Successful Prospects of the Arts and Crafts Show
It’s hard to imagine a New England spring and summer weekend without one town or another hosting an arts and crafts show. I love wandering the aisles inspecting the works of local artists and seeing all the different offerings and creative themes. Often I stop and talk to the owner of the booth and see if they like the exhibition … Imagine what it would be like to display your paintings at a local arts and crafts exhibition …
Yesterday, we talked about the ins and outs of running a successful art show with a charity or fundraising or charity event. Today, it is a traditional for-profit program that I would like to talk about. It seems to me that we all like to visit these shows until someone says … “Hey, you should sell your stuff. You’re really good!”
In addition to the compliments, we visit art exhibitions and think, hey, I can do this … And why not? We don’t have to make a living as artists to exhibit at these shows. Making happy money is all the motivation we need.
I will advise you to carefully consider which paintings to bring. The best hits of all time are paintings of local scenes or a common theme. A common theme could be all seascapes, or all lighthouses, or all wildlife, etc. You will need to research the program to decide what might work best for you.
Remember the questions we asked for charity shows and events?
The same question for any possible art exhibition. You have to do your research. Go online and search for art fair and fair directories and find as many in your area as you can. Look at them over and over again, the questions to ask are:
1. What is the attendance at the art show during the last 3 years? The story will give you an idea of whether this show is growing or declining in popularity.
2. What is the history of the suppliers? How many sellers for the first time? How many sellers repeat? This lets you quickly know if other vendors have found this event worth attending.
3. Often times, show organizers will schedule a dozen shows throughout the region during the season they call a circuit. See if the same vendors attend every fair on the circuit. Many artists earn an entire year’s income in the short season only by signing up for all the shows within an organizer’s circuit. Check it out. It’s not hard to watch a show travel one weekend to Tucson, AZ, next to Los Angeles, then Phoenix, then Santa Fe, then El Passo, then Las Vegas and so on. You know that when an artist signs up for all single circuit shows, this is high income for him / her. So be sure to check it out.
4. Talk to other artists and vendors to get their reaction. Will they re-enroll next year? How many years have they exhibited. What makes this program unique to them?
5. What kind of advertising promotion programs are the organizers running? Estimated attendance this year? What’s the biggest pull of the show … or what forces people to take time off during their precious weekend to attend this particular show?
6. What is the average cost of items offered by other vendors? (Why? Because if you are trying to sell paintings for $ 175.00 and all the other sellers are selling items for $ 15.00, you are the wrong people for you …)
7. What is the average sales per event for suppliers …?
8. What kinds of other providers will participate …? In other words, match your products with the true interests of your audience.
9. What kind of special show deal can you organize that will more than cover your costs of being in the show?
There are many publications available that list arts and crafts shows chronologically or by region as of date.
This is only a partial list …
* Where are the shows
* Art search
* Art examiner
* Find art
* etc …
There are also tons of online resources available for your review.
Additionally, you will find listings of the art and craft displays listed in this post. More importantly, artists who attended the craft show in previous years share their ideas and reviews of their previous shows. These artists discussed the types of items that sold well, what price did well, and rated whether they would attend the show again. Find the program that suits your job!
To ensure your arts / crafts exhibition is a success, use this guide as a checklist:
* Plan what paintings / works you will bring with you.
* Decide whether or not it is appropriate to do a demonstration during the trade show.
* Often times show organizers have a ‘show manual’ that lists the rules, union obligations, if any, and advanced forms to be completed / submitted before certain dates to purchase electricity, signs, installation schedules, etc. about them and make sure you have followed all instructions accordingly. Not all programs have them, just find out.
* Determine the types of payment methods you will accept. The more you have, the more likely you are to sell. Options include cash, credit cards, checks, cash on delivery, PayPal, etc. Again, planning will help you. Bring sales receipts and order forms. See policies for collecting sales tax and how it should be paid. If you already have a business, you may have these answers. If it’s just you, see what show management has to offer or make an arrangement with a neighboring exhibitor for credit cards, etc. The key is to plan and make these decisions in advance.
* Send invitations twice. First, 3-4 months in advance to everyone on your email and mailing list. Announce your participation, dates, times and that you will offer a special show (Don’t tell them what it is, just that you will blow their socks and it will only be offered during the show). The second invitation is 4-6 weeks before the event as a reminder. Email your invitations again with your list two weeks before and the Monday before the show. Make sure each invitation is a complete rewrite and does not look like the others.
* Have any printed material ready at least one week before the start of the fair. I suggest that you draw up a black and white biographical description of yourself, any art education (even ‘self-taught’) you have, and what you have painted and specialized in. Include any shows you have attended and awards won.
* I also suggest that you prepare an “Overview” sheet for each original painting that you are exhibiting. Put this together in black and white. Include a nice black and white photo, the title of the painting, your name as an artist, the size of the painting, the structure the painting is in (masonite, canvas, etc.), and the history of your painting. Often times, people will buy the painting as much for the story as it is for the painting itself. Talk about your painting inspiration, your personal and spiritual investment, the colors you chose, and why you love it. Make people identify with you as much as they do with the painting. This is your secret weapon. Have lots of copies (that number depends on the show, and maybe the organizers / other attending artists will advise you). Remember that black and white copies are only a few pennies. Start with a 100 to start with each painting and then measure with each show you attend.
* Put a Certificate of Authenticity (COA) for each original painting that you bring to the exhibition. This is a statement that this is an original painting, that you are the artists, and you are affirming that it is an authentic painting of yours. These certificates are very important to many collectors, as they love having the artist’s history and credentials as much as the painting itself.
* If you have had articles written by you or for you in newspapers or magazines, bring them framed or in an attractive desktop folder.
* Have another attractive tabletop folder with 8 ″ x 10 ″ photos of your artwork. The more, the better to show your range of creativity. Mark the sold as SOLD.
* Have plenty of business cards ready and bring them with you.
* Decide how you are going to compile a mailing list or email list. People who take the time to want to be in touch with you are very important people to you. They might as well become customers … they just need to get to know you better before buying.
* Decide how to tastefully display your paintings.
* Frame your work.
* Consider printing a few prints of your favorite (or income-generating) paintings or postcards as low price points.
* If you only bring a dozen or two paintings, please bring computer-generated color postcards or color photographs of each. By talking to people, you will find out whether they are serious about a particular painting or not. If so, give them a postcard of that painting …. Make sure you have their contact information, title of the painting, medium used, size written on the back of the painting. This should be a color photo cropped and unframed to fill the entire side of a postcard. That postcard has to scream, “Buy me, buy me, buy me!”
* Pack everything carefully for the trip to the show or festival.
* Get there early and set up quickly. Then look for “non-competing artists.” Before the show begins, introduce yourself to the non-competing artists and let them know that you will be happy to refer people to your booths for your line of work and in return, you would like them to do the same for you. Give your new members some business cards with their booth number on each one.
* Consider paying a commission for any buyer who comes to your booth recommended by your non-competing artist partner. This little-known strategy works very well. Request the same for each non-competing artist.
* During the show, be nice. Get closer to the people who visit your booth. Shake your hand and tell the ‘story’ behind each of your work. Let your work speak for itself. Listen to what people have to say, and if you suspect they are genuinely interested, ask them if they would like to take the painting home with you. Ask about the sale. Most sales don’t go through because people are too shy to ask for the sale. Sales is not about saying ‘magic words’ that overwhelm the customer, break down their barriers and force them to buy the paint. Sales is about making it easy for the customer to buy.
* Remember, all arts and crafts shows and festivals are for one purpose. Bring buyers and sellers together under one roof so that purchases can be made. Your booth visitor arrived prepared knowing that all booths will compete for their dollars. It is up to you to get your unfair share.