I just wanted to let all the AFI members know that last Saturday, The Cotton South Fine Arts Festival became the first "A" list show in the country to hit 100% of those artists requesting Homestay accommodations through our Artist Homestay Program. This year we're accommodating 40 artists and their spouse/guests in private homes here in Madison as a way to help offset the cost burden of participation... and as a way to engage our community in an effort to develop friendships within the community with those who support the arts. We did it in our first year... and with 2 months still to go till the actual Festival date.
The Cotton South is innovating a number of Programs in the Festival industry... so stay tuned. T
Comments
Quick response and not sugar coated. Thank you Tim.
Maryllis, It was an amazing first year show, but with a very small crowd... and poor sales for many of our artists. Some sold multiple originals, though, and were quite satisfied. We obviously have crowd building work to do, and I expect to see major progress in that area with each show. What I realized was that there is already a market here for certain types of work... and that was encouraging. Thanks for your interest, T
Inquiring minds want to know - how did the show go?
At the risk of stirring up the hornets nest again, I'll offer my perspective on the "A" list issue.
From a Directors perspective, an A list festival is a festival with an A list cast of artists, in an A list community, and offering A list amenities to both artists and patrons. Without the above, it is difficult to impossible to bring the necessary buying demographic to the artists booths. These are the things I can control, and these are the bulk of my responsibility.
From and artists perspective, an A list show is about sales... and sales are the responsibility of the artists.
I could bring a buying demographic to town with money falling out of their pockets and the artists sales could still be crappy. And in any given show, are all the artists equally successful. Of course not. So does that mean that an A list show in one artists eyes is not an A list show in anothers? Probably so.
I call The Cotton South an A list show because we are all the above AND we are innovating programs for our artists , patrons and local merchants that are the first of their kind in the Festival industry. I expect our artists to do well with the demographic we are bringing to Madison, but I cannot guarantee sales. That is the job of the artists themselves. T
Thank you Geri! Bringing the buying crowd is my #1 objective. My crew and I have done an excellent job thus far attracting top artists to a first year festival (an almost unheard of situation), and I'm confident our efforts to attract a buying demographic will be successful as well. The whiners and gripers don't bother me... I know that what we're doing here is a good thing... and remember... we invented The No Whine Rule. Check it out on our website. T
Tim, what you are doing is commendable. I asked Coconut Grove years ago to have an adopt an artist program since hotel rates are extremely high the weekend of the show. It was shot down as a liability issue. Still scratching my head over that one.
As far as the naysayers, it is jumping the gun to say you are an A list festival, striving to be might be a better way to put it.
However, with all the complaining that people have done about shows that allow b/s and production, along with poor amenities, inadequate advertising and on and on, why some want to go on and on about what will hopefully be an irrelevant point is beyond me. Then I consider the source of most of the complaints and I am not surprised. (of course he probably can't read this since he likes to block me on the websites he visits).
Bring in a buying crowd, fulfill your other promises and you will be successful. If not, you will hear about it here. :-)
Hi Will, we will be listing our artists on the website as we get closer to the date... in the meantime, check out our Facebook page at /CottonSouthArt, where we're highlighting another artist every few days. Let me know what you think. T
I hope this show succeeds-- it would be nice to have a good show in the Atlanta area.
I don't see a list of artists for this years show. Will that be on the website soon?
Who knows how this show will turn out? Don't we all wish for a new event with high aspirations to pan out for artists? Don't we appreciate it when they listen to artists' needs and do what they can in their communities to help the artists and to involve their communities in feeling vested in the outcome? Building a new event is not a science. I've been on the ground floor for shows that worked very hard to insure that they would be successful for all involved. I've had grave disappointments when that magic component hasn't appeared. I've seen shows with everything in place for success not make the cut and I've seen other ones rise up and be successful from the start, as well as seen others who lost their luster.
Resort to name calling, David...show us all how grown up you can be. And by the way, your doing me a big service...bet you can't figure out what that is :-)
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