Call for Artists, Making Money at Juried Art Fairs, Craft Shows and Festivals
Walking Zombies At Suncoast Arts Fest
This show boast that 70,000 people come to it. Yes that may be true but of that 70,000 only a very few come to buy art. The rest are walking through on their way to the mall stores. I really wanted this to be a great show but The patrons had no intention of buying from the artist. The set up was easy, the volunteers were great, the booth had about 5ft of space on each side so you can use the sides for display space.
Plenty of parking what more could an artist ask for? Well buyers would help for one. This was certainly not the fault of the promoter. I can not speak for everyone but the people around me were loosing just as bad as I was. I am an oil painter and I have lots of different price points none of which seemed to be cheap enough.
I survived by selling prints just enough to make back my booth fee but not enough to cover expenses. I did not sell one original I thought I came close but the when it came time to swipe the card people seemed to turn into a zombie and walk away like they never even considered making a purchase. Lets put it this way my largest single sale was $34.00
The only things I saw walking by my booth were items from the stores i.e pottery barn, coach, JC Penny etc. I do not think it was a lack of money by any means. It was more a lack of interest in anything hand made. My last two shows in Fl have been really bad. So bad I am loosing money just being here. I sure hope it s better for others than me. I have Deerfield Beach show next. Last year was ok but I blamed it on the economy if this year turns out to be as good as last year at least I will be able to make expenses and hopefully have enough gas money to get home.
I hope others are having better luck than me. My fall shows were strong and I thought things were improving but at this point I am not sure. Please reply and let us all know how things are going so far.
Plenty of parking what more could an artist ask for? Well buyers would help for one. This was certainly not the fault of the promoter. I can not speak for everyone but the people around me were loosing just as bad as I was. I am an oil painter and I have lots of different price points none of which seemed to be cheap enough.
I survived by selling prints just enough to make back my booth fee but not enough to cover expenses. I did not sell one original I thought I came close but the when it came time to swipe the card people seemed to turn into a zombie and walk away like they never even considered making a purchase. Lets put it this way my largest single sale was $34.00
The only things I saw walking by my booth were items from the stores i.e pottery barn, coach, JC Penny etc. I do not think it was a lack of money by any means. It was more a lack of interest in anything hand made. My last two shows in Fl have been really bad. So bad I am loosing money just being here. I sure hope it s better for others than me. I have Deerfield Beach show next. Last year was ok but I blamed it on the economy if this year turns out to be as good as last year at least I will be able to make expenses and hopefully have enough gas money to get home.
I hope others are having better luck than me. My fall shows were strong and I thought things were improving but at this point I am not sure. Please reply and let us all know how things are going so far.
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Comment by Diana Drake on January 25, 2010 at 10:01pm -
thanks for your post on the suncoast show. i was wondering about this one, lived in tampa & have relatives near the show. i appreciate the info.
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Comment by Roxie Spell on January 26, 2010 at 5:47am -
I did terrible at the location last year in 2009. It does not matter what time of year they have it, you cannot compete with a mall. Worst "big" show I ever did, just made boothe fee and a little more. You are right, the folks had absolutely NO interest in buying from artists.
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Comment by Connie Mettler on January 26, 2010 at 4:54pm -
Thanks for this report, Michael. Welcome to the blogosphere!
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Comment by Jennifer Simpson on January 28, 2010 at 8:37am
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I was there also, that's really funny. We were at the Bluffton Art and Seafood Festival together too..... I did really badly at that one and you sold your most expensive painting ever. I actually did pretty well at the Suncoast Arts Fest. Not thousands of dollars but I did do 10x the booth fee. I sold more originals than prints, my 25x25" canvases at $285 were my best sellers, I even had one girl buy 2 of them, I considered it a really good show when everything was thrown in (volunteers, set up, break down, parking, location). So all isn't lost, hang in there, you just had an off show. I actually think I saw your booth about 4 down from mine. Were you close to the Peruvian flute guys? lol. I saw some fabulous horse paintings hanging on the outside of a booth, that's your specialty isn't it?
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Comment by Roxie Spell on January 28, 2010 at 9:23am
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Glad to hear positive information, it was hard to take last year. Malls are hard to compete with and we had Macy's giving away $10 certificates. Free merchandise, plus we had the added problem of there having been many arts and crafts shows the weekends prior. The group running the program are wonderful and helpful, but that did not help. As he said, most would just walk by and not even look in the booth with their mall bags in hand. Really brings you down.
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Comment by Michael Lee on January 28, 2010 at 9:39am
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Jennifer,
You are correct that was me I do paint horses, but I also have beach scenes with people and various other subjects. I am glad you had a great show, hopefully that is a sign that the economy is slowly coming back. Next time we are at the same show come and say hello maybe we can compare notes on shows in our area. I could only judge the show by what artist around me were selling, basically very little. Hopefully my luck will change at my next show.
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Comment by skip stang on February 1, 2010 at 7:56pm -
Any show that has the look -a-like flute players ,...well ,I leave it at that.Stay away from the mall shows.Promoters rely on the mall being the draw NOT US.so they dont advertise.Just did one to see if they have changed with a new promoter,Tangier's Outlet NO CHANGE,same excuses (the town took our signs down)the mall did advertise with small bulletins on the mall walk ways in plain view of the tents.Stayed at a upscale R/V park 1/4 mile away with 1800 sites full.Asked my length of stay said 3 days,I'm here for the art show at the mall.Office response was "WHAT ART SHOW,AND WHAT MALL"Small detail I suppose!
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