Okay, so we know two art fairs that announced their closing in recent weeks: in Columbus, OH and in Novi, MI. Here are some more big changes:
Chicago's (Evanston, actually) Custer Fair, a major summer art and crafts festival that has drawn as many as 120,000 visitors, is moving to Hammond, IN, after nearly a half century in Evanston.
Organizers Tammy and Steve Szostek plan to relocate the art fair that's had as many as 400 vendors to The Pavilion at Wolf Lake Memorial Park after 48 years in downtown Evanston. She said Evanston forced them to install expensive crowd control barricades last year ... read more
And this in the Palm Springs, CA, area: Palm Springs denies a long standing event held in Frances Stevens Park, the Desert Arts Festival, a permit to use the park.
"The city is denying the festival's permits for March saying it has outgrown its location. Local artists who depend on this festival say they are stunned by the city's changes." read more
And this in Seattle: Bumbershoot, Seattle’s music and arts festival for the past 48 years, is likely to return this Labor Day, though in a smaller, scaled-back form. I know this is a music festival, but wanted to include it here because of the trend that seems to be appearing.
"The forecast for Bumbershoot has been cloudy for several years, but became particularly stormy last fall when megapromoter AEG decided to step away from its contract renewal option, putting the future of the festival in doubt. " read more
And just in case that doesn't make you pause for thought, how about this? The big, biggie, gallery events: Art world fights coronavirus with digital shows in wake of mainland China and Hong Kong event cancellations
How would you like to be showing your work only digitally??? Scary. Read more.
