Choosing an Arts and Craft Show

Choosing an Arts and Craft Show
Once we have prospective shows lined up we need to decide to which show we will apply.

In order to weed out the prospective shows we need to learn specific information about the shows such as fees, is the show juried or not, attendance, hours, setup details and so forth.

Crowd Size

A show promoter or manager who is doing a good job should be able to give you an idea of how many visitors have attended in the past. The trouble is many promoters either do not posses the skills and knowledge to put on a really good show, they are too lazy to do it right, or they really do not understand that crafters need this important information in order to make educated decisions on which shows to attend.

Do you detect a note of irritation?

This is one of our pet peeves. This is no joke! we really need these details including how many people are attending. There are many ways to count or judge the size of the crowd but for whatever reason some promoters do not think it's important. They simply do not understand that crafters need this information to decide if they can make enough money to cover expenses.

A good estimate of crowd size is vital in determining many factors, like; is the booth fee fair, how much stock to bring, what size change fund will be needed and do I even want to do this show at all.

Know too that crowd size works both ways. Some artists may not want to set up for a big show. If any promoters are reading then please give us a break and stay tuned for the section on promoting arts and crafts shows!

And please remember with out good quality artists and crafters there is no show. So git off your high horse and start counting people. Thank you.

Juried or un-Juried shows

Un-juried shows are those where the booths are rented to customers, often on a first come first serve basis with no regard to the quality or origin of the wares.

Smaller shows are probably more often un-juried when compared to larger shows, probably because smaller shows attract fewer buyers so the pool of crafters who are willing to set up tends to be smaller and the promoters need to accept what they can to fill the booths.

We do not mean to imply that un-Juried shows are poor performers. Sometimes a quick setup on a Saturday afternoon can net a tidy profit. Often the booth rent is less than $50.00 so crafters do not need high sales to cover expenses. The low fees make these types of shows attractive to first time sellers or those selling as a hobby.

Larger and more expensive shows are almost always juried and for a good reason. A show that has the potential to attract a large number of buyers needs to offer goods that are high quality and hand crafted by the artist who is displaying them. Buyers will be more likely to return year after year if the offerings are unique, varied, and not mass produced "buy/sell" items.

Good juried shows use set categories such as jewelry, pottery, photography etc., then limit the number of booths per category. For example they may only accept 5 jewelers or 4 wood workers and so on. This practice prevents the show from being ¾ jewelry.

Of course just because the show claims to be juried does not mean there will be no buy sell or top heavy categories. We have seen many shows that were juried but unbalanced. Customers at these shows get bored very quickly looking at booth after booth of the same or very similar items. This can adversely affect sales and attendance numbers the following year.

Juried shows are almost always a better bet for serious crafters and the general public, not to mention they are more successful for the promoters. Even a good show can go down hill in a short time if it is poorly juried.

Case in Point; In the past we attended a local arts and crafts show that for years was strictly juried. It was one of our favorite shows because the quality of crafts was high and the show attracted in the neighborhood of 30,000 eager customers over 3 days. This was a buying crowd as it attracted people from the local community who planned days off well in advance, as well as summer visitor from the nearby popular tourist region. The demand to book this show was so great that they always had a waiting list to get in.

A new promoter took over and one of her first official actions was to announced she was taking money and reservations for next years show, regardless of the quality or origin of the wares. In other words, no limit and no jury.

All we can think was that she was looking to make reservations simply for the booth fee, or she and the board are daft.

When she took over the booths were about $8.00 per foot and the gate fee was $3.00 for adults. This show was the organizations largest fund raiser. The year after allowing junk vendors in the attendance dropped sharply. Then instead of cleaning up the show, involving the community and advertising, they elected to raise the entrance fee to cover the difference.

Naturally this compounded the problem and in the years that followed the attendance dropped from a buying crowd to what we estimate to be much less than 10,000 for 3 days. They would be better off at this point to cut the show to 1 day and call it a flea market. They lay the blame on the economy but we know of several other shows that are doing fine in the same relative geographic area.

One of the best "local" shows we do is so strict that there have been occasions where a crafter would win a ribbon for a category one year and be juried out the next. This show packs them in rain, snow or shine. A good jury process can always work in favor of the promoter, the vendors, the buying public and the community.

Next >> Application and Fees