Art Festival Directory Sources

I started writing this article by listing many of the various sites on the Internet that offered artists a place to go to research the many different art shows around the country.

Many of them I personally subscribed to and used.

Some individuals prefer a written directory book or magazine. Others prefer a searchable online website. Both have their strong points as well as drawbacks. The book directory allows the artist to take it along with them to their shows to do research during the slow sales periods. Some people just like the tactile feel of paper. These folks by and large might not be as comfortable using computers and thus not be as efficient using the different online searchable databases available. The downsides to books are that they are usually printed once, twice or in extreme cases only 4 times a year. That doesn’t allow these written directories to be as up to date as they optimally should be.

With the advent of better WiFi service in many parts of the world the objection of not being able to use your computer to access the online databases isn’t as relevant as it was just a few short years ago. If your computer “sees” a hotspot, you could do your festival research in the field as well as at home. Still, this requires the artist to own or have access to a laptop computer and even then, many people aren’t comfortable taking a valuable piece of equipment with them anyway.

You’ll need to figure out what type fits your needs better before deciding on which route to take.

For those of you who would rather use a computer to aid you in your research, I have a recommendation for you. Actually, for that matter this company that I’m about to share with you offers their festival database in both book form as well as an online tool. So you choose which is best suits you.

Art Fair SourceBook, a company owned by Greg Lawler is located in Portland Oregon. Their slogan,

“The definitive guide to the best juried art & craft fairs in the United States”

really says it all. Out of the 4 different online research databases I’ve used during my career as an artist, the Art Fair SourceBook is by far the most comprehensive and up to date compendium out there.

I had sampled the book form of their database a number of years ago and found it to offer more information for each fair than I actually needed. But we are all different so what might not be important to me might be invaluable to you.

Various show statistics like event name, show dates, size of venue, booth fees, jury deadlines etc. were there, plus one of my favorite features, the “Editor’s Critique” gives a fair yet hard hitting observation of the festival. If the show director states false or misleading information about their event, Greg is there to point out the discrepancy and set the record straight. His take, plus the section based on different artist reports on the show is worth the price of the yearly subscription alone. These artist reports are actual recaps from the artists themselves. What better way to see if the fair is for you. Reading about it from artists who actually did the show gives you an insight that is much better than that of the show director trying to “sell” you booth space.

I can’t tell you how many times when I started out that I found myself attending a show based on what I read in the show prospectus that was written by the show director only to find out that the information was based on inflated attendance figures or at least out of date numbers.

“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

That is one of the main reasons I prefer using the computerized online database over the printed version is because their editors can update any information immediately instead of waiting for the next printed edition to come out. Your show profits are based on this information, get the freshest you can find.

I could go on and on about this directory. There are many more reasons to use it, but trying to give my opinion on all it’s different aspects would be too time consuming. I gave you the main reason why I use the SourceBook, check it out for yourself to see if some of it’s other features could make your life as a traveling artist easier and more profitable.

If you do subscribe, tell Greg that I recommended him to you. I don’t receive and financial considerations from those folks but because I strongly believe in paying good things forward, and it would be nice for them to know you found the SourceBook through me.

Art Fair SourceBook

How to find the right shows

Have you ever applied for a job before? Chances are that most people reading this can say that one time or another in their careers they’ve researched located and applied for a job. It’s never a fun thing to do, or at least it never was for me.

Partly because of that, I’ve been self-employed since my early 20’s. I hate rejection. Not that I ever applied for a position thinking that I wasn’t right for the job, but once learning that I wasn’t hired I didn’t know if it was the rejection of not getting it or the lame excuses why I didn’t that bothered me the most.

“We were highly impressed with your résumé, but we found someone else better suited to our needs.”

“Your work record looks impeccable and we would love to have a person with your skills work for us but, you just aren’t as qualified as the other applications.”

“The quality of your portfolio is magnificent, but we thought that you wouldn’t be as good of a fit as others we looked at.”

Enough already, I get the picture.

Well, an artist goes through that same scenario for every art festival they apply to. If you’re a busy artist that attends many different shows each year you know what I mean. Imagine applying to 30 different jobs a year. Every application comes with the ever-present chance of rejection. That’s exactly what the artist goes through each time they send in their application, jury fees and images of their work. Then they wait for the thick postage paid envelope to arrive (obviously filled with the slides/cd/photos you submitted to be juried) informing them that,

“We were highly impressed with your artist statement and the slides of your work were some of the most impressive pieces the judges have looked at this year, but, we’re sorry to inform you that you have not been chosen to participate in this years festival.”

WTF, how can that be? They said they loved my work. That is what we go through every time we roll the dice and apply to a festival. The process makes my stomach turn. I always start the year by making sure I have an ample supply of Rolaids and Tums available.

That said, there are ways to minimize these inevitable rejection letters. The first (and probably the most important) step in the application process is finding the best show for your type of art. If you’re an abstract surrealist, it doesn’t make sense to send in an application to western themed dominated show in the southwest. Likewise if you paint old west scenes you might want to stay clear of a show held in the SoMa district of a large urban city.

Go where your market is. Staying in the old west vernacular, don’t use a shotgun when a rifle is a better choice. Pin point your applications, don’t just apply to every show out there. First off, you’d go broke in jury fees alone and more importantly, sitting through a 3 day festival watching patrons stir clear of your booth like you had a sign hung in the front of it informing people that you have a deadly contagious disease is really a bummer.

Again, go where your market is.

Well, how do you find the right show? There is no one right answer but there are a series of thing to make your chances better.

1. Ask fellow artists what shows are working for them. Be careful on this one because some artist’s guard which shows are the best like their life depended on it and their financial life might, especially if you both do the same type of art.

2. Read trade journals and festival directories. These will at least give you the names and dates of the shows but not necessarily which ones are the best for you. The one I find myself using the most now days is The Art Fair Source Book. The owner of this publication, Greg Lawler, is not only a friend but in my opinion, a genius when it comes to offering unbiased, researched show information.

3. Subscribe to on-line directories. This is after all, 2008. If you are still complaining that shows aren’t accepting slides any longer and they require you to submit your application and images digitally, wake up. Those antiquated days are over. An ever-increasing percentage of the Top 100 shows are already on ZAPP, and for a good reason, it works. Instant processing of your application, your images are stored on their severs so you don’t have to worry if you just sent off your last booth slide to another show.

Even if the better shows aren’t signed up to use ZAPP now, they are adopting many of the digital image requirements into their submittal process and will probably be just a matter of time before they too, only except apps through ZAPP.

I’m currently finishing off a video tutorial on many of the features that artists find so “scary” with ZAPP and I’ll post a link to it when it’s done. I’ll be covering every thing from how to set your ZAPP account up, image preparation, artist statements and more.

To try and not turn this post into a novel, I’ll cover a few other methods on finding the correct shows later.

PS. Happy 54th birthday Dennis Brady Studio ☺