When I announced my plans to go into business I promised to keep you all updated on how it was going and on the trials and successes of my attempts. First thing I have learned is: if you are going into a part time business, working a full time job, and living a normal life...well, there is little time to blog about it all! But...
I did my first art festival this past weekend. What a crazy business. I’m hoping not all festivals go like this one
did. I have been assured by veteran festival artists that this show was not
the norm, and I certainly hope so. I
jumped into this with both feet, probably a little too quickly and am learning
some lessons through hard knocks. But
that is ok. I’m not trying to feed my
family or pay my rent with it, so this way may work for me.
I love to go to art festivals to shop. I never know what I am going to find or who I
might be buying something for, but like most shoppers I went in with a pretty
cavalier attitude. Either I’ll buy
something or I won’t, based on what I see. (admittedly I seldom go home empty handed)
I had absolutely no idea what goes on from the other side of the
canopy. I like to think that I was a
courteous shopper, but there are times I may not have been. I’m just going to share some information, I
am absolutely not complaining, just hopefully widening knowledge and sharing
some experiences and advice.
At this festival, much of the crowd was not out to
shop. It seemed they just wanted a
destination for a family outing and the festival organizers catered to that need. There was a kiddie area and an area with live
music and food vendors. That is a great
idea. It brings out people and people
sometimes buy things. I know, though,
that I will look closely at festival plans in the future before I sign up to
show there. At this show, I was able to
categorize the crowd into four distinct categories: Lookers, Parents, Thrift Shoppers, and actual
shoppers. I have a request for each of
you J.
For the festival attendee (lookers), this is what I would
ask. If you have absolutely no intention
of buying anything at all, no matter what you see, please keep your browsing
brief or at least step to the side so others can also browse. My tent is very small. If you come in and want to talk to me for 15
minutes about your trip to Africa, your dream of a trip to Africa, what kind of
camera you have, or where you took your last pictures, that is 15 minutes that
I spend on you, while I miss people who might actually be shopping. I will never be rude to you. I will never ignore you. Just please be aware I am not a guest at this
event, I paid to be there and if I don’t make sales, I lose money. Once, after listening to a man describe his
own photography for about 20 minutes, I waved at a friend who walked by
outside. I never removed my attention
from him other than that small wave, but he was offended, stopped mid-sentence,
and walked out (no great loss, he wasn't buying anything, but I felt he was rude after commandeering my
attention for so long). On the other
side of that coin, I had many people who came in, told me straight away that
they couldn’t buy anything, but that my work was beautiful, who looked around
courteously and seemed aware when so when a potential customer came near, they
moved out of the way…thank you to these thoughtful people.
Parents, I know my pictures (primarily of wild animals) are
interesting to your child and you are trying to make a hot, boring day bearable
for your kids, please feel free to come in and point out the animals to your
child(ren) for a brief stop, but don’t come in with 6 children and three
strollers and spend 10 minutes monopolizing my space. While you and your family are in there,
shoppers with intentions to buy, walk right by.
They might peek in and make an intention to stop later if they like
something, but they aren’t coming in while you are there and they won't be back later. I watched one family in the booth of the
mixed media artist across the street from me touch each and every piece and
literally try to pull pieces off of the 3D work (parents and children). So, to the parents who kept their littlest
ones in the stroller at the entrance and to the side while pointing out the
animals and to those who were diligent
about not letting their children touch, thank you to you.
Thrift Shoppers, please understand that art festivals are
not flea markets. I understand they look
quite a bit alike, but the artists are not selling stuff they bought from a Wholesaler for pennies on the dollar or stuff they picked up from a
garage sale last week. We have to meet
very specific criteria to even be accepted to show our goods at these festivals
and we have very high relative costs for each show. If a print from Walmart will do for what you
need, then by all means go to Walmart and buy a print, but don’t expect me to
match Walmart’s prices with a limited edition, signed print, a handmade leather
bag, a hand carved flute or a one of a kind framed painting. We just can’t do it. Our prices are set mathematically to try to
cover our expenses, compensate the time we took to create the object of your
desires, and the 20 hours we are going to stand without so much as a potty
break to try to find the perfect buyer for our unique creation. Please treat our offerings with a bit of
respect as we have our heart and soul tied up in them. The five dollars you want off of the least
expensive thing on my wall might be the difference between my making or losing
money on the piece (or the day).
Shoppers (buyers), thank you so much for coming out. I realize you are looking for that one
special thing and may not find it in my booth.
You don’t need to patronize me with excuses or promises to come back if
you don’t find anything else. To the
lady who admired a piece, asked the price, and then moved on, thank you so much
for coming back and buying it. You knew
you didn’t need to say you might be back.
You, being a retailer, also probably knew if you did say that, I would
disregard it, but also watch the crowd for you, hoping against hope that you
would come back. For the lady who
agonized over two pieces, whose husband encouraged you to buy both and even had
out his card to pay for them—who asked me to hold both pieces for you; I’m
sorry you didn’t make it back, but I understand there are a lot of options out
there; I hope you found the perfect thing.
Here’s some things I didn’t know before I ventured into this
business. First, I assumed that artists
at these shows had less overhead cost than someone with a brick and mortar
location. Absolutely not true, actually
probably the opposite. Beyond the
initial set up costs of purchasing a canopy and the structure to show your art,
there are the fees for each show. First
is the Jury Fee, which is a non-refundable, $25 to $50 fee to apply to be at
the show. Judging consists of photos of
three of your products and a photo of your canopy. If you don’t have the “right” kind of canopy,
you aren’t getting into the show. For
the high end shows that means a $3000 set up or more! You also have to have the right kind of
products…photographers who don’t do their own printing, mounting and framing,
beware…the best shows won’t let you in, so don’t bother with that $3000 set up
(something I wish I had known in advance).
If you don’t get in, then you are just out that money and need to make
it up someplace else.
Assuming you are lucky enough to grab one of the limited
spaces, there is the space rental:
$200-$500 for a weekend. Just one
weekend. So if you do more than one
weekend in a month, you have paid what a shop-owner would pay for a month’s
rent for a much larger space. Why does
it make sense to do this instead of opening a shop? First, for the built in crowds (hopefully,
crowds with an intent to purchase).
Second, because you are an artist, not a retailer; you only have one
product and don’t want to be buying and selling other people’s products.
And those are only the expenses for a show in your
hometown. You can’t make a living on two
or three shows a year, so you are going to have to travel. On weekends you travel, there is the
additional expense of having a hotel or owning an RV. Figure another $200 for the weekend for those
costs and you have an artist who needs to make $450 to $750 in “profit” (over
the cost of materials) just to cover their expenses for showing up that one
weekend, never mind paying off that expensive canopy and having any money left
over to pay your bills.
Also, like every shop-owner, we have to pay for credit card
fees (about 3% of each sale), bank fees, insurance, inventory, materials and
supplies, transportation, website, and hopefully a little money to buy a
hamburger. So please, if you are able,
be generous with your local artists as well as with your local small
businesses. Uncle Sam Walton (Walmart)
gets plenty of our money.
Will I stay in this business? I don’t know.
But I’m not letting one event scare me away. I have already been accepted for, and paid
the rental space fee for events well into 2013 (yet another unanticipated fact…
spending now for a possible profit 6 months from now). The season in Florida lasts from October to
May. I will work as hard as I can this
season and then reassess the situation.
I will look at other options to getting my work out there (thank you
also to the retail lady who bought for also giving me her card to discuss
showing my work in her home design shop).
And I will look at off season options. And I will ….well, let’s just see
what the future brings.
