Rising booth fees. Where is this going?

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Permalink Reply by Alice Grashoff on March 7, 2010 at 5:33pm

I am confused. The show that is hard to get into is that the old Chautauqua show with the old people on the committee that is not held in Chautauqua any more? And the new show put on by the artist who wanted to go back to Chautauqua is now the show in Chautauqua with two weekends and is this one easier to get into now????????

Nels Johnson said:

Keep me posted on the development of this show.In the 80s and early 90s I did the Chautaqua Show a number of times--then the committee said no photographers allowed. Probably, because we were having more fun than others--Aloha, Nels Johnson

Debbie Moyer said:

Someone made a comment in a post I read that artists and other groups are getting together to start their own shows. It happens that a friend of mine is in the process of trying to put a show together.

A bit of history. An artist association in a nearby town has been putting on an art show for many years. It was always held in a small, quaint community that sits on a lake in NY state. Always had very good traffic, good sales, etc. Pulled many boaters from the lake, as well as lots of traffic from many neighboring towns. It is across the lake from the Chautauqua Institute, which is a cultural institute that has been around for over 100 years. People pay mega bucks to stay there during the "season". Lots of disposable income. Anyway, approx. 10 years ago a member of the artist association had a disagreement with the mayor of the town and the association ended up moving the show to another location on the lake. The show has struggled along since. My friend, a watercolorist, who has participated in this show for years, has tried to convince the association that they should consider going back to the previous location. The majority of the people on the board are elderly (and I mean elderly) and are just not interested in doing anything different or making any changes.

She took the bull by the horns and contact the mayor of the town, who was thrilled about the idea of having an artist show back - he has offered us 2 weekends for the upcoming season, 1 in July and 1 in August. This will not be a big show, rather small with 25 - 30 artists in a small park right in the middle of town - all traffic (pedestrian and vehicle) passes by this park. It sets right next to the largest hotel in the town. By the way, there is a big boat show that 1st weekend, so we should see additional traffic from that as well.

Needless to say, we are trying to keep expenses down as low as possible. Many of us are donating time, office supplies, etc., to help her get this going. The fee to the artists will be mininal, basically enough to help us cover paid advertising. We have been able to get free advertising thru a number of local newspapers, etc. One of the artists is designing posters, ;I am supplying the paper, another artist is printing them, etc.

What we are trying to do is create a more casual, less rigid environment for the artists to display and sell their work. A number of artist will be doing demos as well. Hoping that the atmosphere will feel good to the patrons as well. We are very excited about this venture, and very nervous as well. Should be very interesting. Wish us luck - we will see what happens.

Debbie

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Permalink Reply by Chris Hoyt on March 8, 2010 at 7:11am

A Friday setup can be a deciding factor if I do a show or not. Especially in summer! Who wants to set up outside on a hot muggy morning and then spend the rest of the day sweaty!

Linda Anderson said:

Well, that makes sense then. I always like to set up the day before when possible and only when there is security. Thanks for the input!

Art on the Lawn said:

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Permalink Reply by katie balas 15 hours ago

Did you also notice that they have cut down on the amount of shows they are offering? That's probably why the prices have gone up...to makeup the difference, but who knows. I did one H.A. show and will never do another, so it's no shirt off my back.

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Permalink Reply by Linnea Lahlum 11 hours ago

FWIW, East Lansing never has allowed prior night set-up on Friday. It's not the art fair, it's the city. So early Saturday is extremely hectic.

Linda Anderson said:

Well, that makes sense then. I always like to set up the day before when possible and only when there is security. Thanks for the input!

Art on the Lawn said:

It's possible that they are simply trying to recover some of the cost of security. Many items in the budget that used to be included as a matter of course are now being looked at as additional expense as the price of everything from security to advertising to coffee and donuts for breakfast has risen.

All that said, unless there is some actual expense to the host, sounds like a way to get an extra $10 from anyone who wants to set up early. For the record, both of the shows I direct encourage setup the afternoon or evening before, but both also advise that artists assume all risk for loss or damage. I've never had anyone suffer loss or damage of a canopy at either show. I would never advise setting up product and leaving it overnight without good security.
barbara

Linda Anderson said:

I have not come across this yet... perhaps others have.
East Lansing Art Fair has a "special Friday night setup" option for an additional $10.
Their booth space is a reasonable $250, and $10 is not alot, but this just struck me as odd.
Perhaps it's me that is odd?

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Permalink Reply by Linda Anderson 11 hours ago

Well, that makes even more sense - they must be trying something new and the extra $10 is likely to cover the extra city expenses (police etc). I am glad that if the load in has been hectic in the past, they are addressing that by allowing Friday nite setup. Thanks all for the input!

Linnea Lahlum said:

FWIW, East Lansing never has allowed prior night set-up on Friday. It's not the art fair, it's the city. So early Saturday is extremely hectic.

Linda Anderson said:

Well, that makes sense then. I always like to set up the day before when possible and only when there is security. Thanks for the input!

Art on the Lawn said:

It's possible that they are simply trying to recover some of the cost of security. Many items in the budget that used to be included as a matter of course are now being looked at as additional expense as the price of everything from security to advertising to coffee and donuts for breakfast has risen.

All that said, unless there is some actual expense to the host, sounds like a way to get an extra $10 from anyone who wants to set up early. For the record, both of the shows I direct encourage setup the afternoon or evening before, but both also advise that artists assume all risk for loss or damage. I've never had anyone suffer loss or damage of a canopy at either show. I would never advise setting up product and leaving it overnight without good security.
barbara

Linda Anderson said:

I have not come across this yet... perhaps others have.
East Lansing Art Fair has a "special Friday night setup" option for an additional $10.
Their booth space is a reasonable $250, and $10 is not alot, but this just struck me as odd.
Perhaps it's me that is odd?

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Permalink Reply by Debbie Moyer 7 hours ago

Yes, you are confused.
The show that my friend is starting up in not a replacement for the show at Chautauqua Institute - that show goes on every year without fail. It is the show that is difficult to get into and the 1 that Nels used to do before they got the silly idea that photography was not art. Idiots!
The show she is trying to revive, with the old committee that wants to keep everything the same & not advertise is called Art in the Park - held in Mayville, NY, about 15 miles away from the Institute. They are going to continue to have that show as well. One of the reasons that we tried to get them to update things and consider going back to their old location is quite frankly the fact that they get very little traffic at their current location. No people equals no sales.
The location for "our" new show is a town across the lake from both of the other shows, Bemus Point, NY. Because of its location on the lake, the restaurants, dance places, lake deep enough for boaters to dock & come ashore right there, the boat shows, and other events that the town does to draw people, it gets a much larger stream of traffic - more people hopefully means more sales.
Hope this is a bit clearer.
Debbie

Alice Grashoff said:

I am confused. The show that is hard to get into is that the old Chautauqua show with the old people on the committee that is not held in Chautauqua any more? And the new show put on by the artist who wanted to go back to Chautauqua is now the show in Chautauqua with two weekends and is this one easier to get into now????????

Nels Johnson said:

Keep me posted on the development of this show.In the 80s and early 90s I did the Chautaqua Show a number of times--then the committee said no photographers allowed. Probably, because we were having more fun than others--Aloha, Nels Johnson

Debbie Moyer said:

Someone made a comment in a post I read that artists and other groups are getting together to start their own shows. It happens that a friend of mine is in the process of trying to put a show together.

A bit of history. An artist association in a nearby town has been putting on an art show for many years. It was always held in a small, quaint community that sits on a lake in NY state. Always had very good traffic, good sales, etc. Pulled many boaters from the lake, as well as lots of traffic from many neighboring towns. It is across the lake from the Chautauqua Institute, which is a cultural institute that has been around for over 100 years. People pay mega bucks to stay there during the "season". Lots of disposable income. Anyway, approx. 10 years ago a member of the artist association had a disagreement with the mayor of the town and the association ended up moving the show to another location on the lake. The show has struggled along since. My friend, a watercolorist, who has participated in this show for years, has tried to convince the association that they should consider going back to the previous location. The majority of the people on the board are elderly (and I mean elderly) and are just not interested in doing anything different or making any changes.

She took the bull by the horns and contact the mayor of the town, who was thrilled about the idea of having an artist show back - he has offered us 2 weekends for the upcoming season, 1 in July and 1 in August. This will not be a big show, rather small with 25 - 30 artists in a small park right in the middle of town - all traffic (pedestrian and vehicle) passes by this park. It sets right next to the largest hotel in the town. By the way, there is a big boat show that 1st weekend, so we should see additional traffic from that as well.

Needless to say, we are trying to keep expenses down as low as possible. Many of us are donating time, office supplies, etc., to help her get this going. The fee to the artists will be mininal, basically enough to help us cover paid advertising. We have been able to get free advertising thru a number of local newspapers, etc. One of the artists is designing posters, ;I am supplying the paper, another artist is printing them, etc.

What we are trying to do is create a more casual, less rigid environment for the artists to display and sell their work. A number of artist will be doing demos as well. Hoping that the atmosphere will feel good to the patrons as well. We are very excited about this venture, and very nervous as well. Should be very interesting. Wish us luck - we will see what happens.

Debbie

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