Figuring out who your target market is will be one of the most important steps in your initial planning. This target market encompasses two groups - the vendors and the buyers.
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| Visitors peruse works of art amid the sights and sounds of the Las Vegas Arts District, which lies along the Las Vegas Strip. Public domain. Las Vegas City Files Courtesy ByWays.org |
For your research to pay off you must first decide what sort of show you intend to produce. Lets try an example: You want to produce an upscale juried arts and crafts fair.
Your target vendor segment is hand-crafted items and artworks of a fairly high quality produced by experienced craftspeople. You will be very selective about who you accept and will limit your categories so as to not have a glut of any type of goods.
Your target buying segment is the reasonably affluent customer who appreciates quality, is looking for unique handcrafted items and has money to spend.
A suitable venue for this market could be either an outdoor or indoor space, but it needs to be a nice space. A community center or well kept city park would work well. A large bare parking lot would not be a good choice. Atmosphere is everything. Make it a pleasant experience for all.
You can expand on the theme by targeting the Indie market. These artisans are on the cutting edge, producing fun, funky, usually recycled or "green" works and have an avid following especially in urban areas. They tend to charge a bit more for their work and they expect to pay a bit for good space at a well run show.College towns are excellent venues for this and if you can work with the student arts group and score space in the commons area - BINGO!
Another segment not to be ignored is the Primitive and Country crowd. While not as red hot as a few years ago they are still wildly popular with a dedicated following. This sort of show works well in almost any setting, but suburban markets are still pretty into this style.
In between these two styles is a whole world of variations. From the cutesy to the bizarre, from yard art made from recycled cars to hand thrown pottery one of the greatest things about a crafts fair is the magnificent diversity of artforms people come up with.
One thing that should absolutely be avoided at all costs is having an "Arts Fair" or a "Crafters Fair" and then accepting any sort of buy/sell vendors. These include Avon, Mary Kay, Cookie Lee, Tupperware, et al. It also includes those who buy "handcrafts" from foreign countries and re-sell them as their own. Jury your shows and weed these all out. If you miss one and they show up, or have lied about their wares - remove them immediately with no refunds. Put it in the contract and enforce it. Allowing them is tantamount to lying - to your customers, your artisans and yourself. It is not a crafts fair nor an arts fair if the goods being sold are not made by the artisans selling them.
Selecting just the right mix for your intended market can be a daunting challenge, but it certainly is a beautiful lesson in the lush landscape of human creativity.
