How do you get people to come to your event?

Spokane Art School is holding an event this weekend, November 3rd, 4th and 5th at 503 E Second Ave; here in Spokane.  It is a revival of a show that the school used to do and had to stop because of the logistics of location.  The school recently moved to a new location and decided to bring back Yuletide.  We had less than 8 months to put it together and we ended up with amazing artists and fine craft vendors here.  One of the things the managing director looked at when inviting artists to do the show was, what kind of following did they have. 

My mother worked very hard on creating a mailing list where ever she went.  She would collect addresses of interested people at every event she was displaying her art.  By the time she retired, she had over 2,000 reliable addresses of people who loved her art and they stretched across the country.  Now a days, it is a little cheaper and more complicated to create a mailing list.  First, people are more hesitant to give out information because of identity theft.  Now we use social media to create a following and  while you save on stamps and printing, you spend more time and money at your computer.  When our Managing Director invited artists with a following, she was tapping into their efforts to do this.  

If you want to be invited to events, you should work on building one as well.  How do you do that?  Create a social media page on one of the more popular platforms and work it.  Post something at least once a week and also share interesting content.  Not just about you but about events that you are interested in.  Post about how you find your inspiration and your art journey.  Post about your artist friends and organizations.  I also do a blog.  Now, I don't recommend just starting one willy nilly.  They are a responsibility and you have to be consistent with writing one.  Finding things to write about every week can be difficult and you need to keep the content short and not so personal.  

Start collecting email addresses of people who like your work. When you sell something, try to get their email address.  It isn't that you are trying to sell to them over and over, but you are trying to tap into their friends.  You want to raise your profile so that when an organization is looking at you for their event, they can see how many people follow you.  As for organizations, make sure you educate your members on how to build a following.  Many of members have no idea how to do that or even that they can make a difference.  Finally in closing my last piece of advice? Keep working on it all the time. Perseverance is key and while in the beginning it may seem like a lot of wasted effort, it will pay off in the end.  Good luck and hey, thanks for following me.