I've done the two Bayou City shows in Houston for the past 6 years and it seems to me that the decisions the committee members (Art Colony Association Board of Directors) have been making concerning the size, layout & management of both shows are slowly (or quickly this year) eroding the overall experience for both artist and patron.
I understand that shows need to evolve and update and stay fresh but the committee for these two has made some questionable decisions over the past several years; decisions with consequences from which they have not learned...or possibly are turning a purposely blind eye.
For example, several years ago the Downtown fall show decided to put a group of artists booths in a little park which is enclosed by a tall permanent fence with only 2 small entry points. I was assigned a spot there the very first year they did it and when I questioned the location was assured it was a prime spot and even more desirable because I could now leisurely set up during the day instead of during the normal semi-chaotic nighttime crush. I had my doubts but decided to give it a chance. That show ended up being my lowest profit show ever. Myself and the other artists in the park were virtually a separate show. A show that nobody knew about. We sat and watched the crowd through the fence. It was a classic example of a dead spot and I made certain to explain the situation on my artist survey.
Unfortunately they are still putting artists in there...and the last 2 years the rain has turned that area into a low-chance-for-success, muddy nightmare. I have made sure my booth location was never in the park again and my show success there has returned to normal. For me, the rest of the Downtown show has been as well run and profitable as ever (despite the nasty weather the past 2 years) so I tend to view their decision to keep putting artists in the park as strictly money-motivated. It's definitely NOT a decision based on concern for the artists.
The Memorial Park spring show has always been a well-run beast in my past experience. There are a few small issues like some buy/sell sneaking in, loud stage acts and having street performers walk around but nothing terribly egregious. Until now.
To me the decision to add 150 artists stinks of financial desperation or art show-ignorant new board members...or both. Sadly, Ms. Kindred and her staff are left to deal with the fall-out of such unwise and short-sighted board decisions. I am a firm believer in decreasing the number of artists in a show when you want to raise the quality and experience for everyone involved. The Winter Park show in Florida is a good example of this strategy.
Of course, the Art Colony Board has every right to enlarge their show (no matter how poor a decision that might be) but the method in which they chose to do it in this particular case may just be the death of a formerly good show...and the taint of this seriously bad decision-making is going to inevitably have consequences for the Downtown show.
Once you betray the trust of your high-quality artist pool the end isn't far away.
I have been bemused by the way the Art Colony Board has chosen to manage their spring show and after some thought it seems to me that they must believe we artists are simply a limitless & interchangeable factor in their financial calculations. In the acceptance email back in December it stated that over 1500 applications had been received for 300 openings. I suppose that to a non-artist board member that must seem like an almost bottomless (and lucrative) artist pool and, therefore, no matter what conditions they mandate the artists and their fee money will always come begging for a spot.
If art quality didn't matter to the art show patrons that would be a true enough situation.
But art quality does matter. In truth, to be a top tier art show it's about the only factor that does. Everything else is just window dressing.
Were I a board member I would be very worried about alienating a large chunk of the best artists in the “bottomless artist pool” because once they stop coming to the show(s) the fine-art patrons will stop coming too. Sure, for awhile there will be more artists ready to pay the high booth fees and show up to gamble on the crowd but the people that comes to the show will not be there to buy art and without buyers, well...enough said.
So if the Art Colony Board is aiming for a low end, buy/sell infested, mediocre show I'd say that by behaving in such an unprofessional, erratic and downright sneaky manner they've taken a big step toward that goal. This could have been handled so differently. It's hard to imagine a professional group of people purposely making the sorts of decisions that have been made.
I wonder what the 6 people (2 of whom are on the Art Colony Board) who originally spent so much time and effort to jury this show think of the changes. It would feel like a slap in the face to me.
Comments
Hi Carol, I believe that if anybody that accepting the invitation, must be really, really, REALLY in need of any boost! I feel for them since I am quite dry now(I mean, THAT close to the edge of broke) but I do have a 2 months of shows coming up solid so it's not so bad, and I need to stick to the plan with building inventory at home instead of running to the show.
I pray everybody drive away with at least a decent out come, but I will not bet for it. It is horrible, I feel like my friends that are invited are being cheated and I want no part of this.
I wasn't going to write to them but the second friendly reminder to accept and confirm got to me, so I did. I may not be invited ever again if the show board hold it againts me but it feels good to do the right thing, that is not helping any show to dig their grave :-D
Have a good season everyone!
HA! Kenchana Nerato - I just read your post: I, too, am a "rejected then reconsidered" artist! Feels great....NOT! Yes, I could really use that money too. It was a great boost last March. Well, there are 3 of us here who are "doing the right thing" as you put it, but you know that many artists will just be thrilled to get the invite to that show.
I got the email, too, Debra - it was postmarked Sunday, but I didn't get it until this morning, Monday am. I am in Raleigh, NC. It would take me 2 days to get there. Which means I would have had a day and a half to get my act together to be on the road at zero dark thirty Wed. am. I had a GREAT Memorial Park show last March and it killed me to decline, but with everything going on, it's obvious that I was among the last of the last to be invited, and, honestly, that doesn't feel very good. Then, knowing I would be in the back of the back, and doing a show that already got 2400 not-very-happy emails about this whole thing......I sent a nice "thanks but no thanks" - and, no, it wasn't anywhere on my Zapplication page either. They aren't endearing themselves to us with this process, are they?!!
I got an email this morning (Monday the 24th of March) asking me to Accept or Decline of Zapp.... this is the second letter they sent me. I got the email today and it said I had until Sunday night as in "YESTERDAY" to decide.... geez.... and it had the words... you must accept by tomorrow evening Sunday.....Whoops it's MONDAY Houston.
I've been on Zapp several times in the last 3 weeks to Decline and it has never been on my Zapplications. Not sure what they are doing but I don't need to be a part of it.
I was invited last night to pay booth fee today, as a rejected/reconsidered to be placed in the back loop, and that's so it is fair to the first round invited artists. I don't think what they are doing is fair to anybody.
I declined the invitation, as much as I can use that extra show right now-I can not accept this practice in Art Festival business. I hope many re-considered artists feel the same and do the right thing. I hope the board of the show can see this mistake and make it right next year.
Jacki, that article is excellent. It clearly shows that the new board has very little experience with artists. They have experience with marketing and they want to raise more money. They need to be focusing on getting more collectors out to the two shows, not making money on the backs of artists by adding exhibitors and raising booth fees. If they now have a team of 5 marketing, they should be able to double or triple their attendance. We have one show in Raleigh, a city 1/3 the size of Houston, and attendance is always around 70,000. A couple years ago when the weather was ideal for both days is was 90,000. With a team of 5 marketing people, in one of the fastest growing cities in the country, they should also be able to double or triple their sponsorship;that's what BCAF needs to focus on, not adding 50% more artists and not adding artists by calling the ones you know. When an art festival goes from being everybody's favorite to generating 2400 alarmed emails, that is not the direction you want things to be going.
Carol, I post this in other blog and other forums about this show. We really do not care if the quality of artist goes down until it start affecting our bottom line. Artist are pulling out because they believe that show wont support 450 artist. Artist pull out when the artists at the show not pricing the art to fair market. Artist pull out when is more buy and sale that anything else. That is the honest true. Also we need to be fair the shows need to make money adding more artist may be a solution, add an entry fee is another choice or you may need to both. Yes there are many other shows but we need keep in mind that our industry is going downhill for the last 10 years or so. I believe it started after 911 and we still dealing with the market crash. I hoping and praying that all the artist do well at the show.
Watching this discussion, and having done both shows in 2013 (and pleased with the results) I hope that the artists who decide to do Memorial Park "anyway" will let us know how it turns out for them. I was disappointed to not be invited back to Memorial Park this month, and I, too, was amazed that they sent "invites" to clean the park to everyone on their mailing list, but I am still betting that a lot of artists will go and many will still do very well. I honestly think the majority of art council boards do not care so much about "art" as they do about their bottom lines. They may not even notice the drop in quality! It's only those of us who work so hard to make a living this way who really notice the changes.
Here is an interesting article I found about this situation:
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/artattack/2014/03/bayou_city_art_fest...
That is a very interesting article and it includes a letter from Susan Fowler.
What they really need is a new show dire tor who knows what he/she is doing. That person needs to have a strong personality to reign in a board of directors that have proven to be clueless. Every change they have made, every change they have proposed for future shows will only ruin the shows. They have no idea what they are doing. Houston is supposed to be the 4th largest city in the US and they can only get 30,000 people to attend? Amazing!! They should be able to at least triple the attendance without increasing the number of booths or adding other distractions.
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