Posted by Sam Shields on February 1, 2015 at 1:13pm
Hi my name is Sam I'm new to Art Fair Insider. Great to be here! Was wondering if anyone knows of good shows to participate in Northern IL/Southern WI area. Have heard great things about Step by Step promotions. Looking for more opinions. Thanks!
We have done most of the Step by Step shows. It really depends on your work. The shows tend to be more "crafty" than "art". They do bring out attendees. The November show at Greys Lake is their biggest show. We have dropped all shows in Chicago and all Spring Shows for Step by Step. For us, they were not worth the expense and time.
It can be, Sam. The Chicago market has so many shows and each neighborhood is different with its own clientele. A lot of it depends on your work if a particular show will work for you. It is the nature of this business that what works for someone in your media may not work for you. There is lots of trial and error.
I'd definitely try Robert's suggestions and then I'd also search this site for reviews of shows in those areas, also at our site ArtShowReviews.com (which by the way has just been updated and is more user-friendly for anyone who is interested) and also check our site CallsforArtists.com, which lists other events not on the Zapp list.
Thank you for the great advice! I have friends that used to be in the Chicago market years ago they said it business was really good. Is this still the case do you know?
Go to ZAPP, log in and do a search for shows by key words Illinois and Wisconsin. Copy the show description by printing them out. Make a notebook of them. Go to the search tab on the UR of the home page and search each shows to see what has been written on them. Copy that and add to the notebook. Then click on the tab at the top of the page here where it says "Art Show Reviews" and search there for the two states. You should come away with an excellent resource for yourself. Good luck in your research!
Comments
We have done most of the Step by Step shows. It really depends on your work. The shows tend to be more "crafty" than "art". They do bring out attendees. The November show at Greys Lake is their biggest show. We have dropped all shows in Chicago and all Spring Shows for Step by Step. For us, they were not worth the expense and time.
Peoria Art Gild Fine Art Fair has gotten good reviews.
It can be, Sam. The Chicago market has so many shows and each neighborhood is different with its own clientele. A lot of it depends on your work if a particular show will work for you. It is the nature of this business that what works for someone in your media may not work for you. There is lots of trial and error.
I'd definitely try Robert's suggestions and then I'd also search this site for reviews of shows in those areas, also at our site ArtShowReviews.com (which by the way has just been updated and is more user-friendly for anyone who is interested) and also check our site CallsforArtists.com, which lists other events not on the Zapp list.
The Chicago area is so saturated with shows I've sworn those off.
I have been looking at shows in IL, but there's so many of them it's really hard to sort them out.
Go to ZAPP, log in and do a search for shows by key words Illinois and Wisconsin. Copy the show description by printing them out. Make a notebook of them. Go to the search tab on the UR of the home page and search each shows to see what has been written on them. Copy that and add to the notebook. Then click on the tab at the top of the page here where it says "Art Show Reviews" and search there for the two states. You should come away with an excellent resource for yourself. Good luck in your research!