Anyone do this show? I was juried in but could not attend at last minute. I need some feedback, please! Thanx!
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Anyone do this show? I was juried in but could not attend at last minute. I need some feedback, please! Thanx!
You need to be a member of Art Fair Insiders to add comments!
Replies
By far the worst show I have ever been in. Many very specific promises made in the calls for artists, none of which were fulfilled. They very specifically said they would be marketing to the region's fine art buyers and would not be aiming at the beach crowd. The only people who came were there for the music, and there weren't many of those (on Sunday night, there were probably only a few hundred people left in the audience for Jefferson Starship, so even the music side was a bust). One of the national champion barbecue teams brought in for the food section told me he was in for $12,000 costs and was off his normal business by 95%. The promotor told me that only 5000 people came through the gate on Saturday. In their pitch to us, the projection was 50,000 each weekend day (due to the name music acts). They promised a million dollars in marketing, but as is usual in these cases, a large percentage of that is in-kind trades with local radio and newspapers, but LA is such a fragmented media market few people new the show existed. None of the locals in Huntington Beach I talked to knew there was an art festival at all, though some knew about the music side. I live in Newport Beach (the next town south and the area with an actual art-buying demographic) and saw absolutely nothing about the festival in any promotion other than Facebook ads (which still focused more on the food and music).
They also charged people $20 if they just wanted to come in to see the art festival and food (BBQ competitors and food trucks, when the marketing literature had promised fine dining). Of course, that meant zero impulse walk-up entrances from the beach crowd.
I wouldn't have done this show (the language in the pitch made to artists, the requirement of only a single example image in the application, plus my local knowledge about the types of crowds generally drawn to HB waterfront events were all red flags) except that I live only 10 minutes away, and there are no real major festivals in the area other than the summer-long Laguna shows (please, someone, produce one!), so it was a low risk. Not only did I not sell anything, I actually counted 12 people setting foot in my booth on the Sunday (over 9 hours). Two of those were so drunk I wanted them out before they could throw up on the art.
The one positive was that I got to know a lot of my fellow artists far better than ever before, since we were literally the only people there. There's a long email thread going around (the promotors didn't seem to know how to BCC emails) and the word "fraud" is coming up a lot. I don't actually think they set out to defraud the artists. It felt more like a giant out-of-control ever-growing pile of incompetance.
Every artist I've talked to is wondering what kind of compesation we might be offered due to the misrepresentations made. I only lost the booth fees and time, but artists came in from Florida, Montana, Washington, and more, so they took major losses. Very few people made back their booth fees.
You can be very happy about not being there.
Wow! I guess I dodged a bullet alright. I was getting the "red flags" as well and was a bit leery, but art festivals of any worth are so rare here. I live in Long Beach so it was very convenient, but it sure did sound like what I saw when I went there on Sunday.
First, I arrived just as they opened the door and was stunned to hear $24 admission fees. WTF? I've never heard of anything so preposterous. Also, it looked like there were probably less than 100 artists? There was no sign of any kind on PCH and I never heard any promotion on any of the 5 radio stations I listen to. $Million-dollar promotion my ass.
I am so angry and sorry for the artists who wasted their time. HB art association really talked this up but I wonder if they are as sorry as the artists. What a scam.
I just don't know why the area lacks decent festivals. Long Beach is downright an alien territory to most creative types unless you're into music, but as a visual artist, I've always sought elsewhere as local venues were so rotten.
Let others know about this promoter so they can be warned. What's your website? I'd like to check out your art. You may find mine at http://dimensionalcanvas.com.
Thanks again for the well-defined feedback and let AFI know about this. I hope the future will be better.
Gregory
Wow! I guess I dodged a bullet alright. I was getting the "red flags" as well and was a bit leery, but art festivals of any worth are so rare here. I live in Long Beach so it was very convenient, but it sure did sound like what I saw when I went there on Sunday.
First, I arrived just as they opened the door and was stunned to hear $24 admission fees. WTF? I've never heard of anything so preposterous. Also, it looked like there were probably less than 100 artists? There was no sign of any kind on PCH and I never heard any promotion on any of the 5 radio stations I listen to. $Million-dollar promotion my ass.
I am so angry and sorry for the artists who wasted their time. HB art association really talked this up but I wonder if they are as sorry as the artists. What a scam.
I just don't know why the area lacks decent festivals. Long Beach is downright an alien territory to most creative types unless you're into music, but as a visual artist, I've always sought elsewhere as local venues were so rotten.
Let others know about this promoter so they can be warned. What's your website? I'd like to check out your art. You may find mine at http://dimensionalcanvas.com.
Thanks again for the feedback and let AFI know about this BS. I hope the future will be better.
Gregory