Putting the dreams and pieces together

How does an art festival plan its budget? What's so hard about putting on a small event and what about those big blockbuster events with sponsors, good prize money and hopefully buyers.

Show organizers and those who are curious about the work involved should find this article from the Chicago Tribune really interesting. Expo Chicago, September 22-25, is one of those big international events. Like the ones we do? Not exactly, but the planning, risk taking and dreaming sounds very familiar.

I loved this article about how Tony Karman brought an international event back to Chicago (Navy Pier) and made it competitive, luring galleries, patrons and artists back to the city. 

"For years," says international fine arts consultant Helyn Goldenberg, "before Miami and all the other shows that we have now, Chicago had an art fair, which was the best art fair in the country, period. It lasted a long time, and then like many things outlived its usefulness and it went away."

Karman is dedicated to keeping the arts alive and vital ... "Still, when he steps forward to make his opening remarks at the fifth Expo Chicago, the moment won't lack emotion. "Tony doesn't stand at home and practice his speech," his wife Sondra says. "He can put all the pieces together, but until the doors open and the people walk in, you never know what the energy is going to be. For him it's like opening a present and seeing what the package holds."

Everyone is working hard here, sometimes when you open the present it is coal and sometimes it is all you hoped it would be.

Read it here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-tony-karman-expo-chicago-ent-0922-20160921-story.html

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