Kalamazoo Institute of Arts Fair Reviews..

Welcome to the Art Show reviews for Kalamazoo Institute of Arts Fair

Art Fair:  Kalamazoo Institute of Arts Fair

Location:  Kalamazoo, Michigan
Held in Bronson Park

Dates:   June 5 & 6, 2020

Presented By:   Kalamazoo Institute of Arts

Founded:   1950

Show Type:  Outdoor

Expected Attendance:   40,000 people

Exhibiting Artists:   190 

Artist Application Deadline:  February 9, 2020

Jury Fee:   $35 

Booth Fee:   $340 - $620

Web site:  www.kiarts.org

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Comments

[Claudia Winter]

Medium: Jewelry
Year you most recently exhibited at this Show:
2018
Your Estimated Sales at this Show: $501-$2000
Price Range of your Work: $25 - $300
Number of Years You have Exhibited in this Show:
2-3 times
Number of Years You have been doing Art Fairs overall: Forever...
Attendance: (1 is poor, 5 is great) 2
Location: 3
Facilities: 4
Ease of Participating: 1
Sales: 3
Overall: 3
Booth Fee vs. Your Sales Ratio: Okay
Estimated Attendance: 501 - 10,000 people

Good Things about this Art Fair:
The volunteers offer a really nice dinner and awards ceremony for the artists. The volunteers are wonderful and will booth sit.

What could this Art Fair have done better?:
Weed out the buy/sell vendors! I was so disappointed to be next to someone selling glass nail files from Czechoslovakia. And another "artist" unpacking his wares from the manufacturer's boxes.

When staff was notified they did absolutely nothing. This show is sponsored by an art museum...support artists who make their work by kicking out those who don't!

Advice to Other Artists Considering this Show:
Make sure you ask for a space inside the park, or at the very least not on the busy road. Allow extra time for the walk to and from the remote parking lot (no shuttles, or at least not enough).

Additional Commentary on this Show:
I did really well at this show a couple of years ago, and my booth was inside the park. It seemed crowded with people.

Last year I did poorly and my booth was on the outer edge of the park...not sure if attendance was actually down, or if patrons just didn't make it to my row.

[Jerry Harty]

Medium: Glass
Year you most recently exhibited at this Show:
2016
Your Estimated Sales at this Show: $5001-$10,000
Price Range of your Work: $25 - $300
Number of Years You have Exhibited in this Show:
10+ times!
Number of Years You have been doing Art Fairs overall: Forever...
Attendance: (1 is poor, 5 is great) 4
Location: 5
Facilities: 4
Ease of Participating: 5
Sales: 5
Overall: 5
Booth Fee vs. Your Sales Ratio: Great
Estimated Attendance: 10,001-50,000 people

Good Things about this Art Fair:
Ease of setup, located in a beautiful park.

[Jeri Vitello]

Medium: Fiber
Year you most recently exhibited at this Show:
2016
Your Estimated Sales at this Show: $501-$2000
Price Range of your Work: $55.00-$235.00
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) 3
Location: 4
Facilities: 4
Ease of Participating: 4
Sales: 3
Overall: 3
Booth Fee vs. Your Sales Ratio: Good
Estimated Attendance: 10,001-50,000 people

Good Things about this Art Fair:
KIA Art Fair is held in a lovely park in downtown Kalamazoo Michigan. The people who run the art fair are very organized and communicative and pride themselves in conducting a well run show.

Load in is done by scheduled times so artists can park on the perimeter of the park.

KIA provided goodies at check in Friday morning.

The show began at 3pm Friday until 8pm after which there was a dinner and awards ceremony.

Saturday's start time was at 9am.
It seemed to me there were different buying crowds between Friday night and Saturday.

There were great artists in attendance. This year's weather was beautiful, but for some reason my sales were low on Saturday.

Booth fee is reasonable for a day and 1/2 show.

Bad Things about this Art Fair:
There wasn't anything bad about this show. Load out could have been ugly when it was clearly stated that artists were to be completely broken down before starting to park along the perimeter (which didn't happen) yet it seemed to work itself out.

Advice to Other Artists Considering this Show:
I wouldn't travel long and far to be a part of this show, but I would consider it if you are in the area.