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October 7-8, 2013, WESTAF presented the 5th Annual Arts Festival Conference in Louisville, KY, in conjunction with the St. James Court Art Show and NAIA. I was there and here is why you should have been there also:

5. The Meet and Greet. Spending time with like-minded individuals in a relaxed atmosphere has a great payoff. We have so much in common and can learn so much from one another. You may meet someone whose work you have always admired, or have a chance to ask some questions from seasoned artists/show directors.

4. Hanging with the Pros. Hear speakers from many spectra. Thought leaders talking about the arts whose information challenges you to put your career in perspective. Consider it "professional development" that can extend your vision beyond your current thought process and expose it to a larger context.

3. Jury review. Have you ever attended an open jury or seen your images on the "big screen", or heard them critiqued by professional jurors? People literally stumble out of these presentations with new information to revitalizes their own jury images.

2. Solid professional workshops:

• Creative Connections. The importance of the arts visible in the community - when people see arts performances (drama, dance, visual, music) they see people who are having a different life experience than they are. These events connect people to festivals.
• The New Wave: Fairs and the Next Generation - what makes young people buy art? How do we attract younger patrons
• Weather Planning for the Unknown - great tips for show organizers and artists for weather emergencies. Joe Sullivan from the National Weather Service recommended Radar Scope
• Money 101 - strategic info for melding the creative side that creates the art with the business side for healthy businesses and a secure financial future
• Entrepreneurship for Creatives - how you can reach your intended audience
• Art of Sponsorship - finding the ideal partner for your art festival
• Marketing more effectively - revamping your marketing to increase sales in your booth or online

1. Networking. I can't emphasize this enough. Seeing old friends, meeting people you've only met online, rubbing shoulders and eating a meal with show directors who have an effect on your financial future, spending time with artists from across the country whose name you may/may not recognize and sharing ideas with them is so stimulating I drove home for five hours and was still buzzing from all the interaction. Conferences are a great leveler. The payoff in time and money can have long lasting consequences well worth the investment.

This bag folds up into this little bag! It took me 3 weeks to figure this out.

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I really appreciated meeting many people, especially members of this community: Amy Welborn (who won the conference pass), Chris Coffey, Gloria Danvers (who has amazing jewelry), Judy Kean, Lee Wilson, Michael Brown, Teresa Merriman and Kathleen Caid (more amazing jewelry).

Since Dick Sherer gave us such a thorough report on the Sloan's Lake Art Fair (cancelled because of the heavy rains) I got the inside story on that from the show's organizer, Danna Tullis, who also runs the Salida Riverside Fine Arts Festival. At the end of the day over drinks she laid out the work they had done with the City of Denver and subsequent marketing and the anguish when they had to cancel the show even before it opened.

She said that they weren't sure that all the traveling artists had gotten word of its cancellation so on Saturday morning they got to the site early and set up a tent to alert anyone who showed up.

I'm already looking forward to next year's conference. The organizers, Leah Charney and Christina Villa do a solid job of putting together an agenda of insiders and outsiders in the arts business to help us all in our careers and giving us a lot of ideas for the take away. Thanks, ladies.

See photos from the conference at the Zapplication.org Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/zapplication

An interesting tale of 2 professional photographers working in the field, one a well known wildlife photographer and the other for capturing rustic charm, character and the essence.  Both members of the prestigious New England Photographers Guild.

John Vose is motivated by how Tom connects with the subject and conveys his passion to the final print.  A short simple article, but an excellent juxtaposition of two genres' 

http://thomas-schoeller.artistwebsites.com/blogs/a-tale-of-two-genres-see-what-i-see-.html

This was our first year participating in this show on the west coast of California. We had spent a week in Half Moon Bay State Park last year between shows and loved it, great beach, nice little restaurants, a wonderful bike trail, we saw a few whales and overall really enjoyed ourselves during a “working vacation”.  This year we arrived the day before the show and left the day after the show, no time for play, we were just here for the show.

 Half Moon Bay is due west of the San Francisco area with one small highway leading into the community from Hwy 101.  I understand traffic is horrendous getting into town on either day of the event.   We arrived mid-afternoon on Friday and after getting stuck on Hwy 101 in the Bay Area for 2 hours due to a traffic accident, if I were a patron, I’m not sure I would want to put up with the difficulty of getting to this event.

Details:

Set up is difficult, no other word to describe it.  It’s a very narrow street with a same day set up.  They do assign the earlier times to people who pull trailers or who have large trucks so with our monster F450 DRW we were assigned the 4:30 AM load in time.   We pulled in, dropped all our “stuff” off and were not even close to being the first people in our section to be setting up, some of the artists got there at 3 AM or earlier.  Many of the artists hand trucked everything into the show.  Parking around the show was very difficult, after unloading Dale moved the truck 4 blocks away.  At 5 AM?? The closest parking was 4 blocks away??  OK, that was just a sign of how bad parking was going to be this weekend. We set up with little fuss other than feeling like we were freezing to death.  The marine layer was still very thick and everything felt damp and cold, thank goodness for gloves.  We then left, went back to our RV park and cleaned up, made some more hot coffee and headed back to the show.  This time parking was even worse but we lucked out and got a close spot due to someone who was leaving.

Show:  Packed with people, even  before 9 AM on Saturday.  Our first sale came while we only had about 1/3^rd of our jewelry out and still had a mess in the floor of the booth.  We quickly tried to finish the set up and make sure we were ready to sell.  Our Saturday sales were “OK”.  Most other shows we would have been quite happy but given the difficulty of doing this show and the GREAT reviews we had heard about it, we were sort of expecting more.  Not sure how much our booth location impacted our sales, we were right across from the main stage and the food court.  The music was great at this festival, some of the best we’ve heard lately, but it was very difficult to hear. 

By Saturday afternoon the road was so packed with people that I think some folks were afraid to walk into a booth thinking they would never get back into the flow of traffic.  We also had numerous issues where people were standing in front of the booth, blocking access to it with their backs to us watching the crowd or the music.  More than once Dale took out the glass cleaner and “chased them away”.  When that didn’t work with some particularly obtuse people, 2 different parties blocking both corners of the entryway into our booth I went up and diplomatically told them they had been there for more than 30 minutes, we were paying for our retail spot this weekend and they were interfering with our ability to make a profit.  One lady actually said we just wanted to get out of the crowd, to which I replied, I understand, but please don’t inhibit some of that crowd from becoming our customers, we’re here to make a living.  If we go back,  we really want a different booth location.  The only upside of this location is that our booth was one of the closest to the artist hospitality room which I wasn’t too concerned about, more importantly there were flush toilets in that building and it was so nice not to stand in line to just the porta potties.  By the time the day was over we were so happy to be headed back to the RV, we were exhausted.  Traffic was at its worst, we were so glad we were slightly south of town, the traffic heading north on CA 1 to CA 92 to get back to the Bay Area was backed up for miles and we were passed by 3 emergency vehicles.   I heard a lot of comments on Sunday morning that Saturday evening traffic was worse than usual, but not by much. 

Sunday the crowd was a little smaller, definitely less packed in the morning, but still very large on Sunday afternoon.  Our sales were very close to the same as Saturday sales which is unusual for us, usually we see a drop off on Sunday, but I think we had $100 difference between the 2 days.  Wish we had more shows where the sales were more equally distributed between both days.  Much to our surprise, we had 2 customers who came to this show for the first time just to find us.  One of the customers was someone we had made a custom bracelet for at last year’s Mountain View show, her Mom and Sister loved the bracelet so she wanted 2 more in different lengths and was planning to take them back to Germany with her at Christmas for gifts for Mom and Sis.  We had to cancel Mountain View this year due to an issue with the upgrade on our truck and being stuck in Colorado so it was really nice to hear that she came to Half Moon Bay from the Bay Area, fought the crowds and traffic just so she could buy 2 more bracelets.  Gotta love customers who really make an effort, especially when she could have just called us. 

Sunday around 4:00 the crowd started slowing down, but even at 5:00 there were still way more people on the street than I’m used to seeing at most of our shows, especially considering some of them had a long, slow drive back to the Bay Area.  We finally started packing down about 5:15, the show officially ended at 5:00 but the music was still playing, people were still in the streets and we didn’t notice anyone else packing down.  Load out is just as difficult as load in, only with even more of a time constraint.  The city requires the street to be cleared by 8 PM.  We figured we would never be able to get our truck in, so we started hand carting past long lines of patron cars creeping slowly out of town.  I think it would have taken at least 30-45 minutes just to get our truck into the show, if there had been room.  After the first 2 loads and getting everything packed in the truck, the street was really clearing out, we had our canopy, weights and a few miscellaneous items so Dale decided to get the truck in so we wouldn’t have to hand cart the last 2 loads.  Well, that turned into a fiasco when the honey bucket truck was blocking our entrance into the show, he had to drive around the entire show to come in from the west side instead of the east side which took an extra 30 minutes.  By then the volunteers were reminding us we had to be off the street by 8 to which I replied we would have been gone already if you hadn’t blocked our entrance into the show.  I literally sat there with the rest of our stuff for 30 minutes, the truck was 5 minutes away, we could have been out of there much quicker if they had kept our access open.  We were finally driving off the show site around 7:45, a much longer load out for us than usual and by then we were once again chilled and tired and just happy to be going back to our RV.

Weather – Saturday was decent after the marine layer finally burned off around 11:30, I think the highs got into the mid 50’s with sunshine so it was nice, but the first few hours of the morning were kind of chilly and by 4 you were starting to feel the chill in the air again.  Sunday the sun never came out, temps in the 50’s and it was downright chilly all day.  This was definitely a show to bring your gloves and warm layers to and lots of warm beverages.

Our final assessment of this show, a very difficult show to do with a same day load in, very early start to the show at 9 AM both days with the crowd already packing the streets at 9 AM on Saturday.  It was  a fun show to do, a lot of great artwork, didn’t see a lot of evidence of buy / sell, but there were a couple of booths that I know are “family operated” or that use “apprentices”, but overall it was well juried, well balanced, tons of people, great music and ok sales.  Will we do it again?  Maybe, we will consider it, we would like to try a different booth location and see if we weren’t in the most crowded area of the show if it would be better.  This is not a show for the faint of heart to do, but it’s very well run and very well attended.

Another year, another tour of shows by Carolina Shows, Inc.  This year we signed up for all seven Christmas Made In The South shows plus their Springtime in the South last February = eight.  Why?  #1) Because the Hunts take care of their exhibitors like they are family.  #2) They do a great job of promoting the shows and bringing in the buying crowd.  #3) They have a long standing excellent reputation.  #4) The shows are all indoors.  YEAH!!!

The results - people are lined up at the gates with their big bags and personal shopping buggies.  The shoppers come with checklists and plans of who they want to see.  Many shoppers come all three days!  Within minutes of opening of the doors you see customers with arms full of bags.  We've been doing the CMITS shows long enough now we even have people seeking our booth so they can add to their collection of Wolfgang photography.  We even had one person who bought something the previous year come back for more.  When asked how he liked the piece he purchased last year he said there was a slight problem.  The colors did not do as well as expected in the room.  So he re-painted the room to coordinate with the new art.  Love it!!!!

Concord was a long 5 hour drive for us.  Load in and out easy with plenty of parking.  Everything must be kept strictly within your space.  No bins pushing the limits here.  But there is plenty of storage  for back up inventory behind the curtains around the perimeter of the arena.  If you can manage to get across the flow of traffic up and down the isles you can re-stock in short order. Christmas music is played over the loud speakers (at a comfortable volume) to enhance the shopping mood.  Most exhibitors add holiday decorations in their booth.  I welcome my visitors with "Merry Christmas!" and always get a smile and holiday wishes back.  I wear my Christmas shirts and jewelry.  It's FUN.  I love Christmas.

The arenas have concession stands so if you don't pack your own lunch fast food is handily nearby.  The CMITS shows also have Christmas Buffets for the exhibitors and shoppers.  Turkey, dressing, pumpkin pie and the works.  

Did you notice I say exhibitors instead of artists.  Mainly because the CMITS shows are predominantly crafters.  Very fine crafters I might add.  Tom Brown's rocking horses are almost (if not always) a sell out. And there are jewelers with beautiful necklaces and rings and bracelets and earrings. There are quite a few skin products and flavored oils and dips.  There are proportionately fewer 2D artists at these shows.  The ones that are there are really good.  My friend Dan Williams has the most amazing bird pictures you will ever find.  Watercolors by Janice Lippincott and Ron Taylor are beautiful.  Mike Johnson's pen and Ink - I don't even know how to describe their detail and beauty.  So why do 2D artists participate?  Well, we are the other option.  We stand out.  We are different.  People notice.  We are not one of 100 other 2D artists.  And we do well.  

But I am running out of time.  I have to get back to making more prints.  Time to pack up for the next show this weekend in Columbus, GA.  If you are there - come say HI.  I'm in booth 426.

Here are the images.  Really poor images for a photographer but I was in a hurry and using my iPhone just trying to grab some shots for you all and get back to selling.  Enjoy!

Thank you Lori Kay, Alison Fox, John Leben, Robert Wallis and everyone else who shared their St. James Court experiences. A show that has this many exhibitors deserves to be reported. I was there too, but have been so distracted by getting the statistics together for the Best Art Fair Survey that I am finally reporting in.

Here is a quickie video:

Spotted on the Court were Tara Brickell and Terry Adams from Cherry Creek and Katrina Delgado from Coconut Grove.

I didn't arrive at St. James Court until 4 pm on Saturday. I would have been there earlier but was sitting in my car for an hour on I-65 south of the city in a traffic jam. What did I miss? Maybe a few downpours, but surely did miss seeing a bunch of friends.

Probably the happiest creature in the show, thankful for all the water - ceramic sculpture by Dennis Thompson

I had a list of people to see: Deidre Nabors, Sharon Tesser, Robert Wallis and Greg Little who had contacted me earlier that I wanted to meet and I was invited to a reception on 4th Street that evening. So sorry to have missed you, and the party also.

As I hustled through the show I saw Nels Johnson, Chris Maher, Annette Morrin, Chris Coffey, Aaron Reed, Sean McDougal, the Hand Jive folks, Lee Cohn -- who else? Not enough time.

This is a show I know well as my husband participated in it from 1984-2005. From the quick look around I saw that some very good art had migrated to 3rd Street, so it looks like there is a war going on for hosting the best artists that I hadn't seen before.

As you can imagine from being in the show all those years we've seen all kinds of weather but I'll never forget the first time we were there. It rained all day Friday and Saturday and it was raining when we got up on Sunday morning and people were loading out. The artists were complaining a lot, but this was my first season not to be working in the public schools and my feeling was "any day at an art fair is better than a day in the classroom."

I don't have the name of the found object artist nor this glassblower. Can anyone help me out?

So pleased to see 2nd generation artist Jason Stoddart (son of our friends Jack and Lynn Stoddart) and his wife Beth carrying on the family tradition shooting and selling images of the Tennessee backwoods at St. James

Picnic tables in Belgravia Court waiting for a better day

Who was there that I missed?

Two galleries in my area are closing. I removed my work from one gallery because of lack of sales and the continued space expence, and I'm going to take work out of another gallery because of no sales action after the holidays.

Yet another great show in Mt. Dora!  The weather was fabulous.  The crowd was huge.  Even though our sales were down by about 30% over last year, still a very very profitable event.  Why were sales down?  Don't really know.  Our display and setup were improved.  Selection improved.  Only things that make sense is that with a 20% increase in booths, the "Buy" was diluted, and it did not help to have a vendor 4 booths down from us selling a similar, yet inferior product, and shortly into the show offering "Buy 1 get 1 free" (I can only assume it was a response to our presence).  We do NOT change prices or discounting at a show, simply don't think it's fair to the customers that bought under normal terms.  The team in Mt. Dora did a fabulous job of managing the move in/out, Janet and Brian are amazing.  Tons of volunteers, and a real 'small town' feel.  This is, and will remain, a must do show for us.  Still, with 400 booths and 4 selling 'Ear Pins', one would think they could space a bit better.  Regardless, this is perhaps the best crowd we see all year, and I would estimate this year's crowd at about 300,000, as advertised.

What an amazing event!  Tons of Buyers!  Incredible Seafood, and so many shoppers!  Great organization and setup.  Super Venue.  And the best?  In the fine art category, a Jeweler won Best of Show!  A jury that is not afraid to buck the trend and looked at the ART, not the category.  There were plenty of deserving 2d, mixed media, 3D and everything.  Tremendous works, but the Jury found that a Jeweler was worthy, and that is not a bad thing.  We will do this show whenever we are accepted, for sure!

December 14 & 15
Hallandale, Florida
The Village at Gulfstream Park
Deadline: November 1

Amdur Productions proudly presents the second annual Gulfstream Park Art Festival at The Village at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach.

The Gulfstream Park Art Festival moves to a later date in the season - right in the heart of the shopping season: Saturday, December 14 and Sunday, December 15.

"We are thrilled to return to Hallandale Beach and the beautiful Village at Gulfstream Park for the second year," says Amy Amdur, founder of Amdur Productions. 

"By moving the festival to a later date in the season, we are guaranteed an even greater number of art lovers attending the show.  We know the exquisite location and new date will prove to be a winning combination for the exhibiting artists!" 

More than 100 artists will showcase their original works at this FREE outdoor art festival at The Village, South Florida's premier outdoor shopping and entertainment destination.  

This beautiful outdoor enclave, located adjacent to the legendary Gulfstream Park Racetrack and Casino on South Federal Highway, boasts a sizzling collection of fashion boutiques and signature restaurants, cafes and nightclubs - adding to the art festival experience.  The Village at Gulfstream Park provides the perfect setting for artists and art enthusiasts to unite for a weekend of perusing and purchasing original works of art.    

Artists interested in applying to the Gulfstream Park Art Festival can visit Juried Art Services and "APPLY NOW."

All applications must be received before midnight on Friday, November 1, 2013. Selected artists will be notified on November 4, 2013.  The jury fee for the Gulfstream Art Festival is $25 and booth fees are $450 for a standard space.  

Here are the first 25 winners - congratulations to them! 

Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival, Winter Park, FL - March 21-23, 2014

Old Town Art Fair, Chicago, IL - June 14-15, 2014    

Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, the Original, Ann Arbor, MI - July 16-19, 2014

Des Moines Arts Festival, Des Moines, IA - June 27-29, 2014

Coconut Grove Arts Festival, Miami, FL - February 15-17, 2014

La Quinta Arts Festival, La Quinta, CA - March 6-9, 2014

One of a Kind Show and Sale, Chicago, IL - December 5-8, 2013

Krasl Art Fair, St. Joseph, MI - July 12-14, 2014

American Craft Exposition, Evanston, IL - August 22-24, 2014

Cherry Creek Arts Festival, Denver, CO - July 4-6, 2014   

Port Clinton Art Festival, Highland Park, IL - August 23 & 24, 2014

Sausalito Arts Festival, Sausalito, CA - August 30 - Sept. 1, 2014

Mount Dora Art Festival, Mount Dora, FL - Feb. 1 & 2, 2014

Columbus Arts Festival, Columbus, OH - June 6-8, 2014

Summer Art Fair (The Guild), Ann Arbor, MI - July 16-19, 2014

57th Street Art Fair, Chicago, IL - June 7 & 8, 2014

State Street Area Art Fair, Ann Arbor, MI - July 16-19, 2014

Park Forest Art Fair, Park Forest, IL - September 20 & 21

Bayou City Art Festival (Memorial Park), Houston, TX - March 21-23, 2014

Gold Coast Art Fair, Chicago, IL - June 28 & 29, 2014

Brookside Art Annual, Kansas City, MO - May 2-4, 2014

Naples National Art Festival (Feb), Naples, FL - Feb. 22 & 23, 2014

Art Fair on the Square, Madison, WI - July 12 & 13, 2014

St. James Court Art Show, Louisville, KY - October 3-5, 2014

Riverwalk Art Fair, Naperville, IL - Sept. 13 & 14, 2014

Find more of the winners at this link: http://www.artfaircalendar.com/art_fair/best-art-fairs.html

The purpose of this survey is to have a solid list of "best art fairs" that patrons can refer to when they are traveling or looking for a great place to buy art. Consequently, we have deliberately not put numbers  in front of each one.

The results are a resource for people to use and it is listed on our website, ArtFairCalendar.com, whose purpose is to alert interested parties to the best shows all over the country and bring them to the shows to see your work. They're all terrific shows.

We had a wonderful response to our long survey (22 questions). It was apparent by the participation and the enthusiasm of the people telling us why they thought a show was the "best" that art fairs are alive and well in America and that as long as you keep creating compelling work they will be there to see it.

Learn more details about the survey at this podcast: WINNERS! America's Best Art Fair Survey

This has been a big project for us and I specifically want to thank all of those who helped. Lisa Fritsch at the Rosen Group who shared the American Style magazine survey to get me started. To the artists who helped me build the survey: Ginny Herzog, Larry Oliverson, Michael Hamilton, Kathrine-Allen Coleman and Daryl Thetford. Also thanks to Allan Teger whose previous experience as a psychology professor helped me streamline the survey.

Thanks to Carolyn Edlund at ArtsyShark.com for sharing the story on her popular blog and to Leah Charney and Christina Villa at Zapplication.org for getting the survey info out to the shows.

I know several show directors also "got out the vote" by sharing the links and posting on Facebook. Thank you for expanding our reach. Most of all thanks to all the patron voters. Your love for art and the nation's art fairs was apparent in your responses. Thanks for all your great tips on "how to make shows even better." 

We have lots of information to share with show directors, artists and the public coming up, fascinating conclusions to be drawn from the 1000's of responses we received.

Do you have a favorite art fair that you think should be on the list?

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Before I even get in to the festival I just have to say the Bluffton Seafood House has the most amazing best tasting She Crab Soup and Seafood Gumbo I have EVER in my life had.  We also had their Po'Boy Shrimp Salad with real whole shrimp and Grilled Shrimp Po'Boy.  After eating at BSH the first night we could not resist.  We went back there the second night.  I had Tina's Seafood Pasta - to die for. And then had lunch there on Sunday.  I'm missing their good food already.

So now to the festival.  I've heard this is a great festival with nationally acclaimed artists from all over the country.  And I saw and met some of the best this past weekend.  I was honored to be included.  Layout is simple.  Both sides of the main street with most spaces having some good space behind the booth for back-up supplies.  Drive up to booth for set up and take down.  Parking on the other hand was a little tricky but with some good will and ingenuity everything seems to have worked out just fine.  Saturday was a bit warm but no too bad.   Sunday the temperatures were perfect as far as I was concerned.  The rain held off except a little sprinkle Friday night but we were already set up by then.  

For me sales were a little slow on Saturday but I was not too concerned since my sales are usually after folks go home and measure their walls and talk it out with their other half.  But actually by the end of the day, thanks to a couple large framed canvas (photography) sales I came out fairly good. At least i knew I would go home in the black.  Sunday I had a good sale as soon as I opened the doors.  Sales were steady but did not sell another large canvas until time to shut the doors.  As it turned out I came home quite satisfied.  

Rumor had it someone up the road sold $10K on Saturday.  Hurray for them.  At least three of the artists I talked to (one a photographer, another a painter and the third stained glass) said they did not sell a thing all weekend.  A couple others seemed go have a pretty good show. 

Saturday night there is food, beverages and music in a nearby park.  We went for a little bit but Bluffton Seafood House Restaurant kept calling my name so we did not stay long.  

If accepted I would love to do this show again - just for the She Crab Soup at BSH!  

Now we are slated for 7 shows in 7 weeks with Carolina Shows Inc, Christmas Made in the South.  Love those indoor shows.

Focus not so great but it was one of those extend your arm in the air and click the shutter button and keep on walking kind of shots.  

After show picnic and music by the river.

February 22 & 23   
Miami, Florida
30th Anniversary Festival
Downtown South Miami
10am-6pm daily
145 Exhibitors

In  1984 a dedicated group of Red Sunset Merchants Association members  conceived an arts and crafts festival as a way to bring shoppers into  the area and also to serve the community well by bringing the arts  closer to the local population.  Started as a small show with only 25 booths, it has grown into one of Miami-Dade's most anticipated festivals.

The area is filled with historic buildings, restaurants and unique shops. Just 3 miles south of Miami's Coconut Grove, South Miami borders the University of Miami and the upscale neighborhoods of Coral Gables and Pinecrest.

The festival is now wholly produced by the dedicated volunteers of the Rotary Club of South Miami and its Rotary Foundation.  Our artists come from all over the U.S. and Canada.  Over the years the show has added an educational Children's Alley and engaged local musicians to play during the juried event.

Proceeds  from our festival fund a full college scholarship for a South Miami  student, elementary and middle school dictionary and atlas giveaways,  and other local, national and international service projects.

The festival is located in the heart of downtown South Miami, adjacent to the Shops at Sunset Place.  It is held on Sunset Drive (SW 72nd Street) between Red Road (SW 57th Avenue) and US 1.

We provide:

• free coffee and donuts at headquarters both mornings
• Booth sitters are available throughout the festival for brief breaks
• There is booth side load in and load out from your vehicle.   
• Free parking for artists with their festival parking cards.
• Cash awards of $3000

June 27-29, 2014
Downtown Des Moines, Iowa
195 Artists
Deadline: October 31, 2013
 
The City of Des Moines invites you to be part of the award-winning Des Moines Arts Festival® (DMAF) on June 27-29 in downtown Des Moines, Iowa.  The DMAF is one of the nation's most respected arts events hosting 195 of the nation's top artists in a beautiful urban setting surrounding the 4.4 acre John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park.
 
The outdoor Festival of arts and culture attracts more than 200,000 people each year to its downtown location in Iowa's capital city and largest metropolitan area.  DMAF is a show dedicated to the highest standards and works diligently to maintain a positive environment for artists and their clients.
 
DMAF is a non-profit organization founded by the Des Moines Art Center.  The Festival contributes more than $65,000 annually from its proceeds to support the Des Moines Art Center, numerous area arts-related non-profit organizations and the continuation of the DMAF.
 
Artist Information and Benefits:

• Projected attendance: 200,000+
• All-Original Show
• Promotion to art-buying public magazines, social media, radio, online, television, billboards, and collateral valued at $805,000
• $10,000 in cash awarded at the time of publication
• Award winners include an automatic invitation to 2014 show
• Official Festival Program includes color thumbnail image of each exhibiting artist
• Web site includes full-color image with name and live link to artist Web site.
• Free reserved parking
• Invitations to special events and receptions
• Hospitality Area including air-conditioned restroom facilities and exclusive "Express Lane" concessions. 24-hour security. Free electricity. Free WiFi
• Leisurely set-up (full day is available)
• Booth sitters and energetic volunteers
• Booth Amenities: 10'x10'  booth with at least 121 square feet (1' on sides and back).  All booths on street.  Storage behind booth.

Apply: Zapplication.org

Learn more: www.desmoinesartsfestival.org

Jury is Dec. 4-6, 2013 in Des Moines (open to the public on Dec. 4)
Notification Emailed on or before Dec 12, 2013

Facebook/DesMoinesArtsFestival

info@desmoinesartsfestival.org
515.286.4927

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Find even more of the nation's best art fairs looking for you: www.CallsforArtists.com

Maybe somebody shared one of my posts? I don't really know but I am getting an influx of South American likes on my facebook page. Does that mean I an now an international artist?

By the way, I am not paying facebook even a dime. I have no advertising and no post boosts. So how and where are these likes coming from? I went from 207 today to 242 in a matter of minutes. People that I do not know and have never visited my booth. This is very strange to me. What is going on? Am I master of social networking? I think not...

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 5:30 PM ET

ArtFairCalendar.com has just finished its 1st annual "America's Best Art Fairs" survey and we are announcing the winners on this podcast.

We asked our mailing list of nearly 50,000 art fair patrons  what was the best art fair in the country and had an amazing response from across the nation. Nearly 96% completed the lengthy 22 question survey and the answers were both expected and intriguing. 

Not surprising: people love to attend art fairs and many travel long distances to do so and plan them as part of their vacations. The overall conclusion is: Art is Alive and Well in America and attendance at the nations shows is proof.

Listen to find out what are the Top 50 shows in the country as voted on by the people who attend them and collect art. Find out which they have chosen as the best regional fairs, best urban fair, bestt small market show and the best cities for art fairs.

We'll share the survey answers on:

• what makes a show "Best"
• why people say they attend an art fair
• how art fair goers find out about shows to attend
• why they don't attend shows they used to love
• how far they travel to art fairs
• their suggestions for show organizers 

LISTEN BY CLICKING HERE: www.ArtFairRadio.com

CALL IN WITH COMMENTS & QUESTIONS: 805-243-1338

The Best Art Fairs Awards is the first national online survey of the nation’s juried fairs, designed to reward those festivals that create opportunities connecting artists and communities to celebrate the arts.

The mission of ArtFairCalendar.com is to promote the American tradition of art fairs by showcasing the events where art collectors can find hand-crafted, one-of-a-kind fine art pieces for sale by the professional artist community and encourage the interaction of client and creator. 

Not only is Melanie an accomplished artist, and a fine writer. Just in time for Halloween she has new tricks to show us:

Congratulations, Melanie and thank you for your thorough review of the Alexandria, VA, show.

Our thanks also go to long time member Chris Hoyt who over many years has shared a lot of helpful information on the business side of art fairs. Chris is now a "Community Leader" as you can see by the Red Dot on his profile photo.