Connie Mettler's Blog – September 2011 Archive (19)

This is year three of this art extravaganza where there is almost $500,000 worth of prizes. The prize winners are voted on by the public, so essentially a "People's Choice" award. I've attended every year. ArtPrize^® turns the city of Grand Rapids into an art gallery for two weeks. Galleries, office lobbies, restaurants, courtyards, parks compete to host the art, in addition…

The Atlanta Arts Festival is held in Midtown's Piedmont Park, the same site as the Spring Dogwood Festival. The last time I was in this park we were participating in the Dogwood and vowed never to return. The main sponsor was (I think) Purina Dog Chow and they were holding the frisbee dog championships in the middle of the park.…

I was in Atlanta September 18-20 for the Third Annual ZAPP Conference. I've been to a fair number of conferences and will tell you right off that one of the best things about attending these events is the people, both people you've only heard about (art fair directors, artists), people you've met online (say, ArtFairInsiders.com or Facebook) and old friends and acquaintances.

The first activity was to attend the Atlanta Arts…

January 28, 2012

Waukesha (Milwaukee), Wisconsin…

What are you doing this weekend? Do you live in the Midwest and have a few hours? The very coolest art event of the year appears in Grand Rapids, MI, September 21-October 9, ArtPrize. Designed as a very different art competition, the goal is for the general public and artists to collide, exchange ideas and come away changed. An international group of artists compete for amazing prices, people come from all over to view the art and vote for the prizewinners. This is year 3 -- please take my…

May 11-13, 2012

Greenville, South Carolina

West End Historic District

120 Artists

Deadline: October 6, 2011 - paper applications

October 20, 2011 - online applications (Zapplication deadline)

Greenville is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the northwest…

Here is an excellent article from WNDU.com in South Bend about the civic funding of events in St. Joe, MI. City residents were polled as to where they wanted their tax dollars to go, getting the nod:

Krasl Art Fair, the Blossomtime Parade and the 4th of July fireworks

Losing: Venetian Festival and Labor Day fireworks

Why am I writing about this here? This article explores the importance of the economic impact of festivals on the local populace, something that is of…

This just landed in my mailbox and am glad to pass it on to you as a "public service."

CALLING ALL ARTISTS! The City of Lake Worth is hosting “A Day at the Beach” mural project where local artist will display their talent by painting murals along the north end of the sea wall of the Lake Worth Municipal Beach. Applications may be picked up at City Hall: 7 North…

$11,000 in prizes

Kissimmee, Florida

Labor Day weekend is the host of three Big festivals -- in the East, Long's Park outside of Lancaster, PA; Arts, Beats & Eats in the Midwest and the Sausalito Art Festival near San Francisco. Over the years I've watched Midwest artists bypass the show in Royal Oak to go to one or the other of those really good shows. I'm always interested in what happens there. Here are some excellent links about Sausalito. Don't neglect to read the first one:…

Here's my report on Arts, Beats and Eats that took place for four days over Labor Day weekend in Royal Oak, MI, where I am the co-art director with Lisa Konikow. This event was presented for the 14th year last weekend. The first year I served as an advisor and on the board and the rest of the years have been part of the staff. This show has a huge budget and lots of…

1. All booth locations at an art fair should be created equal.
2. Sponsor booths should not be at the entrance to the art.
3. Food locations should not obscure artist booths.

The layout of Arts, Beats & Eats has always been under the control of its producer, Jon Witz. Try as I might there are some things over which I had no say. When I was presented with the layout in June I objected to the parking lot location on E. 7th, the spaces on E. 7th that were close…

So, this is too bad, but not too big a surprise, considering... Were you there? Did you pay to park? I know I paid $20 to the Unitarian Church. This probably didn't get counted in the mix as well as many of the other private parking lots. But this is the official info. Read it all here:…