corner. I have seen people use concrete blocks, milk jugs filled with water and things like this, but in my opinion, they are just extra things flying around when the wind blows like a cat of nine tails. I think my weights were $210 when I bought them and I think the homemade ones were about $30 each when I was done. I hope that is helpful and again I wish you a great show at the end of the month.
@@theartistlife6988 thanks for your thorough response. :). :)
Thank you very much for this video. I was about to purchase a light dome canopy, but before I do that I will check out the options first. Also the information about the insurance is fantastic, when I was looking into a few shows last year I was told I need to bring my home owners insurance policy, and I didn't like that idea at all.
I really liked all your advice, I used to paint many years ago, mostly now I do sculptures. I deal with a mild form of autism, and one of my problems is that I just can't talk to people about buying my art, I lack the skills. I do a lot of pet sculptures, and I hope or plan to be working on one while I am at a show, hopefully that will make it easier to talk to people.
Thanks again
Tim
You are so welcome. I am happy that I could help. Good luck with your upcoming shows.
@@theartistlife6988 Thank you, do they make small fire extinguishers? Is fire an issue at art shows? Also thank you for mentioning the sun screen, I would have never thought about that, I had a bout with skin cancer last year so I will make sure I keep sunscreen with me. Your video was very helpful.
Best wishes to you
They do make small fire extinguishers. I think I paid $20 for mine. I keep it int the van in case the show says I have to have one. I think in Columbus, Ohio the fire Marshall can come by and check to see if you have one, but I don’t remember that ever happening. The rules to the show says it may happen, so better to be safe than sorry.
@@theartistlife6988 Again thank you, I will look into that. I agree better to be safe than sorry.
Have a great day
Hi again, I hope I am not making a pain of myself, but I have another question.
How do you hang your stuff on the mesh walls? I have a life size lion head sculpture mounted on a macrame wall hanging which is 48" wide. It is not extremely heavy, but has some weight to it. I can only imagine if I poked holes through the mesh, it would destroy the walls.
I am curious how you go about hanging your pieces.
Thanks again for your reply!
Tim
So, regarding not having your signature in the submissions, why? Our signature is so important as a way of identifying us. I'd appreciate your feedback. Thank you Michael.
I don’t really know why, but if you look at most of the shows on zapp, under the rules, they will say, “do not have any identity or signatures on any slides submitted.” Once I applied to Artisphere and they were kind enough to write me and reopen my application because I had not removed my signature from the art. Otherwise, they would have taken my jury fee, disqualified me In judging, and I would have never know why I kept getting rejected. I think it’s like reading a syllabus in college when it comes to the rules. The first read I think I got it, but see so much more on the second or third read. In the end, I don’t know why, they just say do it so I do. 😁
Good luck and I hope to be your neighbor at an upcoming show.
@@theartistlife6988 thank you very much for your thoughtful feedback. I hope you have a fantastic show season.
If they leave the booth with a newly purchased painting, do you wrap it with something? or have a box to put them in for them to carry?
I have bags that I make out of bubble wrap. It’s how I transport the paintings myself. The large ones I normally deliver to their home.
Graphic display system panels are algo great
I like those too. Thank you.
Great video. Can I ask, what do you do with your reproductions to sell? Do you use a sleeve, or envelope? I am a photographer, and looking to get into art fairs for next season, having a hard time figuring what to do with the paper prints. Thanks in advance!
Thanks. I got a shrink wrap machine about 30 years ago that I use. I put them on foam core using clear photo corners. Let’s the customer look through the bin and protects the reproduction for them until they can get them framed. Good luck in your venture and I hope to see you as my neighbor at an upcoming show.
@@theartistlife6988 Thanks for the comment. I will look into that. Likewise!
great video - I am about to do my third art show and your tips were very helpful. How do you deal with people who say your art is pricey? I was selling handprinted notecards 5 for $25, each card was one of a kind, no duplications. She said they were pricey . I replied with - maybe but they are each an original hand painted creation. She walked away. I think I handled it well but it did shake my confidence a little.
Thank you so much. I hear you about people who say the price is too much. It kind of gets to me too. Last year I noticed something about them. There was this guy saying rather loud, that my prices were too high for the community that the show was in. I just smiled and did not engage with him, but inside I wanted to say all kinds of things. He left and the next couple who walked in, literally said, “we will buy this one.” I noticed this started happening at every show. A bad experience followed by a great one. So now I feel whenever someone is complaining that they don’t have enough money to purchase my work, I get so happy because the next person who walks in is going to but an original. 😊 I think it can be so difficult dealing with certain people at shows, but each encounter that is negative is teaching me something. Most of the time I don’t know what it is teaching me, but I do know something is happening that I will understand later if I just remain open to the lesson. My first show ever, an artist told me that I need to price my work for my customer and not what I can afford. It took me a while to learn this, but my prices are higher than the average bear can afford because the work is more than worth it. It sounds to me that you provide more than enough value in your work too.
I wish you all the success in the world in your ventures and hope to see you at one of the shows.
Hey thanks for the video. I enjoyed it. I do that question though. If you were to sell a large painting at the show does the customer walk away with it there on the spot or come back and get it later?
Thank you. It depends upon the customer and where the show is. In certain areas, I find that I deliver that evening to the customer's home if they live in the area. Sometimes they have a vehicle that can take it and they pull it around to the front gate and you load it up for them. Other times, they live in a different state and the painting needs to be shipped. I create a wood box for these situations and ship the work. I eat the shipping cost as well, but I charge enough for my work, where I don't mind the expense to make the sale. Large also is different to different people. A painting that is 24" x 36" is average to me and 48" x 60" is large. I always hope the large sales are local so I can deliver it and even hang it with the right hooks and equipment. The collector in these cases appreciates this service and it helps establish a relationship for future purchases in my opinion. I hope that makes sense.
@@theartistlife6988 makes perfect sense thanks for the help. I've only done one small show because my wife became disabled that year so we had to pull back. now we're thinking about getting back into it.
How do you hang your work? Is there a video with that? 🙏🏻 thanks
I use drapery hooks that I get at Walmart. Super cheap but they are better than s-hooks that come with the mesh walls.
I wonder if you could tell me where you purchased or how you made the checkout stand you use? It looks very functional and I need something similar, but had not thought to make one that is tall like that. Thanks for the info. Very useful.....Beth
Sure thing. I bought mine at Pro Panel. The link is www.propanels.com/product-category/alldpb/
Thanks for watching.
Thanks so much.
Why do the jurors want to not see signatures on the artwork? Chances are they can’t even make it out from a photo. How is it wrong?
I appreciate your thoughts and to tell you the truth, I don’t know why shows have rules like this but they do, so for some reason I just follow the rules and get into the shows. I wish you the best.
What do you use for the labels ?
I make them from a sublimation machine that I have but a person can use anything. I have seen people use simple white stickers with hand written prices on them.
Good evening, I really appreciated this video. I thought it was very informative and well done. My wife is a tattoo artist who paints and we have been considering doing a show or two a year. Would you have any advise you would be willing to share on canvas prints? Where to get good ones? How best to photograph for them? And how many is appropriate to bring to a show? Thank you for the advice and good luck moving forward.
Thank you so much for your compliments. I would be willing to bet in your town there is someone who photographs artwork and makes a good canvas print for you. I personally scan all my own paintings in-house and produce my reproductions here as well. It's an investment in equipment at the start, but it pays off over a long period of time. I think a person could have as few as ten paintings, which I was down to at the end of last season to my comfortable number of twenty pictures for a show. It really depends on how long it takes to make a painting for each artist. I am pretty slow, whereas I have seen artists produce incredible work in five days. Someone once told me at the start of my art festival career, that it takes five years to really get the hang of the game. I think maybe because each one of us is so different in the art game. I do like the idea of 60 months, to get a handle on art festivals, but I also think it takes that time investment for anything to actually start working. This is more than you ask about, but something I have been thinking a lot about these days and just thought I would put it out there to see if others have had the same experience with life. I just might be a slow learner too. :) I hope to be your neighbor at a show in the future and wish you two all the success in the world.
I really appreciate the your insight. I looked into it a bit, we live in Dallas there are a few fine art scanners around I can reach out to. What do you recommend for presenting the original art? Do you think you get better response by framing your art with a simple frame or leaving the edges bare? We go back and forth.
That’s a good question. I frame my works, but I know many artist who don’t. I get my frames from Frame Destination right there in Dallas. They are good people to work with. The first few shows I didn’t have frames and just had painted edges.
How about electricity, bo you have to provide your own extension cords?
You do supply your own cord. I carry a 50' cord in the van for the shows that have electricity.
Hi Michael, Thank you, Thank you and Thank you for this video. I am going to do my first Art show in a month and your video is so helpful. I spent $400 in application and still need to buy all the gear. Not sure if i will recover that back or no but out of curiosity just wanted to ask. Do lot of people buy expensive Art just seeing art work for the short time while they are at your booth and meeting the artist for first time ? Also do you offer refunds/returns ? I dont know how it works at art fairs, are all sales final ?
Thank you for your questions. You will recover your money and then some of you stick with it. One show might not do the trick and you might need a dozen under you belt to recover all your cost and make each show profitable. Sometimes people may try something to see if it works, but with the Art Festivals you’ll want to commit to them in order to really make them pay off. Selling expensive work at shows is very possible. Most of the people in the game do it as well as myself. Sometimes it’s repeat customers and others are first time customers. One thing I think is true for all the artists, some shows you’ll do terrible and others you’ll feel like your flush with cash. Nobody that I know of has been a success at every show they have done.
I have never had a return as of yet. I think if the painting didn’t go in the persons home, they would call me and let me know and I would take care of them.
I just saw this comment so my apologies in answering so late, but I do hope your show was a success for you and you learned a ton to make your next one even better.
@@theartistlife6988 hi Michael, Thankyou so much for your reply and valuable advice. Appreciate it a lot. This show wasn’t good for me :) and I’m glad you mentioned that some shows will be terrible. I will Atleast keep trying once in a while if not often for the shows.
It will come around. I am sorry the show didn’t go as well as it could have. I do know that I have asked people I lookup to about shows that aren’t the best for them and they all say it still happens to them as well. They also say finding “your shows” is part of the business. One person may do great at “XYZ Show” and another person finds it to be a dog. I don’t know why this is but I do find it to be true for myself. Another thing that happens is a show will seem to be bad a few weeks later the phone rings from someone who has been thinking about the art they saw. So a low profit show can suddenly become your best show of the year. Wish you all the success in the world with your art and business.
@@theartistlife6988 Thankyou for your advice and heartfelt wishes. regards !
I know these are usually all day events, if your running your tent by yourself, does the events provide someone to watch your tent while you take a bathroom break?
Most shows have booth sitters. I text the number they provide and a booth sitter will show up for a 5-10 minute break. Other times the bathroom might be so close and the neighbors if there are two of them, I ask if they will watch the booth for a few minutes.
I am about to do my first 10x10 tent art festival showcasing my photography. I need both cost-efficient 3 wall lights and an 8 to 10-hour battery source for everything. Any recommendations?
A Jackery 1000w power station is a good bet along with led lights. You can get it all on Amazon. My set up last the full day and I recharge it every night at the hotel.
Thank you, I will review.
Well done! Based on what you’ve shared I think I’ll just let mine collect dust in the basement until my heirs throw it in a garbage bin at a future date…. LOL…. P.S. 400K people? Shoot me now!
thanks
I am just starting to research doing art shows and fairs and all of this meticulous juror-judged stuff sounds horrifying, but then you get accepted and set up your actual display completely different than the photo that got you accepted. And they allow this? How does that work? I'm so confused. I'm pretty sure I will never do a jurored show.
I hear you about the confusion when it comes to booth shots. I would make the game rules a lot different than what they are. Good luck to any road you travel.
Why can’t you have your signature or name anywhere??
Thanks for your comment. I was just looking at an application on Zapp and they had it in big red letters, DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME ON YOUR BOOTH SHOT! I thought to myself, why do they say this? The answer I came up with is, I don’t know, but if I don’t follow the rules I will be disqualified and won’t be accepted into the show. 😂
@@theartistlife6988 hahah thanks for replying. My guess was it has something to do with bias if they can see the name?? Like if the person is famous or something they might get special treatment so they want to make sure that doesn’t happen? Idk but it’s good to know.