Creating connections between creatives, customers and the community
Who doesn’t love finding new resources and if they are free, even better! We are starting a new feature of weekly free or inexpensive classes, webinars, and fun things to do. This current week list of free classes is the first time we are doing this, so we welcome your input for courses you may be hosting or a favorite you would like to share with our community. Below is the current week of free classes:
Continue reading “Current Week Free Classes”
Applying to art fairs was always a bit of art and science. Choosing the best one for you and what you sell. Finding one which fits into your desire to travel, life, art, and type of event has always been fun. You don’t want to sell at an event which doesn’t have the right customers for you either!
Now, there is an additional layer of shows canceling because of safety concerns. What happens if you apply to a fair, and it has to cancel due to state regulations? What happens to your entry fee, your both fee? Continue reading “Applying to Art Fairs During Covid-19”
Sometimes when you are over-scheduled, having an event canceled feels good. Maybe you were trying to do one more thing in an already packed schedule. However, when you look at your calendar and all your events have canceled, it is scary. As an artist and maker who sells through live shows, it is overwhelming now.
I will be the first to admit I thought events would be canceled through early summer. I never thought events would be canceled throughout the summer, and some are even postponing into November. Continue reading “When All Events Canceled”
You did your search and found a few art or craft shows where you would like to sell. Now, to apply to the best art fairs based on your unique style and needs.
Do a little work and think about what you sell. Who do you think buys what you sell? Do you sell soap, photographs, hand-knit baby blankets, paintings? What is your price point? Where would your potential customers be shopping?
Click into the event or go into the application and look at the information the event organizer is telling you. Is this a small-town show with a few vendors? Is the small town wealthy? Quirky? Full of tourists? Continue reading “Apply to the Best Art Fairs For Your Unique Art Style”
Your art fair canceled due to COVID, now what do you do? You are an artist, a maker, a freelancer. You sell art in public venues, at church functions, art fairs, farmer’s markets, in galleries. And now, due to the coronavirus, the public is told to avoid these types of venues. The art fair patrons are not sure what to do, do we stay home or continue with life.
What do you do as an artist, in the face of the coronavirus pandemic? Do you have a plan b to earn money if your event cancels? Continue reading “Your Art Fair was Canceled due to the COVID”
In a world where everything seems to be increasingly done through an online presence instead of brick and mortar sales, the art world has a foot firmly in both worlds. Artists and makers sell through fairs, shows, exhibits, markets, and galleries as well as Etsy, Amazon Handmade, eBay, and your online stores. Choosing one over the other can be confusing.
This article makes the assumption you are already selling in person. Either through fairs, galleries or pop-ups. You may have a thriving business or maybe you have just started. Either way, you may be thinking, why do I want to add one more thing to my already busy life. Especially if you do not want to deal with selling online, shipping items, returned items and paying state sales tax! Continue reading “Online Art Presence – Setting Yourself Up for Success”
Find an Art Fair to Sell at right now.
You’ve decided to start selling the amazing work you have been creating. Congratulations! Now, the decision you need to make is where will you sell it.
On any given weekend across the country, there could be hundreds of art and craft fairs. How do you know which one will work best for you? And when do you need to apply? Continue reading “How to Find Art & Craft Fairs to Sell at”
You have heard you should have an email list. But it seems like just one more thing to do. Here are four simple ways to grow your email list, which won’t take a lot of your time or energy. Having this list will give you the ability to reach out to your customers before your next event.
Square is used by many artisans. Did you know they have a service where you can update your customer data base directly from the payment information? I found this information from the bottom of their website. The best thing about this, it is free when you use Square. If you don’t use Square, see if you merchant provider provides the same service. And if they do have it, use the service.
Make sure when you collect your customers information this way, you get the correct confirmation from them allowing you to add them to your email list, before adding them to an email newsletter. Continue reading “Four Simple Ways to Grow Your Email List”
As an artist, what are your thoughts on people taking photos of your work? Are you all for someone taking photos of your work? Or are you firmly against having anyone take photos of your work. Do you post signs in your booth not to take photos? Do you ask potential customers to not take pictures? If you do, what are your reasons for your no photo policy?
There is certainly an understanding that you want to protect your creative property. That you don’t want someone to take a photo of your photography to keep them from purchasing the original photo from you. You may even be concerned the person taking the photograph will copy your work and create if for themselves.
When you are a creative selling on the weekend, your Monday is different from other people’s. You probaably didn’t have the weekend off to rest and rejuvenate. You were most likely working. Thus making the creative’s Monday different from everyone else.
Monday morning may see you heading back to your full-time job after working all weekend! Maybe Monday is a travel day for you. Heading home or driving to your next show. Perhaps Monday is the day you get back into your studio to create again.
Or is your Monday more like other people’s Saturday? Running around doing errands, catching up on your laundry, and checking things off your personal to-do list.
Whatever your creative Monday looks like, make sure you take a few minutes to track your expenses from your last show. You know, the ones you may forget in a couple of weeks. The water bottle you needed to purchase because it was so hot, or was it coffee because it was so cold?
I picked up my rental car, entered the fair address in the GPS, and was on my way. Only to find out I was on a toll road. An unexpected expense and one I would surely forget about at tax time since I live in a state where tolls just don’t exist. And then there was the water at the fair because holy smokes, it was steamy in Central Florida this weekend!
These items were paid in cash, so I can’t rely on my credit card statement to look up old expenses. And I don’t have receipts from either of them. ?
There is no cost to download or use the document. It will help you track where you are spending money. It includes places for hotel, tolls, mileage, and other expenses you have while attending your fairs over the weekend.
And even better, there is a sheet for each fair, which will pull up to a front-page so you will have your show expenses at your fingertips when it is time to do your taxes!
Just make sure to do it sooner rather than later, so those unexpected cash items don’t get forgotten.
Click here to access your expense tracker. It is free to use and share. If you save it to your own Google drive, you will have it available to you while traveling. Please feel free to share it with other creatives as well. There is no cost to use or share it. (Please make a copy for yourself, so you don’t change the original.)
We are building a community for you to give or receive support from other artists. And when you fill in your artist information, you become searchable on the site by potential customers looking for you. Because you may not know it, but your customers from last year are trying to find you again this year.
If you have questions, please feel free to reach out to us at info@theartfairgallery.com.
Now that we have the expenses out of the way, it is time to create.
Getting past your creative Monday and onto the rest of your week. Make it a great one.