My Labor Weekend Studio Tour Revisited.

Yesterday the Santa Barbara Studio Artists group had a meeting to dissect the recent Labor Weekend Open Studio Tour, and to plan for next year. Some dozen or so artists (out of 44 open studios) showed up.

They reported that the number of visitors who bought maps (the map was the key to knowing where the studios were located) was up a third from last year, and the total sales was about the same.

As I have reported in my 4 September 2007 blog, my experience from the tour was dismal. The general and my own publicity was great, but I had few visitors on the Saturday and Sunday. I put that down to the intense heat of those two days.

Though there were many out of town visitors (as reported by several other artists) they did not travel beyond the downtown core area. My studio is about four miles away, just too far for most to travel. Other outlying artists reported the same story.

The group is planning to do a similar three day event next year, though they now plan to cut off Monday at 2:00 p.m. Also, the gala opening will be back to Friday evening, not Saturday as was this year.

Another change is a move for both the gala and the exhibit of member's sample works from the Corridan Gallery to another venue close to downtown. Several people felt that the Corridan, located on the East side of town was a location where some people felt uncomfortable due to the recent gang related unrest. The Faulkner Gallery is under consideration.

Also, they indicated that they expected that the artists in the Santa Ynez valley would not participate, since they have another group forming in that area.

Next Labor Day Weekend is a long way ahead. Nevertheless, at the moment I plan to go forward with the same routine for next year. I have signed up to help them with the publicity,as I did this past year.