Halifax Art Festival Reviews.

Medium: 2D mixed media
Year you most recently exhibited at this Show:
2018
Your Estimated Sales at this Show: $501 - $2,000
Price Range of your Work: $100 - $600
Number of Years You have Exhibited in this Show:
1st time
Number of Years You have been doing Art Fairs overall: 3-5 years
Attendance: (1 is poor, 5 is great) 5
Location: 5
Facilities: 5
Ease of Participating: 5
Sales: 3
Overall: 4
Booth Fee vs. Your Sales Ratio: Okay
Estimated Attendance: 501 - 10,000 people

Good Things about this Art Fair:
Set up on street with back to grass medium. Able to stake down back of tent (Needed, especially at this event as storm off ocean blew some tents over.)

Parking, setup and teardown is planned and convenient. Dolly in is easy, too.

What could this Art Fair have done better?:
Port-a-potties: more and better attention.

Frequently I feel judges are ghosts. Dots appear but I never see who puts them there.

The "club" Sunday breakfast is only for award winners. One of the award recipients did not like that his friends were excluded and would prefer just coffee and donuts but with everyone there to see awards presented. I am not an award winner, but I agree with his opinion. I would have liked to see who got the awards and in what mediums.

Advice to Other Artists Considering this Show:
Prepare to stake down your tent (in back) as well as the usual weights.

My originals are lower in price as they are small so I usually sell more originals than reproductions. Not here, I sold more repros than all other shows combined. Looking around, that seemed typical.

Sunday sales were 4 x Saturdays even though weather was better on Saturday. Talking to 2D neighbors, that did not happen to them. In my case, I think a few people saw my work then checked my web page. (web page hits spiked Saturday.)

Perhaps that led to sales on Sunday. I know for certain that happened with the highest price item I sold and a commission I received.

Additional Commentary on this Show:
I liked this show and plan to return next November.

The URL of your profile on ArtFairInsiders.com. https://www.artfairinsiders.com/profiles/settings/editProfileInfo

Posted by: Jan Herman | 12/14/2018 at 10:36 PM

Medium: Photography
Year you most recently exhibited at this Show: 2017
Your Estimated Sales at this Show: $501 - $2,000
Price Range of your Work: $30 - $575
Number of Years You have Exhibited in this Show:
2-3 times
Number of Years You have been doing Art Fairs overall: 2-3 years
Attendance: (1 is poor, 5 is great) 4
Location: 5
Facilities: 4
Ease of Participating: 5
Sales: 3
Overall: 4
Booth Fee vs. Your Sales Ratio: Okay
Estimated Attendance: Not really sure

Good Things about this Art Fair:
This is still one of my favorite shows. Well organized and run, easy load-in/out, plus it's local for me. The show director visited every booth, which was a nice touch. Affordable show in a great location.

What could this Art Fair have done better?:
They changed the judging process this year, instead of individual works, they judged the entire booth. Easier process for the artists, but I never fair well that way.

One judge had great disdain for photography on canvas -my medium. They started the judging at 8am when the show didn't start until 10, so a lot of artists missed the first round.

Advice to Other Artists Considering this Show:
It really is a great show, put on by volunteers who really care about the show. It's an easy show to do and the crowds (and buyers) are there.

Posted by: Karen Kurta | 11/27/2017 at 11:24 PM

Medium: Photography
Year you most recently exhibited at this Show: 2016
Your Estimated Sales at this Show: $500
Price Range of your Work: $10-495
Number of Years You have Exhibited in this Show:
1st time
Number of Years You have been doing Art Fairs overall: 2-3 years
Attendance: (1 is poor, 5 is great) 4
Location: 5
Facilities: 3
Ease of Participating: 5
Sales: 2
Overall: 4
Booth Fee vs. Your Sales Ratio: Okay
Estimated Attendance: 10,001-50,000 people

Good Things about this Art Fair:
Great location, easy load in/out, affordable, very pleasant show. Very well run show with staff that really know what they're doing.

My sales were okay, not wonderful, but I covered expenses and a little extra. We had some nasty wind Friday overnight, and an email went out at midnight to advise which booths had damage so you could control it or at least not have any surprises in the morning. Impressive.

Bad Things about this Art Fair:
I really enjoyed this show, so I don't have much to criticize. Artist amenities were acceptable, nothing fancy, but adequate.

Advice to Other Artists Considering this Show:
It is a large show that spans several blocks. But it was well organized and well attended. Show staff personally welcomed each artist in their booth and was polling participants as to where they stayed, how far they traveled, etc. so you know they know their artists well. They weren't afraid to ask (in person) how they could improve either, which was nice.

Additional Commentary on this Show:
I like the judging based on individual works (versus the entire booth) because my booth isn't as elaborate as others and my work often gets overlooked. I won a small award because of it, so that was a nice bonus!

I was really impressed with the survey the organizers emailed out weeks later, asking us our opinion of the judging process and proposed changes. Nice touch!

The URL of your profile on ArtFairInsiders.com.
http://www.artfairinsiders.com/profile/KarenKurta

Posted by: Karen Kurta | 12/17/2016 at 10:50 PM

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

Posted by: |

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Your comment could not be posted. Error type:

Your comment has been saved. Comments are moderated and will not appear until approved by the author. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.