How Do You Know Which Shows to Do

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="05bfd5a3.jpg"> <div> <B>How Do You Know Which Shows To Do</B></div> <div> <B>347-LOVE-ART  (347-568-3278)   Toll Free 1-877-512-3333</B><B>    Email: </B><A HREF="mailto:mike@mikealbin.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:mike@mikealbin.com"><U><B>mike@mikealbin.com</B></U></A></div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="05cd2043.jpg"> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mike Albin.Com "><U>Mike Albin.Com </U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="wd.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Web design"><U>Web design</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="ma.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Marketing Articles"><U>Marketing Articles</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="sr.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Show Reviews"><U>Show Reviews</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="mt.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Marketing Tools"><U>Marketing Tools</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="l.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U>Links</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#777777" TEXT="#080000"> <div> How Do You Know Which Shows To Do?</div> <bR> <div> On any given weekend there are ten or twelve different shows to choose from.  Pouring over show information is about as confusing as looking at a racing form and trying to pick the daily double!  Local show or travel, promoter show or community show?  I've had a knack for picking the show where it's going to rain whenever we are accepted into two shows on the same weekend!  How do you  decide which show will be best for you?  How long do you stick with a show hoping it will get better for you next year?  There are no guarantees in this business from weekend to weekend.  The best description of the business I've ever heard came from fellow artist Herbert Hofer who said "It's a funny business but no one is laughing!"</div> <div> We talk a lot with other artists to find out information on other shows but unless their medium is similar to ours, our experience can be totally different.  We've spoken with several artists that tell us what a great show Mount Dora is for them.  We've been there twice and if you added our total for both shows together we're still not at a decent show!  There are huge crowds and the quality of work is very high but for whatever reason our work just doesn't sell there. </div> <div> Over the past five and a half years my wife and I have developed a system through trial and error, talking with other artists that have a similar medium and price points to ours, reading show reviews, the SA Audit book and the September issue of SA which lists the top 200 shows in the country to try and make the time we spend out on the road doing shows more productive.  What works for us may not work for you.  Take the information in this article and combine it with some of your own experiences to come up with your own system for picking the best shows for you and your work.  </div> <div> Where to get started?  I began with the September Issue of SA and started writing for applications to the top 50 art shows in the country that fit our calendar  schedule and travel plans.  These shows would become our first choice if we got accepted.  The trouble with most of these shows is they get thousands of applications for several hundred spots and acceptance letters arrive a lot less often than rejection letters.  So we apply to several shows for the same weekend in hopes of getting in at least one.  This can be counter productive at times because some shows do not refund your money even when canceling several months in advance.  (This could be a topic for a future article).  Our sincerest appreciation to shows that do refund booth fees when canceling early!!!  </div> <div> Make a list of the shows you want to do.  Have one page for each month.  At the top of the page write the month then down the left side write weekend numbers 1-4.  For each weekend in the month write the shows in order of preference that you want to do followed by contact information and  application due date.  Weekend number 1 may have three shows listed for that weekend.  We'll list them as A,B and C, A being our top pick for that weekend.  At the bottom of each page write "Deadlines" and any show that has a deadline during that month write it in there.  Check your sheet each month for shows that have deadlines coming up so if your application to one of those shows never gets to you, you have time to call for another one.  </div> <div> Another great source for show information is the SA Audit book.  Shows are listed geographically by state and city.  Each show is ranked on a scale of 1-9 for each year and there are small write-ups for each show and contact information.  The Audit book comes out every couple of years, the last issue was printed in 2003 and is available at the SA website for $54.00.</div> <div> Every month myself and other artists write show reviews for art shows all over the country and they`re printed in SA.  They are categorized by state and you`ll find them under "State Reviews".  If you're trying to find information on a particular show it's a good place to start.  The "Show Listings" in SA give good detailed information on each show but beware, attendance figures for shows are given to SA by the show promoters and are sometimes less than accurate.  </div> <div> Please do your part and help us all out. For every show you do please take the time to fill out a "Fast Audit" card and mail it into SA.  The cards are found as tear outs in every issue of SA.  It can even be done on-line at www.sunshineartists.com and clicking on Fast Audit.  Please be honest with your reporting, the system is only as good as the information that goes into it.           </div> <div> We found information for some our best shows from other artists willing to share their knowledge of the show circuit.  I always try to find at least three different artists with information for a particular show because the experience for each can be so different.  Also try and find artists that have similar mediums and price points to your work and find out how well they did there.  If you sell $20.00, 3-d glass work and a 2-d painter selling $1500.00 paintings tells you he did not do well at a show, your experience may be completely different.  Collect business cards from other artists with similar mediums and price points.  Email them at a later date if you have questions about a particular show.  Most are eager to help and will give you good advise.  Our sincerest appreciation to those of you veteran artists that give <U>honest</U> advise to less experienced artists!  There are a few artists out there that will give you bad information on a show because they feel less competition for a show is better for them.  I've always believed what goes around comes around so be as helpful as you can!  </div> <div> There's a great feature on the SA website called "Forums".  No, not for sexy artists stories!  If you have a question about a show, equipment, supplies or resources you can post it there for other artists to answer.  If you get a chance, check it out and maybe you have a piece of information that can help out someone else.  </div> <div> One of the big debates on the art show circuit is which is better, community shows or promoter shows.  They both have pros and cons.  Community shows are usually put on once a year by a particular civic group like a chamber of commerce, rotary club or art gallery.  All of their efforts and attention for an entire year goes into to putting on this one show.  There are usually hundreds of volunteers from the community that help with everything from parking cars to booth sitters.  This usually means much more community support and involvement in the show and a community connection.  The volunteers have friends, neighbors and relatives that all come to the show.  For us, as a rule, sales have usually been better at community shows.   For other artists also, 44-45 of the top 50 art shows in the SA rankings are community shows.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >  </FONT>Community shows usually have much more in the way of artists amenities.  Awards, receptions, dinners, artists hospitality booths, show brochures, hotel discounts, special parking areas and booth sitters are usually part of some of the better community shows.  They really can spoil you!   Awards at larger community shows cab be as high as $60,00.00-$80,000.00.  The dinners and receptions can also be quite elaborate.    </div> <div> On the down side the officers that run community shows are usually volunteers that change positions every few years and can lead to inconsistent show results for artists.  The time involved in filling out applications for each community show with different slide requirements can absolutely drive you insane.  Keeping up with deadlines is a bit easier if you use my system but it's still very time consuming.  </div> <div> Promoter shows are put on almost every weekend in a different city by the same company.  Howard Alan and Amy Amdur are two of the top art show promoters in the country.  The really nice advantage to doing their shows are you can fill out only one application for as many of their shows that you want to do.  As long as your work quality remains high, once you're in you're in, you don't have to apply to several shows for the same weekend, your schedule is set for the next 6 months.  It's always the same people running and promoting each show and this is what they do for a living so your sales at their shows tend to be more consistent.  I spoke with Howard Alan and he wanted to emphasize he has on staff advertising specialists, public relations specialists, logistics experts, a full time web designer and show coordinators.  These are not volunteers, these are full time employees that know how to put on a professional art show and do it every weekend.  At Howard's shows there are no artists amenities, he says he uses the money spent on lunch, dinner and awards to buy more advertising for the show.  That way artists can afford to buy their own lunch and pay more of their bills.             </div> <div> Bottom line is the most reliable way to find out if a show will be good for you is to actually go there and do the show yourself.  Keep an "after show" note book.  In it keep information like sales totals for the show, what type of work sold at the show (this can change drastically from year to year), preferred booth location for next year, how many near missed sales you had (those people may come back the following year) and any set-up/ break-down notes you have.  This book is extremely helpful in remembering the small details of the show that might get forgotten over time.  If all you look at are sales numbers for each show you might be missing out.  Two years ago we did the Dogwood Festival in Atlanta.  It turned out to be a slightly below average show for us sales wise but we had close to 20 really interested couples that just didn't buy from us.  I made notes to definitely go back and try again because I thought the potential for a good show was very high there.  If all I had to go by were sales figures, the following year we may not have gone back.  We did the show the second year and it turned out to be our second best show ever, four times an average show!  </div> <div> One our biggest concerns as artists are, how long do you stick with a show when your sales figures keep going down?  It was a good show the first few years but lately it keeps getting worse.  I keep notes on how many near misses we have for the show.  If we don't sell much and we didn't come close very often, we usually won't go back.  If we had a good number of near misses on good size pieces then the potential for a good show is there.  We may give up too soon on some shows but the money and time involved in doing them is just too great to keep going back and not selling.  Besides it's damn depressing to sit there for a weekend and not sell much.  I have a hard time on Sunday afternoon keeping a smile on my face if we are not selling and at that point someone comes in with a smart aleck remark, I really have to bite my tongue to keep from ripping their head off!  </div> <div> We've been doing shows full-time for five and a half years now.  We do not have other jobs to supplement our income.  The art show circuit pays our bills and we love what we are doing.  There are quite a few artists out there that have been making a living at art shows for 20 years or more.  We have learned a great deal from them over the years and I still have a lot more to learn.  If you are one of these veteran artists and you see something out there that I am leaving off in my articles and you wish to share with other artists, please email me at mike@albinarts.com and I will pass it along.  If you have any questions or comments on my articles please pass them along also.  <U>Please do not email me with questions regarding individual shows.  </U>I try and answer all of my emails personally and cannot take the time to give information on every show we've done.   Thanks for reading the articles and all the great feedback I get when I'm on the road.  It makes my day every time an artists comes up and tells me personally how much they enjoy reading them.  </div> </td> </tr></table></body>