July 14, 2009
The first "annual" Corn Hill Arts Festival Emerging Artists Exp0 has come and gone. What an incredible success. Front page newspaper coverage helped got people excited on Saturday but even with the rain, the enthusiasm and sales were there. The aisles were PACKED on Sunday with visitors and customers. Everyone commented on what a great group of talent we had assembled and how excited they were to see the continued interest in art in our "young Rochesterians".
We were told "this is what the Corn Hill Arts Festival used to be about" and "thank you for bringing this feeling back".
Many "older" artists were thrilled to see this addition to the festival and offered to mentor in any way that they could. Some of the EA's got suggestions for scholarship opportunities and referrals.
I hope that everyone had a good experience and I hope to hear from all involved here on this blog.
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Commentary by all involved with the 2009 Corn Hill Emerging Artsts Expo.
personally it was one of the most exhiliraiting and exciting experiences i've ever had :) getting to sell my work and being around all of these very talented and enthuastic people was something that I truly value, and really enjoyed about this oppurtunity :) The experience of selling my work was a positive one as well :) It is very validaiting as such a young artist (i'm only 17) to make something that is completley about you but to still sell it to someone else because they saw something good in it too :) I know that this experience is something that i would venture to call my biggest personal acheivement thus far. I want to sincerly thank whoever came up with this 'emerging artists' idea and i hope to come back next year and do it all over again :)
ReplyDeletePeace and Love,
Lauren Britton
www.vibrantartworks.com
As an organizer of the Emerging Artist Expo I had great hopes and expectations for how it would turn out.
ReplyDeleteAfter experiencing the festival and witnessing the talent we had on display, as well as the professionalism the artists brought to the show, my expectations were far exceeded. In addition, the feedback we received from the artists, parents, and festival goers was exceptional. All of the artists should feel very proud of what they accomplished.
I am thrilled with the way the Emerging Artist Expo turned out and am already looking forward to next year's festival. I'm giving great consideration to changes we can make to make next year even better.
I look forward to hearing feedback.
Thanks!
Kari
Definitely a great, exhausting experience. There was a lot to do to prepare, but it was all worth it! I got a lot of great responses, made some money, and have been getting hits on my website and emails these past few days with encouragement and more orders! I wouldn't have been able to do this under any other circumstance, but it worked out splendidly. I look forward to coming back next year! [anyone know where I can rent a tent?]
ReplyDeleteThe support from all of my neighbors here in Corn Hill has also been outstanding. I think every volunteer came by my booth to check out my work. Special thanks to Bonny, Janet, Julia, Jeff and of course, my fiance John, for helping to pull everything together.
Suggestions?
Make the payment booth more centralized. When the crowds got thick, it could be hard to get to the table, and I heard of issues with clients not coming back to pick things up.
Less rain! Can you take care of that for next year? :)
I don't know if I am imagining things, but it felt like Saturday morning, no one was really finding us.... it seemed that our section was a little off the beaten path. That changed on Sunday though, and the crowds definitely increased, but maybe some additional signs to direct people to the emerging area would help.
But really, it was a great event, and I highly encourage it to happen again! It was nice working with the other young folk, and I wish you all the best of luck in the future! Thank you for this amazing opportunity!
You can see some more of my thoughts and images from the day over on my blog
Lori
Hey guys, Karen Howard here! Sorry this comment will be a little on the short side, but I'm freaking out [with joy, I promise] over here and I'm a wee bit busy. I just got accepted to the grad school of my dreams, whoo!
ReplyDeleteYesterday I wrote down my thoughts and experiences about the Corn Hill Festival on my studio blog, which can be found here: http://wingedwolfstudio.com. For those of you considering more festivals or conventions in the future, I hope it can help. It's a "bare it all" kind of blog, nothing is really held back, so I hope that doesn't offend anyone. I'm also not sure how much help it would be to people not interested in merchandising. With comics, you kind of have to merchandise if you ever expect to make any money. People read comics, but no one ever wants to pay for them! It can be quite frustrating. :( I was happily suprised to sell as many comics as I did!
Lastly, and most importantly, thank you Corn Hill organizers and volunteers for such a wonderful weekend. It was an experience I will keep with me and take with me to every future convention/festival I attend. I never had the guts to do this kind of thing before, and now that I know I can, I hope to be doing more! You guys all rock!
Please keep the EA as a new Corn Hill tradition! So many artists deserve the chance we all got!
Like many of the comments above, I too had a great experience. This was the first chance I had to openly sell my artwork to the public and I must say it was a validating experience.
ReplyDeleteMy only suggestions for future fests would be two fold. As someone already suggested, I agree with making the cashier booth more obvious, or to elliminate it all together. A lot of the people I had in my booth seemed confused by the idea and also a bit annoyed that they couldnt pay cash to me directly. Though I understand the purpose of thr cashier booth, maybe there could have been a way to factor in the fest's percentage some other way then with a middle man of a cashier booth.
My only other suggestion would be to know in advance about the tent placement/set up in oder to be better prepared for what kind of supplies would be needed for display.
Overall, this was a tom of fun (with the exception of Saturday's rain), and I can only hope to find other chances as wonderful as this one was in the future.
I thought the expo was such a great opportunity and experience. I am so grateful for the chance I was given. I met so many great young artists, that I would've never met otherwise. Plus I made some money, and got some exposure which is also fabulous. I learned so much about what to expect and what you need in a festival setting. Thanks again and hopefully I'll see some of you next year.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be a good idea to put the payment booth in the center, and every other booth in a big circle around it. I had my own Tax ID so I was able to accept cash. If all the young sellers had one that might help them. It's not too hard to get. Plus you can buy supplies and if you show your tax ID you can get wholesale prices, or at least be tax exempt.
It would be nice to be in a more convenient location for the customers, but I'm not really sure if there is a better place than what we had. More signs might be a good idea.
Thanks again!! Erin ~ Moondust Jewelry
I have to say that my experience at the Festival was priceless! As a graduating art ed major, I haven't had the most time in studio courses since I have been split between education and art classes so I had no idea where my artwork would be on the spectrum for public viewers. The two days brought a lot of good commentary from other artists, prospective buyers, and other young people. I had a lot of success and am so thankful that I was able to be included in the festival.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the payment booth, I see it as being important since this is for young artists who may not have tax id numbers and also it gave people the chance to pay with other forms of money. I do agree that more signs on the payment booth or chalk lines/arrows drawn on the ground leading to it could be helpful (if the rain doesnt wash them away). I say this because people had trouble locating the payment tent and I could even see it from my booth!
Other than that I think the festival was quite interesting and done well. Just from the exposure of the year, I think that next year will be incredible as well. Hopefully, I will be an official vendor next year as well! Thanks for all!
Katie Cole