Welcome to the Art Show reviews for Springfield Old Capital Art Fair
Art Fair: Springfield Old Capital Art Fair
Location: Springfield, Illinois
Held at the Old State Capital Downtown
Complex
Dates: May 18 & 19, 2019
Presented By: Springfield Old
Capital Art Fair
Founded: 1962
Show Type: Outdoor
Expected Attendance: 30,000 people
Exhibiting Artists: 175
Artist Application Deadline: December 1, 2018
Jury Fee: $35
Booth Fee: $350 - $600
Web site: www.socaf.org
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Show Name: Old Capital Art Fair
City and State: Springfield
Your Medium: Jewelry
Year you most recently exhibited at this Show: 2012
Your Estimated Sales at this Show: $2001-$5000
Number of Years You have Exhibited in this Show: 2-3 times
Attendance: (1 is poor, 5 is great) 4
Location: 3
Facilities: 3
Ease of Participating: 3
Sales: 4
Overall: 4
Booth Fee vs. Your Sales Ratio: Good
Estimated Attendance: 501-10,000 people
Good Things about this Art Fair: I live in town so no other fees. Both years I had really good shows. The people did come to buy both years. I work most shows by myself but i could not keep up with it for a period of time. I did sell a couple of my higher end price also
Bad Things about this Art Fair: The committee correspondence was terrible. I did not get anything mailed to me as a returning artist. Talked to many other artist a couple of months before the show and same thing. They really drop the ball. Good thing is there is new people in charge and they have sent several emails already for the 2013 show.
They just raise the booth fee from $250 to $300 but I do not mind it that much.
Advice to Other Artists Considering this Show: It is nice now that once you get in you are in for 3 years. I know several artist that did this show for years that are really good and got jury out. Pros and cons of that bigger turn around but it hard to count on getting back in after 3 years.
Posted by: Thoma Suter | 01/08/2013 at 04:29 PM
Show Name: Springfield Old Capitol Art Fair
City and State: Springfield, IL
Your Medium: Photography
Year you most recently exhibited at this Show: 2011
Your Estimated Sales at this Show: $2001-$5000
Number of Years You have Exhibited in this Show: 3-5 times
Attendance: (1 is poor, 5 is great) 3
Location: 4
Facilities: 4
Ease of Participating: 4
Sales: 3
Overall: 4
Booth Fee vs. Your Sales Ratio: Good
Estimated Attendance: 10,001-25,000 people
Good Things about this Art Fair:
Easy set-up with spacious locations (great for photogs or others that need space) on the grass around the Old Capitol. Street locations not as spacious, but may get more traffic and you can pull right up to your space. Capitol spaces require some carting.
Appreciative and above average knowledgable patrons. Pretty and aestecially pleasing setting.
This show always gives me a good feeling, as most attendees are very pleasant and thankful to have the artists there. They are also "thankful" with their wallets, as many will buy something small, seemingly just to show that they really are glad to have you at 'their show'.
Community members are proud of their show here, and show it by asking how you are doing, and if their show was good for you or not.
Some high-end buyers do come, and most people don't bicker or complain over pricing. They usually pay full price and are surprised if you offer the incentive of a small discount.
The volunteers were around handing out water on a regular basis, and informed the artists when a storm was moving in. They said we could start taking down early if we felt it necessary or we could risk sitting it out.
Bad Things about this Art Fair:
No check-in available friday night during set-up and volunteers seem generally unknowledgable about what is going on. Forgot my booth number and could not find anyone with a listing of artists that was correct (booth numbers printed in paper were wrong!). Finally, another artist was able to get me info on my booth number.
No staking is allowed on the Capitol grounds, even though it is grass, which I feel is silly, but apparently is part of the deal for the show being allowed to use it.
High winds, relentless downpour, and hail came Sunday at about 2pm closing the show early for all practical purposes. Thankfully, no tornadoes, but areas around us had them. Not too many bad things about this show compared to your average show.
Advice to Other Artists Considering this Show:
They only jury artists according to last name every three years or so, which is nice in that you KNOW you will be accepted most years.
Quality seemed to be slipping a little in the photography category (not sure on other mediums) compared to last year and previous years.
Thanks to a couple of large sales towards the end of the show Sunday, I had my best show in three years here. Being from Northern Minnesota, we just don't have any worthwhile shows this early in the season, so I will most likely return despite the 1200 mile round-trip.
A fair booth fee for the potential sales. The show is definately at least worth a try in my opinion.
Posted by: Ryan Tischer | 06/17/2011 at 01:18 PM