Canton Museum National Fine Art Show, Ohio

Comment by Connie Mettler on May 9, 2011 at 10:09pm

Congratulations, Katie, for supporting this new event and on your sales also! Good job on that.

I heard some other talk about this event "through the grapevine" today with talk of all the things that the organizer, Ron Beahn, did right.

So here's the challenge. I've been involved a number of times at organizing an indoor event (Toledo - 3 times, Indianapolis and Novi). Every time a beautiful show was put on, in Toledo we really pulled out all the stops with a charity partner, community support, amazing group of artists, party, dancing, preview gala, many $$$ spent on advertising... making these really happen is such a challenge. Sure wish there was a magic bullet.

I also heard about an outdoor event that had its third show recently. It started mostly invitational with some of the top artists in the country, a stellar artist advisory committee who knew all the things artists needed for a good show, a show producer who really knows how to put on events and in an affluent area, yet I hear disappointing results. Where's the magic bullet?

Comment by katie balas on May 10, 2011 at 3:15pm

I wish I knew Connie.  New/young shows are tough to get going, established shows have a reputation going for them, that's why they're successful.  People tend to wait for the reputable show to buy their artwork so they can say "oh, I bought that at the 'such-and-such' show", it's like bragging  rights.  If you think about it, saying I bought that piece at the Canton Museum National Art Show sounds pretty impressive, maybe that's why it's having a good start.  I guess it's how you present the show and your target audience, but with the economy the way it is, any new show is going to have quite a hill to climb to make it.....but isn't that how every show started?  Is there any show out there that's had instant success?

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