How much will it cost to get started in the art show business.
If you have visited the art shows, checked out the competition and said to yourself, I can compete and make money here, then it’s time to take the next step. To do it right it will take a decent amount of investment to get started. I will break it down in out of pocket start-up costs.
Tent, 10 x10 with some bells and whistles, $1,500 +
Walls, $1,500 +
Inventory, I carry about $10,000 retail of inventory, and my cost of materials for this inventory is about $2,000.
Misc. print bins, tables, artist chair, weights for tent, bags, receipts, Plastic bins for packing inventory for travel, etc. $500
You could try finding a used tent and walls to save some money, but they are not easy to find used, and from what I’ve seen, people are asking prices for their used tents and walls for not much less then buying it new.
Around the first of each year I have to apply to all my shows for the season. There will be the cost of jury fees, in my case, 25 shows times an average of $25 per show = $625
Once accepted into a shows I will be asked to send in my booth fees. Last year my booth fee totals for all my shows ran about $7,000. Now this money is tied up until I get it back when all the shows are completed, which takes about six months, and when I get the $7,000 back, I can’t spend it, because I need it for the next year, so that money is always locked up.
Now once you have your, booth, walls, inventory, misc, you have to buy something to transport all this stuff.
The best vehicle is a commercial cargo van, but you could get by with a trailer if you have a vehicle that can tow it.
A new Van may cost up to $25,000. You could buy a used one and save some money. I’m not sure what a trailer cost, but it has to be at least $1500 to $2,000, and if you live in a subdivision you may not be able to store a large trailer in you driveway, so you will incur some cost to store it somewhere.
So if you buy everything new that I’ve listed, and buy all the right things to do it right and cover jury fees and booth fees for about twenty five shows, it would cost you about (including new van) $38,125.
Now if you think you will buy all this stuff and do a couple shows a year, forget it, you would never recover you investment. You would have to do at least a dozen shows or more a year to make it pay off.
Now there are cheaper ways to get started that I will explain in future tips, but if you want to look professional, and have a set-up that will protect your investment from weather, this is what it takes.
I will break down all the things you need in future tips.
See the next tip on selling in art shows tomorrow.
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