Arts and Crafts

Questions & Answers with the Kentucky Craft Marketing Program

Q. What do you think are the most important questions for Festival Organizers to answer regarding their particular Festival?

What is the mission of the festival or fair?
Who is the audience for your event?
What do you want to say about your community?
What do you want to present to visitors to your festival?

Q. What are important things to consider when seeking to work with professional artist/craft people?

A. You will have to begin working with them at least a year in advance of your festival because professional artist/craft people make their plans for 1 year ahead.

Also, professional artists will want answers to the following questions:

What is the focus of artists being at the event?
Are the artists a sideline or the major focus of the event?
What is the benefit for the artists in attending your event?

They want to know what your festival or fair are about:

What is the mission of the event?
Who is your audience?

They will want to know about booth space and amenities:

What kind of accommodations is available inside or outside?
Do you just provide an empty 10x 10 ft space?
Do you provide electric? Is it free or is there a charge?
Do you provide a table and a tent?
Where are the restrooms in relation to booths?
Is there a hospitality tent and what do they provide?

They will be interested in the reputation of your organization:

What is the history?
Is this your first fair?
Who else (crafters) is coming to your festival?
How many people attend?
Where do they come from?
How will your market the festival?
Do ask for a commission?
Do you jury and if so who are your jurors?
Why would a professional artist want to participate in your festival or fair.
What is your organization’s mission- are you doing a festival for artists or juts using artists as a draw?

Q. What are the WRONG Reasons for having artists/craftsmen at your festival or event?

A. Avoid any reasoning that begins with:

“Wouldn’t be nice if we had some artists…” or
"We need to have artists so we can make money off booth fees and commissions."

Q What is the WRONG way to identify artists/craftsmen for your festival or event?

A. Do not have someone from your Festival call the Kentucky Craft Marketing Program or the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen and simply ask for "a list of artists!" This is NOT the way to do it! You will be overwhelmed by the size of this list! Instead ask for a "Select List" of artists that are from your county and possibly some surrounding counties. Use this list to invite artists to participate in your Festival.

It is also important to consider what level of arts/crafts you want:

Are you going to jury or not jury? (You can use the wording “quality review” instead of jury. The jury is a review process to establish quality products.)
Do you want local, regional or national artists?
WHO IS THE AUDIENCE for your event and how can you fit that audience to the artists represented?
Open doors of your festival to visual arts, food, books, etc. and you allow a bigger market.

Q. What do Festival Organizers need to know about the Jurying Process?

A. You may have to build the criteria and the local artists over time.

You can you educate people to see quality.
You can have your own jury or get outside jurors to avoid bias

Establish Criteria such as:

No commercial kits
All handmade items
List specific things you do not want from artists

Or have it as an invitational, using a select group of artists:

This gives you a little more control, but you still need criteria.
You run a Big risk of NOT doing a jury from the beginning.
The word jury can be overwhelming to some and so think about using the term quality review.
Make sure you have instructions for the jury so you get a good quality review
The jury review process is based on the criteria you establish

Q. Are there different ways of having professional artists participate in your Festival?

A. Have artists as demonstrators and entertainment and pay them to be there and ask for a small commission from any sales. At your festival you can have 2 different places -- One is a marketplace for the juried artists and another space for the flea market or craft kit things.

Q. How has the definition of CRAFT changed over the years?

A. Craft has taken on many meanings and now sometimes has a negative connotation. Craft for many means home decors – it is the knick-knack you put on the wall, the wreath etc. Many people think that local people will not pay high prices for crafts. A hobbyist does not care how much they make because they are doing it for fun as opposed to professional artists who need to make a living. You cannot have professional artists in the same area as the craft hobbyist.

Crafter – does kit of the month and is someone who dabbles in whatever is in women’s home decorating journals that month. They can do multiple things
Artisan – focuses on 1 thing, understands the history of the art form and has perfected their technique. Their work is focused. They have a process, and have been perfecting the process over time. They have a cohesive body of work. They are making a statement with their work. You can clearly identify their work when it is in with other people’s work. Craftsmen are artisans who enjoy the process and many are concerned with the statement their art makes.

Q. Any advice about Sponsorships?

A. The Market is a successful event and so sponsors want to be a part of it. Until you establish your event as independently successful, you will need to:

Find a sponsor who has a connection to your community and has a reason to be there.
The sponsors you select have to be for the same audience as your event.
Get sponsors involved in planning
Look for possible sponsors at Banks, magazines, businesses, TV and radio stations, and credit card companies.
Think about asking for in-kind donations, for example a TV station doing free advertising.
Write a letter to ask for their sponsorship, present them with a document that is professional (see copy of Craft Market)
List attributes of the event, the audience, and the demographics. Give statistics such as 15,000 people will be there and a magazine will be doing an article.
Have 3 levels of sponsorship and make clear this is what you will get for being a sponsor at this level.
Have a consistent image, logo, and use high quality materials
It all gets back to who is the audience and then connecting the sponsors to your audience

Q. What other advice do you have for Festival Organizers?

A. Remember that it is possible to educate the community on traditional crafts and how they have evolved into contemporary crafts.

Start out slow focusing on local flavor
Identify locals doing well and identify a local artist who has succeeded and ask them to help
If you start out at the local level start with a few artists who are really good and invite another successful artist from the area who can work with them and help bring them in.
It is Ok to start small and build incrementally
The happier you can make your artists the better the show will go. Have a hospitality area where you offer some water and snacks, maybe a small sack lunch.
Use a consultant from the Kentucky Peer Advisory Network to help you plan your Festival!

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