Blog

September 24 - 26
Ferndale, Michigan
Downtown Ferndale
Friday 3pm-7:30pm
Saturday 10am-7:30pm 
Sunday 11am-6pm
100 artists
Deadline: June 25

Application fee: $25; Booth fees start at $355

Best for non-traditional work in all mediums, under $750, jewelry and fiber. 

Attending shows, festivals, markets, fairs, and other events throughout the year to sell your work means exposing your business to liabilities multiple times a year. As an artist, crafter, or tradesmen, you need to have the necessary coverage in place to protect against third-party liability claims that may come your way.

At ACT, we’re well-versed in the most common claims that occur at art events and want to talk about those along with something you’ll likely need to do to extend a layer of protection to your show promoter--listing an additional insured (AI).

WHAT IS AN ADDITIONAL INSURED?

In an insurance policy, an additional insured is anyone other than the policyholder who is covered by the insurance policy. Coverage may be limited to a single event or it could last for the policy's lifetime. Who you list as an additional insured on your art fair insurance policy will depend on whether or not the event promoter requires you to list them. By listing them as an AI, you extend your policy’s coverage to them in the case of a liability claim.

WHY DO I NEED TO LIST AN AI?

The main reason you’d be asked to list an additional insured on your art festival insurance policy would be to meet contract requirements. Event hosts and promoters often require their vendors to be insured because it ensures protection for their vendors and gives them peace of mind to continue running the show. In a lawsuit, the claimant will sometimes try to reach into deeper pockets by naming everyone they can think as being at fault. By listing an additional insured, the listed entity is also covered by your policy.

When an accident occurs that results in property damage or bodily injury, there is always room for a lawsuit. Check out some of our recent claims to get an idea of how things could affect you and your AI:

• During an art show, an insured had high winds pick up their tent and hit and scratch a trailer. The trailer owner decided to sue the tent renter and the event promoter to pay for the damage.
• Another insured’s tent blew over into a neighboring tent causing thousands of dollars in damage to their product. They list you and the event host as liable for the damage.
• An insured’s inventory tipped over and caused damage to a passing truck during their art fair setup. The truck owner sues you, the neighboring tents and your additional insured to pay for damages.

Without having your event promoter or host listed an additional insured, you leave them open to risk. The same goes for promoters who don’t require insured vendors—they leave themselves open risk. With art fair insurance, you and your additional insured could be protected against similar claims and not have to worry about paying for your legal fees on your own.

HOW MANY ADDITIONAL INSUREDS CAN I LIST?

ACT allows unlimited additional insureds on your policy. This means that if you travel from one market to another where the event promoters require you list them as an AI, then you can add each additional insured as needed.

DOES IT COST TO LIST ADDITIONAL INSUREDS?

No. You only need to pay for your policy premium. ACT currently offers an event-based policy for 1-90 days of consecutive coverage and an annual policy for those looking for more long-term coverage. Additional insureds do not cost extra.

Well, in this year of surprises the OTHER shoe has dropped! There will be an Ann Arbor Art Fair this summer. Surprised? Well, so am I. It seems COVID is actually waning and we've learned that being outdoors is a safe place to be. Yesterday the directors of the the collective of three events that comprise the Ann Arbor Art Fair announced "welcome to Ann Arbor". Learn more here, and here. We thank you Governor Whitmer. 

And even more good news about Ann Arbor is there are some changes:

1. There will not be 4 art fairs running concurrently, there will be 3. This was announced earlier. The South University Art Fair went out of business. The Guild of Artists and Artisans has picked up some of their real estate on East University, but the huge sprawl is over.

2. The show will be 3 days long, not 4! Instead of Thursday-Saturday (which it was for many years), instead of (in more recent years) from Friday-Sunday it will be held on Thursday-Saturday, this year on July 15-17. 

Why is this good? Buyers will not be exhausted by the expanse and maybe will be able to see all of it (?), the quality will be higher because there will no longer be 1200 artists, and for artists the high overhead for being present will be diminished -- which we're hoping means better profits. Right?

What else this week? Another shocker:

Sausalito Art Festival canceled over relocation of homeless camp. Yep! You read that correctly. Here's the rest of the story: https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/sausalito-art-festival-2021-canceled

Wyandotte (MI) officials reverse decision and will host their 60th annual art fair. Most artists and crafters attend both shows, so one show impacts the other. The Ann Arbor fair organizers recently changed course, and when that ... learn more

It was with great trepidation that the Winter Park Sidewalk Arts Festival, usually held in mid-March, delayed its event to hold it in mid May this year. May, all the snowbirds are gone and it is hot, hot, hot and may I say a little steamy also? Yuck! Who would come?

Drum roll please .... they came!! and they bought!! Click here for photographer Nels Johnson on what to his wondering eyes appeared. 

Just one of the reasons artists love Winter Park is the multitude of prizes and the size them. The artists compete for a total of 63 awards with prize money totaling $74,500 and, the best prize of all, an invitation to the 2022 festival.

My informant Alice Moulton, long time PR Chair for the festival reported to me:

I'm looking for some light weight artists' chairs.  They need to be foldable and not very wide after folding since we put everything in the back of our Forester when we travel.  A few years ago IKEA had just what I'm looking for.  I saw them at an art fair.  They have been discontinued! Anyone have any suggestions?  The chairs that I see that are made of wood are too wide when folded.  Thanks in advance for your help.

Well, it was my best art show, in Florida, for the last 41 years.  That is saying a lot.

This is a very hard show to jury in.  For example, I got in 1983 and 1984.  Thought I had it made.  Well, I got juried out the next 27 years. Got in in 2012 and finally got back in in 2020, then rolled over to this year.

That is a hell of a lot of rejections.  And, I always sent new work every year.

On the other hand, my esteemed and dearly-loved wife, Ellen Marshall, has been in over 10 times.  I guess they love beautiful blondes.  Just kidding.  She got in because she had dynamic pastel images that read well with the jury.

We should all take Jurying Seminar with Ellen.  Be sure to wear your best blonde wigs.

Now, on with the show.

This is a three day show.  Most setup in the park on Thursday. Street booths set up early Friday morn.  Show starts at nine.

When we heard the show was moved to midMay rather then March, we all felt, “Oh shit! We are screwed. Snowbirds gone, sweltering heat, we will be lucky to do half the usual.

Because of that exact feeling I rented a booth and wall panels from Tents4Events for $300.  Money well spent.  I showed up and hung my workin less than two hours. At teardown I was out in less than an hour.

Added bonus.  We had the coolest temps ever, for a May show.  Never went over 81 degrees.  I shivered in the morns but the crowds came in record numbers.

Friday started slowly, by 10 am crowds were steady with cooling breezes keeping us happy.

Fridays are always the slowest days for sales and this was no exception.

Patrons were well dressed and on the elderly side.

Most were enthused and just happy to be out at a social event.

The show gave us all generous ten foot spacing between booths.SIGNS WERE POSTED BY THE SHOW TELLING PATRONS AND ARTISTS TO BE MASKED when inside the booth(sorry for the all caps, fricking finger). Majority abided.  I had hand sanitizer there. Very few used it, but they did wear their masks.  I used the sanitizer every time I touched a credit card or handled fresh cash (Fresh cash,what a concept,I wonder which aisle would have it at the supermarket).

Not many people walked with freshly bought art in hand, maybe they had it all delivered to their homes, kinda like takeout pizza.

I was barely able to sell $500 for the day.  I was not alone.

The overall feeling of the artists was they were happy to be out there selling and seeing friends.  For many, this was their first show in a year.

We were all rolled-over artists from 2020. There were some empty spots which was strange.  I guess the show chose not to call any from the waitlist.  A little odd for a major show.

Saturday.

Cooling breezes and chilly temps greeted us that morn.  I loved it.

Crowds were out early at 9 am, people were buying right away.  Also, I was seeing the faces of younger, well dressed couples.

Winter Park is a wealthy suburb of Orlando. A lot of power brokers live here.

An architect friend of mine said he had just designed a set of condos just down the show on Park Avenue.  They were priced at $4.5 million and they flew off the shelves like baked bread.

Before the show started I walked around to get a feel from the artists about sales.I know a lotta artists just be being around the circuit for 41 years.

Their general reaction to me is something like this: “Jeez! You still around. Sally, hide the tequila.).  Then we smile and give each other a fist bump.

Every artist there is a star in their own right. 
At noon, on Saturday, I was not feeling the love.  I had not even sold one 16x20 framed photo at $175. I was sitting on less than $1200 for the whole show.

Then around 1pm things started happening.  I sold two metal photos for $1K each.

After that it was steady sales to the end.  I looked around and most of my neighbors were selling steadily.  It felt really good.

One thing about Winter Park, they have a lot of rules for artists.

I ran afoul of one of them unwittingly.

The rule says the committee reserves the right to make artists take down work if it is not in accordance with this being a family oriented show.

A Winter Park official came into my booth and told me to take down two photos that involved nudity.  (This is a family show, no nudity).

Later she came back and searched through my bins and yanked every matted photo with nudity.

Yikes! I have been censored.  Nothing I could do but comply.  Their rules.

I was one happy camper when Saturday dinner came around.

Sunday. 

Another cool morn with crowds circling early.

I circled the show early to get a feel for Saturday sales went.

Majority of artists were just happy to be out at a show, selling, and vibing with fellow artists.

The crowd started buying early and I had a repeat of Saturday sales, except they started buying earlier.

I saw one significant trend for me.  My metal photo sales made up a third of my total sales.

I only started getting photos printed on metal in December, most shows I sold two pieces.

This show I sold seven metal pieces starting at $500 and going up. I am glad I made that move.

I sold right up to end at 5pm.

I dollied out to my van and was out in one hour.  Tents4Events took care of the teardown. It was worth the $300 rental.

If Florida can hold art shows without artists getting sick, I do not see why other states can not too.

I live for shows like Winter Park, they keep me focused on improving and being a better artist.

I hope this info was helpful.  Feel free to weigh in with comments pro and con.

Later Gators.  Des Moines here I come.

Being an artist is a great life. Artists spend their careers creating and using what they create to help others see the world differently, change in positive ways, and infuse their own lives with creativity, but like any other job, being an artist comes with other worries like selling your wares, purchasing insurance, and creating an awesome online presence. Sometimes, it can be easy to forget why you wanted an artist’s life in the first place. Now more than ever, it's important to remember why you create.

HERE ARE 10 QUOTES TO REMIND YOU WHY CREATING ART IS WORTH ALL OF YOUR TIME AND DEDICATION:

1. Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time. -Thomas Merton
2. To create one’s world in any of the arts takes courage. -Georgia O’Keefe
3. Painting is a nail to which I fasten my ideas. -Georges Braque
4. What art offers is space--a certain breathing room for the spirit. -John Updike
5. Passion is one great force that unleashes creativity because if you’re passionate about something, then you’re more willing to take risks. -Yo-Yo Ma
6. Creativity takes courage. -Henri Matisse
7. If you are willing to do something that might not work, you are closer to being an artist. -Seth Godin
8. I don’t want life to imitate art. I want life to be art. -Ernst Fischer
9. I am interested in art as a means of living life; not as a means of making a living. -Robert Henri
10. The artist sees what others can only catch a glimpse of. -Leonardo Da Vinci

Why do you create?

Effective June 15, California has new “Mega Event” rules which may give us some clues of where covid restrictions are headed for art shows in California and other states as well.  According to the Orange County Register:

1. “Under the latest state guidelines, mega events that draw large crowds are broken into two categories — indoor events with more than 5,000 attendees or outdoor events with more than 10,000 people.”
2. “Outdoor mega events include theme parks, sporting events, concerts, music or food festivals, car shows, marathons and parades. Indoor mega events include sporting events, concerts, conventions and conferences.”
3. “Vaccine and negative COVID-19 test verifications are recommended for outdoor mega events and required for indoor mega events under the new Beyond the Blueprint restrictions. “
4. “Outdoor mega events are strongly recommended to verify that visitors have been fully vaccinated for coronavirus or received a recent negative COVID-19 test.”
5. “Indoor mega events are required to verify that visitors have been fully vaccinated or tested.”

Assuming that arts and crafts shows are included, these rules will apply to all large arts and crafts shows in California, and similar rules may be enacted in other states.  Which makes me wonder:

• Florida now prohibits the use of COVID-19 vaccine verification, so restricting arts and crafts fair attendees to only the vaccinated is illegal. Other states may have similar statutes or orders.  If Florida enacted California’s rules for Mega Events, the only attendees allowed into indoor shows would be those with recent negative test results.  I don’t think very many people will go to the trouble of getting a blood test in order to visit an art or crafts show.
• I wonder what “strongly recommended” means (see (4) above). Does it mean that government authorities will strongly object to shows that have no way of verifying that visitors have been fully vaccinated for coronavirus or received a recent negative COVID-19 test?  Will that include making permits difficult or impossible to obtain, or advising potential attendees to stay away?

I worry that Covid restrictions are not going away, they are just changing.  Although the new rules may make large arts and crafts shows possible without social distancing requirements, they may keep attendance so low as to not make them profitable.  That is why it would be so interesting to hear how well actual shows worked out from an artist’s perspective, such as Artisphere.

Running a business based on the art, craft, or trade you love is a big but rewarding task. Getting feedback from customers who love what you do and want to be able to purchase more is always a good sign and you’ll need to find ways to improve on the processes you follow. You’re likely hard at work creating new products, taking orders, sending them out, and doing your best to manage it all. If you have a website, when’s the last time you updated it?

ACT is here today to give you a few tips on how to best improve the website you’ve created and haven’t changed since. Plus, we’ll give you some information on how artist insurance can benefit you and your online sales through 2021.

TIP #1: UPDATE, UPDATE, UPDATE!

How long ago did you put up a website? Like most small business owners you may have used Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, or a similar host to get started. It’s helpful to be able to choose between various templates and feel like you’re putting a bit of your personality into the design.

Now, how long ago did you update it?

It’s okay if it’s been a while, the great thing about having a website is that you can change or customize things whenever you want.

You should make sure the template you have is still easy for visitors to navigate and find products and art you’re selling. Also you want it to look as appealing as possible. Maybe the color theme you had before doesn’t fit the vibe you're going for anymore, maybe the images of your art are too small for visitors to adequately view and consider, maybe there is a more clear way to display pricing or descriptions, or maybe your template is simply outdated and there’s a better option. Whichever the case, know that a simple redo may make a world of difference.

Now, your domain. As much as a website called “yoursmallbusiness.weebly.com” will get clicks, how much better does it look when it reads, “yoursmallbusiness.com?” Domains can be a pain, but these days they’re much easier to deal with. Each of the website hosts we listed has their own domain purchasing process which you can visit here:

• Square Domain Purchase
• Weebly Domain Purchase
• Wix Domain Purchase

You can make it easier for customers to find and remember your website by having your own domain. Plus it can show your professionalism and dedication to your business by investing in a vanity website name.

TIP #2: CREATE CONSISTENCY

If you’re not wanting to do an entire overhaul of the design on your website, we suggest you find smaller things to change in order to create better consistency as customers find your page and scroll through.

You could try:

• Formatting products similarly
• Ensuring all fonts fit together, complement each other, or are the same
• Removing old listings that no longer serve your customers
• Creating similar spacing on all pages

We know you’re not web designers, neither are we, but these are some of the easier tasks you can do to make sure things look inviting and appealing to your site’s visitors. If you want a beginner’s guide to design check out this beginner’s guide for more info.

Bonus Tip: Try to keep the number of fonts on your website to a minimum. You can play around with different weights and sizes within the same font family. But our friends at UX Planet suggest not using more than three fonts or it can make your website look unstructured or unprofessional.

All of these little items could either help or hurt your ability to sell your products or art on your website.

TIP #3: OFFER AN EMAIL LIST

If you have a website that is already doing pretty well (aka consistent visitors and sales), you like the design, you don’t really want to change anything, but are still wondering how you can improve things, consider creating an email list for your frequent customers or past customers that you hope to come back.

You’re constantly producing more art and want to showcase things to the world, with an email list you’ll be able to send out information regarding new pieces, print options, products, sales, or any other update. Maybe you’re partnering with another small business and doing a product collaboration or maybe you have surprise products that you want to hype people up for. Whatever it is, you’ll find it worthwhile to have the means to communicate with your audience.

TIP #4: CHECK OFTEN

How often are you checking your website? Are you the type of person who doesn’t look at things once you’ve put them together? As much as you can hope that you’ve set up your website to be successful, that’s not always the case. Sometimes links break, or uploaded photos don’t show up properly. You may even run into issues with your contact form no longer working properly.

We recommend you check your website yourself on a regular basis to ensure that everything is up to par with your goals. What is a regular basis? We don’t have a set rule on how often, but start small (especially if doing this isn’t in your current routine or isn’t something that you particularly like to do). You could set up a calendar reminder on your phone or computer for once a month, bi-weekly, or every quarter.

While scrolling through your website, we recommend you start with reviewing, addressing, and fixing the following items:

• Broken links
• Images that need to be updated
• Verify pricing and product descriptions
• Any formatting that has shifted

Through your website host, you’ll be able to make whatever adjustments are needed.

BONUS TIP: CARRY ARTIST INSURANCE

Did you know that as an artist, you still have some risk exposure when selling your handmade art online? And if you’re an artist who travels to shows, markets, and festivals, on a consistent basis, those risks could multiply.

With artist insurance from ACT Insurance, you provide yourself with a safety net that could provide assistance from financial fallout if you were to ever get sued. An annual insurance policy includes liability and product coverage (and other possible coverages) and is designed to protect you in the case of a third-party lawsuit that your handmade products or business operations caused someone harm.

When you’re at a show, risks can include slip-and-fall accidents in your booth that cause injury or loose material from your booth falling over and causing harm. As an online seller, you may not know that your products can also cause potential injury as you may have choking hazards you’re unaware of or sell items that cause people allergic reactions.

By carrying an artists’ insurance policy, you improve your credibility and professionalism as well as show your customers how committed you are to your business. You can buy an artist insurance policy completely online and in less than 10 minutes. ACT has simplified our application and made it easy to navigate on your own. However, if you run into any issues you can talk with our licensed agents over chat or by phone.

Don’t leave the “what ifs” to answer for themselves, put up a guard and purchase your artists insurance policy today.