Five years ago, my first art show ever was Telfair Art Fair, an annual fund raiser for Savannah's premier art museum. At that point it was in its 12th year. Every year, a new director takes the reigns leading to an inconsistency in proceedures. Some years, Telfair took a commission from all sales. Sometimes, if you paid a healthy booth fee, Telfair processed the sales, but kept no commission. Pay a lower fee and Telfair kept a commission. The one thing consistent from year to year was a large "T" shaped tent that covered two city blocks of two intersecting streets at Telfair Square. Inside were upwards of 100 top notch artists from all over the country representing every medium including mine, photography.
Well this year things were really different with the most ambitious changes in the show's history. Gone was the massive tent. It had become an outdoor show. And additional artists (show total 140+) were added so the festival could be extended two more blocks across Savannah's original main street, Broughton, to Ellis Square, a highly trafficked tourist hub. The hope was that the new leg of tents would act as bread crumbs, enticing passers-by to follow them to the main body of the show. Gone were the commissions. Instead your booth fee was based on your location. Set up for the two and a half day show was also extended. Anyone who wanted to could set after 3:00pm on Thursday; my personal choice. I arrived during a short lived sprinkling of rain and set up my tent. The next day was Savannah's Veteran's Day parade. I arrived early to load-in my art without getting tied up in parade traffic. The show didn't start until 5:00pm so I enjoyed a leisurely set-up in fantastic weather.
Friday evening saw the Arty Party which ran from 5:00 until 9:00. This event was not open to the general public. Patrons paid from $85 to $110 each to attend this catered event which was billed as a meet and greet preview of the art and artists. My sales at this event have traditionally been low because there is more of a party mood than a buying mood. However, despite the chill and a John Mellencamp concert at the nearby civic center, this year I had record sales.
Saturday the show ran from 10:00am to 8:00pm. Customers began arriving before ten. Within the hour things really began hopping. Large crowds maxed out the walkways in my area which had three rows of tents stretching across the street and extending one block. My sales began soon after and I was crazy busy until around six. At that point customers began to wane. By 7:00 most had vacated my area.
Sunday also gave us beautiful weather. Show hours were short; from noon until 4:00. Once again crowds converged early and I had another brisk day of sales, this time beyond closing time.
For me the show was very successful. I am a fine art landscape photographer with prices ranging from $15 to $195. Most of my sales were large involving as many as nine photos at a time. 85% of my sales were to tourists. Savannah is my home and tourism is its life's blood. We are a year round destination, not for the spring break type, but for sophisticated travellers who appreciate history and art.
This year's director was volunteer, Julie Allen. She artfully pulled off an excellent show. She reminds me of Bill Kinney of Paragon, because of her tireless devotion to the artists. The main difference was she had never previously directed an art show. Julie asked for and listened to advice from artists while planning the show and was in constant communication with all of us. It will be interesting to see what is in store for the 2012 Art Fair.
Comments
I am a ceramic artist and thinking of applying to this show which brought me here. It seems location is the key - RED booths, $650.00 BLUE booths, $550.00 GREEN* booths, $350.00. Green booths are on Barnard st and not even included in the preview party. I was wondering about the location of the red & blue booths as it relates to traffic and sales. Also, the number of artists for 2012 is 120 which seems reasonable. I am traveling from Dallas TX, but my expenses are covered, since I have lived in Savannah it might be an interesting venture. However I would like to do better than paying for my booth fee. All suggestions and comments are appreciated.
Great write up Winthrope. I enjoyed reading your report. It sounded like a nice place to have been.
Jacki B
My section L was the first block off the square. Perhaps that was a bad choice. I think only 1 craftsperson did well on the whole block (12 booths) I almost made show expenses. I wish the show well. Julie works so hard. My main comment to her, besides praising her effort, was to suggest that perhaps an over 50% increase in vendors was way too much and the pie divided too small. I'm glad I was able to see a bit of the beautiful city! I'll keep my eye on the show to see what changes are made in future. Perhaps "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" is an appropriate sentiment.
Hi Winthrope. Great write up. I am glad to hear you did well. Your work is beautiful. I'm sure we will see each other again soon.
Nice write-up, Winthrope and I love reading about your historical perspective on the show! It was very nice to meet you last weekend! I agree that Julie did an outstanding job. Her communications were stellar and I don't think she ever stopped walking and checking on everyone. The volunteers were great as well with offering water, lunch, dinner, snacks.
This show was truly magical in that you could just feel the energy, especially on Friday and Sunday. I had my first sale within 10 minutes of the show starting and thought that boded well. One more sale on Saturday morning and my sales were finished for the weekend. Upon reflection, I misjudged the traffic pattern and should have re-worked my booth setup for Sunday to an inverse 'U' shape so that my glass work would show to the outside aisles rather than inside of my horseshoe shaped booth setup... just one of those lessons learned, I guess...
However, since the weekend, I've had 4 additional sales from people who had taken pictures of their fave piece of glass, written down dimensions, names of the pieces and wanted to go home to check space. I didn't expect to hear back from any of them but am glad I did. It puts me firmly in the plus column for the show... Plus the exposure into a new market for me was invaluable. My sales came from locals or from people with 2nd homes in the Savannah area with a selling price point of $245-$475.