Getting The Most Out of Your Crawl

RETURN TO CRAWLING 101 OVERVIEW

The mandate of the Eastside Culture Crawl Society (ECCS) is to transform community through visual arts. Our mission is to inspire, educate and engage the community in visual arts, advocate for the interests of visual artists in the community, and foster excellence through programs and opportunities for visual artists.

The Culture Crawl open studio event is one vehicle that the ECCS undertakes to achieve the above mission. During the Culture Crawl event many artists sell work. While making sales during the Culture Crawl event is exciting—and many artists do sell their work—art sales are not part of the mandate of the ECCS, and the ECCS does not take any commission on work sold during the event. Selling your work is fully your option and responsibility.

Advice to help you get the most out of your Culture Crawl experience

• Treat everyone with respect – you never know who will be your next collector.
• Be yourself, be comfortable and enjoy the experience.

Brand Yourself – Let people know who you are

• Provide business cards, flyers, postcards with contact and social media info
• Update your website to showcase your work
• Interact through and update your social media pages (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc)

Don’t make them ask

• Give insight about yourself and what you do with a short bio posted or handouts
• Indicate if your work is for sale or not with signs, tags or a price sheet
• Share basic info about each piece – title, medium, size and price
• Let people know what forms of payment you accept—cash, credit cards, debit, trades, etc.
• Inform visitors if you teach classes, do commissions, or work with corporate giving committees, etc.

Think Ahead – have answers ready for these common questions

• Do you offer payment plans or will you consider a trade?
• Can you put this on hold for me?
• Do you deliver/ship?
• Can I take it now?
• Do you have something with blues or a different colour option?
• Is it available in other sizes?
• Do you have this in a print?
• Will you frame it for me?
• How much is it unframed?
• Do you do commissions? If so How much?

Make a Connection

Ideas for interacting with visitors to find common ground and make them comfortable talking about your art:

• Share your process. Be ready to speak briefly about your materials and process.
• Offer a phrase about the inspiration for a piece as a ‘way in’ for visitors to engage more deeply.
• Invite people to upcoming shows or exhibits that you are involved in.
• Demonstrate your process live at scheduled times or ad hoc.

Build Your Following

• Build your contact list. Make it easy for people to keep up-to-date on shows, new work, etc. Collect both email and street addresses.
• Let people start small. Art cards, art notebooks, prints, etc are ways for people to start collecting your art.
• Engage visitors with a contest (“name a painting”, “win a print”). This is also a great way to build your contact list.
• Deepen relationships with existing clients by calling or sending a personalized invitation.
• Make notes about your regular clients – their family, business, interests, etc.
• Host a private preview event for your existing and potential collectors. Ask them to bring a friend.

RETURN TO CRAWLING 101 OVERVIEW