Art Fair Artists Success Show

The high overhead of doing 30 shows a year exhausting you? What if you only did 20? or 10? When I first started my websites I thought if I only I could earn an extra $500 a month that would be great. Now nearly 15 years later I'm no longer putting up a tent and traveling to events. Social media, learning its ins and outs, made the difference for me. Dave Emmons shares some of the same background I do. He has participated in art fairs for 27 years. A whle back he thought there "might be a better way" to sell his work, he was starting to hate what he was doing. Whether you are new to this business of art fairs and are intrigued with having more freedom in your life or you are a long time veteran and just want to slow down, Dave's and my premise is "let's get online." Your customers ARE online, an international audience, online 24/7. You have (or should have) mailing lists. You probably have a website. You're probably on Facebook, maybe even a FB business page. Can you put it to work to improve your life? Dave

The premise: As a "new" artist attempting to earn a living at the nation's art fairs I often think about the business side of things. People are suprised that I even attempt the notion of doing it full time... without a pension!  We speak with art fair artists who actually pay the bills and make a living, BUT they do so without a pension or some other significant source of income. In other words, these are people who figured out how to be profitable at art fairs! Are there people like that? This is a very practical nuts and bolts discussion of entrepreneurship. Creating art and earning a living with it are two separate endeavors. Our guests are long timers and new people just starting to hit the road, they include Joe Zinn, a photographer, Loc Tran who is a t-shirt designer and owner of Dog N Frog, painter Margaret Luttrell, http://margeluttrell.com and painter Jill McGannon, www.jillmcgannon.com. We'll also be taking calls from you.    

The fastest way to earn money with your art is to participate in art fairs. The buyer enters your booth, loves the work, hands you the payment and your work has found a new home. It's not always that easy of course, but it has worked for years for thousands of artists.     Many artists have multiple streams of income including gallery representation, selling work online, image licensing, hosting studio tours, participating in small boutique events and being in gallery shows. How about your own gallery? The nearby empty storefront beckens you. Today's show includes digital artist John Leben, supporting himself for over 40 years in the arts who is contemplating opening a gallery. This will be a 365 day commitment. John wants to know: should he do it? Joining the discussion is artist Sandhi Schimmel Gold, the "Queen of Junk Mail Art." About a year ago she posted Towel ... Throwing ... in on ArtFairInsiders.com where she announced she was opening a gallery. Sandhi will share her adventures in moving from the s

(If this show does not play, please click this link: http://mygoldenwords.com/interview-with-connie-mettler-of-art-fair-insiders/) Mckenna Hallett, a professional trainer and consultant for small business, shares strategic tips from her 25 year career that has covers the entire spectrum of earning a living as an artist: developing a jewelry line, selling one-of-a-kind work to fine art and craft galleries, servicing wholesale accounts (including Neiman Marcus) and selling at a weekly retail show near her home in Maui.  During this time she has always mentored other artists including teaching seminars on how to sell art. Mckenna has developed a selling system, the E's of Sellling. We talk about what she has learned and share her very solid selling advice. This is not about selling online, but rather how to make more sales in your face-to-face engagements at your shows. Ever hear, "I'll think about it? " Gain confidence and learn what to DO and SAY when they say they need to think about it! Did you know you a

The guests: Scott Fox, author and e-biz strategist who focuses on online marketing, e- commerce, using the Internet to build businesses and finally doing the work you were born to do. His popular books include Click Millionaires, Work Less, Live More with an Internet Business You Love. Larry Berman is the recognized authority on "all things photography" involved with the art fair business. Larry's extensive technical knowledge makes him the answer man for creating digital images that get you into the shows. He consults with art fairs and blogs about the business at BermanGraphics.com. Connie Mettler is the host at ArtFairInsiders.com and creator of ArtFairCalendar.com, ArtShowReviews.com, CallsforArtists.com and ArtFairRadio.com. She has worked in all facets of the art fair business for over 30 years, as an artist's partner (participating in over 400 shows), show director, juror and consultant to events. Do you have questions about using the Internet to further your career or better position your art fai

  It is application season! Anyone active in the art fair business is deep into preparing applications for jurying into the nation's art fairs. What are the odds you'll make the cut and get into your most desired festival? Our guests are long time professionals from the business including Cindy Lerick, executive director of the Saint Louis Art Fair, Christine Berthiaume, Crafts Manager for the New Orleans Jazz Festival and Marguerite Esrock, executive director of the St. James Court Art Show. We'll talk about: As an intro we'll hear how each show prepares their jurors for jurying and the process of showing the jurors the applications10 worst things you can do to sabotage your chances of "getting in" Have paper and pencil ready. This one is sure to bring you useful information applicable to your finding success exhibiting at art fairs large and small.  

The interested parties have come to your party: that Art Festival you have been planning and marketing for 364 days. How do you make sure they love the show, bring their friends, buy art, spread the word about what they found there and can't wait for next year? Sharon McAllister, Executive Director of ArtFest Fort Myers (FL) and Jenny Wright, Festival Director of The Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival (TX) join the conversation and share their best tips for building a memorable experience for their patrons. We'll learn about their decisions on: public relationsmarketingcommunity relationssponsor buildingartist relationshipsplus what works and even more interestingly what they've done that doesn't work! Connie Mettler presents results from her 2014 Best Art Fair Survey of art fair buyers where she gathered data about what makes them come to a festival and why ... plus ... why there are formerly favorite shows that they no longer attend. Both of these events were chosen as Top 50 Events in the survey. Learn m

  Our guest will be graphic artist Carroll Swayze. Carroll has a great story about how working smarter, not harder, has put more money in her pocket and enabled her to do more of the things she loves besides creating her work. A lifelong artist, after much trial and error she has found that balance we all crave.  Carroll is a great storyteller with many adventures under her belt.  Doubt that she has been able to do this? Take a look at her schedule on her website, her passion for fishing is evident, and for music and the blues: http://www.carrollswayze.com/schedule.html  We'll be drawing names for the first 10 winners in our 6th anniversary Pledge Drive. Hope it will be you. Pledge now. Your odds of winning are mighty good. This is not the powerball lottery folks, with millions participating, just a few lucky folks who make this website and our other online endeavors possible. Click here to do it now: http://www.artfaircalendar.com/art_fair/pledgedrive.html  

How do I get into the good art fairs and how do I make money when I get there? These are the universal questions that need to be answered for earning a living in the fine art and fine craft show business. Our expert guests Larry Berman and Bruce Baker lead the way. Larry Berman lends his expertise on creating great images that will "wow" they jury and Bruce Baker shares his experience on creating a great booth and meeting the customer. Between the two you'll have the answers and there is only one thing left for you to do: make great art. Larry Berman has a long career in photography, including being the staff photographer for the NY Nets. He has been exhibiting at art fairs for over 30 years and was one of the first to recognize the importance of digital imagery in the art fair business and was responsible for the ZAPP image format which displays all jury images the same size. He has built a career improving jury images for artists and/or photographing their artwork. He has held seminars on jury images and

How does an art festival market their event to the public without big name entertainers, wine tasting areas, children's stages, interactive activities for fairgoers? In other words, strictly an art fair. Sharon McAllister, Executive Director of ArtFest Fort Myers (FL) joins Sara Shambarger, Director of Art Fairs, at the Krasl Art Center, including Krasl Art Fair on the Bluff in St. Joseph, MI, on this episode. Sharon and Sara have been in the art fair business for well over fifteen years, travel to visit other art fairs and have a wide perspective on creating a community-wide event that facilitates "buy-in" by the local population. This show will have strategic information that will be useful to artists and show organizers We'll talk about: what they do to make an art fair attractive to buyers and how artists are their partners in doing thishow artists can help them in their mission to bring buyers to the showswhat they think artists can be do to maximize their sales the challenges they face marketing tthe

In the beginning art fairs were created and artists and art buyers flocked to attend. You were one of them. Your mother and your friends thought your work was wonderful and maybe they were right, so off you went to the marketplace. How did it go? Was it a triumph or a humbling experience? A panel of beginner and experienced artists from various media discuss their "first time." What you will learn: how they preparedwhere they were, big or small fairshow it impacted their livestheir biggest disappointments and their biggest surpriseslearning from their own mistakes vs learning from other's mistakeswhat they wish they had known then and how they used that informationthe good, the bad and the really uglyhow to do three shows in three days and other extreme adventurestheir #1 tip for a first time show      

As the new interim executive director took on the reins at the Bayou City Art Festival in Houston late last year, it became apparent to Susan Fowler that the organization was stretched beyond financial viability. This is a festival that depends on an admission charge that had been negatively impacted by the weather. Four festivals back to back with rain had drained their savings  that were in fact a literal rainy day fund because the Bayou City Art Festivals are outdoor events.  The Art Colony Association, which hosts the Bayou City shows, needed to do something fast to keep the popular festivals alive and well. When the Board of the Art Colony met in January they put the wheels in motion to expand the event from 300 artists to 450 artists plus several other changes that they hoped would lead to financial stability. We'll be speaking with the Executive Director Susan Fowler and Operations Director Kelly Kindred to learn  how a board of directors oversees an organization and its' fiscal responsibility how

Did you ever see such a business for high overhead as the art fair business? Travel expenses, booth fees, employees, tents, studio space, art supplies, credit card fees, etc.  We talk to two artists with bookkeeping experience and we'll learn how they adapted this information for art fair bookkeeping. Our experts are: Alison Thomas worked with her husband's in his HVAC business and did the bookkeeping with Quickbooks. The business was a corporation with employees so she knows payroll  and payroll taxes and the forms. We'll talk about Quickbooks and how she uses them for her art fair business.Leo Charette has been a data manager using computers since the 1980's, so when he started participating in art fairs he developed a system that could manage the interrelated relationships between creating art, selling art and staying in touch with the art fair patrons. We'll start with the nuts and bolts of how you begin keeping the books and doing your first tax return and then answer your questions. 

Our guest is Sheryl Kosovski, a certified Financial Recovery Coach who specializes in business development for creative people, helping artists and designers grow their businesses, make more money and learn how to hold onto that income. How do you handle your money? We'll discuss how to create a spending plan to reflect where you want your resources to go. One that enables you to take care of your financial responsibilities, meet your needs, and enjoy life in the process. One that will, over time, will enable you to do things that may seem impossible to afford today. Do you: rarely balance your checkbook or forget to record checks?not have a savings account?pay only the minimum monthly credit card payment?frequently live in pain or stress around money?live from show to show? Or are you: confident in your ability to make moneyliving below your meanstenacious in achieving your goalsdetermined to get paid what you are worth We talk about how: to set up a annual plan to track your income for getting your expens

Our guests are potters Jan Richardson and Robert Briscoe,  well known in the artist community not only for their fine work but their generosity in developing opportunities for other artists.  Living in rural Maryland Jan developed the Valley Craft Network in 1982, a tour that continues to bring buyers from nearby Baltimore and Washington, DC, into the region to visit studios. After a move to Washington State about six years ago she found few opportunities for selling her work and since then has worked within that community, creating art shows and the Peninsula Artists Studio Tour.  Robert Briscoe has been exhibiting his functional beautiful pottery at art festivals since 1970. In 1992 together with 7 of his friends they started the St. Croix Valley Pottery Studio Tour, which has become a national pottery phenomenon. It started as a simple idea: bring together a group of potters to create an event that would be larger in scope than any individual's studio sale. In its' 22nd year it has grown to include 50

What can an art fair do to bring serious buyers to attend their events to buy art?   Our guests today are from two of the top rated shows in the country. Tne La Quinta Arts Festival is a large festival held in an affluent area in California. Art on the Square is in Belleville, Illinois, a small town near St. Louis with nearly the opposite demographics, yet both shows excel at bringing collectors to their events and their sales figures are "above average." How do they do it? The guests are: Christi Salamone, Executive Director, La Quinta Arts Festival, La Quinta, CA  Kathleen Hughes, Events Manager, La Quinta Arts Festival Patty Gregory, Director, Art on ths Square, Belleville, IL Anyone who has ever run an art fair, or thought they wanted to run an art fair, will learn a lot from these experienced guests. Do you want lots of applications to your show? The most important thing an event can do is bring in those committed buyers.

Art fairs not working for you? Not getting into the shows where you know you can sell your work? Tired of being on the road? Looking for a new adventure?  Meet two painters who can say both yes and no to the questions above. Yes, the art fairs work but they wanted to try some  new ideas for marketing their work. Where did they turn? Social media! In March, Carrie Jacobson, a painter from Connecticut, drove from Virginia to Arizona, painting, doing a show and visiting her dad. She found buyers  who paid for the whole trip in advance and she had more paintings to sell when she reached her destination.   Painter Scott Coleman from Georgia has been doing art fairs forever (I met him at my first art show back in the good old days), but in recent years has been using his blog and Facebook to sell "a painting a day." He sold 365 "Daily Cupcake" paintings in a year and a half.  Imagine -- no rejection letters, no booth fees, no storms, just creating art -- and oh, Marketing!  Remember, being an artist is 50% c

Carolyn Bird and Alice Moulton, longtime organizers of the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival in Winter Park, FL, join Connie Mettler of ArtFairInsiders.com to talk about one of the best shows in the business and to draw the names of the winners of the rest of the prizes for the Birthday Party Pledge Drive. Want to hear a little insider information from people who are part of the "art fair establishment"? Then you might enjoy this lighthearted episode.  

Most artists have made their peace with the digital upload systems, www.Zapplication.org, www.JuriedArtServices.com and www.EntryThingy.com. If you want to participate in the better shows you sign up and upload your images for the jury.  But how did this get started and what is the relationship of the individual artist or individual art fair with these systems? Here are our experts: photographer Larry Oliverson who was instrumental in introducing the concept of online applications to the art fair business by bringing artists, art fairs and Westaf (the agency which provides ZAPP) together   painter Kathleen Eaton who is an artist member of the ZAPP Oversight Committee and is writing a book about the history of art fairs   Leah Charney, Manager of ZAPP®,  oversees the ZAPP product and the 350+ clients, 570+ events and more than 60,000 active artists that use the system These guests have a long history with the organization and can provide both historical data as well as current operating information.

New art fairs are necessary for the evolution of the art fair business because artists need new markets and even reliable shows sometimes don't continue to thrive. We speak with 4 show directors who are developing events for their communities: Rae Marie Schneider and Kim House, St. John's River Festival of the Arts in Sanford, FL, had solid community participation at their inaugural show in 2012. They'll talk about how they did it and their plans for 2013.Dennis Gorg, a 10 year event organizer who has a new show in June in St. Louis, MO, MidTown Taste ART FAIR. We'll learn how an experienced producer leverages his skills for a new event.Tim Reilly, is the director of The Cotton South Fine Art Festival in Madison, GA, debuting in September 2013. Still in the throes of filling his show, raising money and working with sponsors, we'll hear how a new director makes his plans. This show will be full of information for everyone thinking of starting a show with ideas for new show directors and will fill in the nuts