Sep 11, 2009

Successful Studio Tour Tips

Here's a quick summary of tips for running a successful studio tour or open house that were suggested at the the Artist Roundtable Discussion Group this month:

  • 2 or more artists in each venue

  • artist shopping opportunity either before you open to the public or at the end of one of the days

  • special invite only event prior to opening for the public

  • have preview photos or video taken and posted before opening

  • wrap up party to collect vendor feedback as soon as possible - maybe even onsite

  • involve media

  • do a draw to collect email addresses

  • plan the date a year out

  • send reminders 1 week and 2 days before

  • make sure to have signage and have brochures available on the sign itself

  • promo the morning of the show to media and on social networking sites


Please add to the list if you have other ideas.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Lindsay,
these are all good tips for studio tours. I do some of them allready, but will try to incorporate a few more of these ideas into my efforts this year. I posted a blog entry on Sep 1st about our studio tour and some observations about it...I think a key thing is getting media involved...tried many times in the past to get an article about the tour in a local magazine or newspaper; but never any luck. We got on the radio once in 6 years. Ideally a member should be responsible for press/media coverage, but not many artists have time to take that on...even with the enticement of half price tour fees. But I do believe their is a lot that individual artists can do to improve their own traffic at their studio...such as many of the things you have suggested. Thanks for the passing on the tips.
Sally