Seems the organizers of the Space Coast Art Festival in Cocoa Beach, FL, couldn't get it together and have cancelled the event just now.
COCOA BEACH — After a 52-year run there will be no Space Coast Art Festival this year and, apparently, no refunds for artists who signed up to participate in the event.
However, next year organizers have secured Manatee Park after reaching a deal Tuesday with the city of Cape Canaveral. John Alexander, chairman of festival, known as SCAF, said it was too late in the game to get the park for this year's show.
"It just wasn't humanly possible," Alexander said.
Sounds like there won't be refunds for artists.
Were you planning on being there this Thanksgiving weekend?
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Yes, I made it clear the reasons for cancellation were because the landowners of Port Canaveral had several large ships in that weekend and needed the parking. Also, due to the Category 4 hurricane off the coast of Florida, the Winter Park Autumn Art Festival (one of the largest in Florida) has had to cancel as well. Not sure the refunding policy there. Anyone involved with that?
Just so everyone knows...ALL MONIES ARE AVAILBLE FOR REFUND. The artists have been advised to all the options available.
Show had been great the last 2 years, PORT CANVERAL cancelled, not SCAF .
Contact your credit card provider and explain the situation, I: E: lack of service being provided. Your credit card provider should provide a refund of fees paid. I have seen several comments were this has occurred.
I'm not involved except as a member of the art community in general, but I am hopeful that some refunds can be arranged. This business is hard enough as it is without something like this happening to already strapped budgets. Good luck, all.
Okay, here's a link. The COCOA BEACH art festival will be held as planned. The SPACE COAST art festival will not (this year). Refunds to artists are being worked on....
http://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/2016/10/03/cocoa-beach-art-s...
I agree. I have since heard that the President of the Space Coast Art Festival, John Alexander, has since resigned. And he has no comment.
Getting a free booth for the next year isn't helpful. Suppose there are changes in the artists' plans, making them unable to attend: money forfeited. The fact that the show is unwilling to give a cash refund THIS year suggests that the money was already spent, perhaps not wisely or in the artists' best interests. A reputable business doesn't operate this way.
Apparently, the rest of the story is that artists who paid their booth fees will receive a booth in the 2017 show, tentatively held at Manatee Park in Cocoa. No refunds, but booth fee for 2017 paid. Not sure I would do business that way, but having had to cancel two shows before due to a vehicle breakdown and subsequent limp back home, and getting a "free" booth space the following year (but absolutely no refund for the other), I would take the space (although the money would be better, to pay for other shows).
Yikes! As an exhibiting artist in last year's COCOA BEACH ART FESTIVAL, I can tell you, it's been a political fiasco from the beginning. For 50 years, the "Space Coast Art Festival" was one entity, showing in the downtown Cocoa Beach area.
Then, road construction and other parking lot issues happened (fire station being rebuilt, etc.) forced the show committee to suggest that they try a new venue, in Port Canaveral, with ample show area and parking. The show committee became divided because some wanted the move, and others wanted the show to continue in Cocoa Beach, as it had for so many years. Therefore, two festivals emerged. The "Space Coast Art Festival," in Port Canaveral, and the "Cocoa Beach Art Festival" in downtown Cocoa Beach. Both the same weekend, of course.
Word has it on the circuit that the Port Canaveral show was dirty and not attended as well as the downtown show. I exhibited last year in the Cocoa Beach show, and loved it. Good artists, good representation, lots of foot traffic, better sales than expected. I planned to show again this year, and then the "deadline for artists to apply" was extended, and then promptly received a rejection letter soon after. No explanations, other than the usual.
In speaking with a fellow artist who also got the same news, and one who has been accepted into the Cocoa Beach show for several years, said that she heard all the 300 artists who had been accepted in the Port Canaveral show were being absorbed into the downtown show, and there was no "room" for any other artists to show. I have an e-mail out to Cindy Kelley (show director) to clarify the situation and will let you guys know what the outcome is.
Because of the inefficiency of the show promoters there's no refund for artists who paid for the show in good faith? What a rip-off! Investment with no compensation! Should be legal recourse for this sort of thing. Oh, that's right. The artists don't have any money after paying for a show that was cancelled. Catch-22, isn't it?
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