I recently posted about Etsian (artists and crafters owning shops on Etsy.com) who form cooperatives in their local area for support, networking and to hold arts and crafts shows. Holding your own cooperative craft show can be very rewarding both creatively and monetarily. However, one of the keys to success in holding a cooperative craft show is making sure your fellow exhibitors will enhance the show.
It's a big deal putting on a craft show. After going through all the zoning, logical and legal preparation, you'll probably want to put your experience to work by holding more than one show. However, leaving your arts and crafts buying customers with a bad experience will decrease the chance they'll attend the next one. Here are the three major issues to deal with when picking exhibitors to attend your show.
Artist and Crafter Quality
If you've already formed a local arts and crafts cooperative (or one online), you probably admitted new members via a jury system. That is, there was some sort of application process that includes the potential member submitting images of their work, followed by the co-op board physically examining the arts or crafts to make sure the quality of construction matched the image. So, an existing member of your cooperative should already be a strong potential in the quality arena for your show.
If you aren't a member of a cooperative, you'll hold a call for entries using a similar application process. Start locally by posting notices in craft stores. If you sell your arts and crafts on Etsy or ArtFire, do your homework in advance and find shop owners who live in your general vicinity whose work you admire. I did a search on Etsy using the key phrase "St Louis" and found three vendors in that area - there are probably many more in the greater St. Louis metropolitan area. Get in contact with the shop owner and see if they'd be open to participating in a craft show.
Artist and Crafter Reliability
As important that the artist or crafter produces quality work is their reliability. Participating in a craft show always sounds like a great idea until cold hard cash needs to be coughed up. I always recommend getting a deposit of half the cost of the booth well in advance of holding the show to gauge the seriousness of the participant.
And what exactly is well in advance of holding the show? I recommend you give your exhibitors a deadline of at least seven day before the date when you have to pony up the deposit money for the location where you're holding the show.
Additionally, try to get a read on the artist or crafter to see if they will be able to physically handcraft enough items to fill their booth by the date of the show. If the crafter is overwhelmed, overbooked or only have a few items in their Etsy or ArtFire shop, they may not have enough goods to make attending your craft show worthwhile. Rather than incur any other expense, they will walk away from their deposit. This means you'll have an empty booth at your show, which never reflects well on the organizers.
Arts and Crafts Diversity
Finally, make sure you have a wide selection of different types of arts and crafts. Limiting the available selection will limit the attendees. Low attendance further limits the number of repeat vendors who may want to participate in your next show.
