I went to a large outdoor art show last weekend - actually more of an arts and crafts show - with over 400 exhibitors. Most of the exhibitors were local or from neighboring communities and states, but there were several from quite a distance away.
Although I enjoyed browsing the booths and being awed by much of the talent displayed, I started to wonder what kind of living these people were making. They have travel expenses, lots of inventory in many cases, and fees they have to pay to get a booth. I’m sure they were making sales, but it didn’t seem to me that the cash registers were exactly humming.
Does anyone here know how much an artist or craftsperson can expect to earn selling their wares in this way? Can they support a family on their talent, or do they have to have a steadier source of income?
A lot of artists work the circuit. They have an RV or camper, live very cheaply, and drive from show to show every weekend for the summer, or maybe longer in the South. They use the weekdays to create more product to replace what was sold. And their appearance at shows should often be considered advertisements for their websites or online sales venues.
I’m sure the professionals you see every year from out of town are making a living at this. They’ve figured out the costs and know how to work the crowds. They know to expect a bad rainy weekend once in a while and talk to each other about what the best shows are. Having worked behind the counter of a booth in a different kind of venue, I know that you can never tell how sales are going just by looking at a place for five minutes. Sales comes in spurts, often first thing in the morning from people wanting to snap up the good stuff, and late the last day from the bargain shoppers. In between, it’s up and down, up and down. You need to move volumes of cheap stuff, but a few expensive items can make your nut* in a moment.
Financial term for monthly expense to keep a venture running.
What Exapno said. I’ve been at art shows where all of the major business happened in one half-hour period on one day, and that was enough to make it a good show; other shows have dribbled across the whole day (or two or three).
Generally speaking, artists haven’t been doing well for the last six or seven years (since the 2008 collapse, when discretionary spending – like for art – has declined.)
I’ve been involved both as an artist and a member of the board of an Art Center than ran art fairs. Success can depend on lots of variables, including weather, current events, competition that weekend, etc. Many artists have other jobs (perhaps even teaching their art at local colleges.) Many artists find that they can’t sell enough at a particular show, and so they don’t go back to that show. Artists choose their shows to a large extent: for instance, a show in relatively wealthy suburban area will have a different clientele than a show at a small liberal arts college town. Some artists will expect to do better at the one or the other.
There’s a lot of expense for an artist and her/his first show, but once you’ve bought the van and the display stands etc, you then use them for many shows over many years so the costs are amortized (aside from travel.) Often travel costs can also be spread – there may be an art show one weekend in Milwaukee, the next weekend in Madison, the next weekend in a north Chicago suburb, the next weekend in a south Chicago suburb. If you’ve got a relative to stay with during the week, you can cover lots of shows on one trip. And there are lots of similar tricks. Generally, artists go to the same shows over many years; they thus build up a clientele of sorts – especially, for instance, jewelry and pottery types. Again, artists pick which shows they’ll travel to, and how far.
There are two types of art fairs: (1) some charge a fixed admission fee for artists and then artists keep all their sales; (2) some take a percentage of all sales. Whether the artists make a profit on the show, the group running the show always does. The show that I was recently involved on the administrative side was fixed admission fee; at our survey after, roughly 75% of the invited artists said they made some profit on the weekend. We thought that was a very good result, and so did most of the artists in their response questionnaires after. Even those who didn’t make the sales that weekend, many were happy with the people who saw their work.
Artists do hand out their cards to many more people than buy at the show, and often these people will contact the artist later, under the misapprehension (usually) that it’s “cheaper” if they buy directly from the artist rather than at the show.