LETTER TO ARTISTS

April, 1996

Dear Artist,
In June of 1995 a group of approximately 25 Old Town Art Fair artists met informally at the art fair to discuss concerns and interests regarding the current state of affairs in the art festival business.

Included in the discussions were such topics as artists' safety at shows, the decline of some major shows, establishing new opportunities in major markets, opening up channels of communication between artists and show committees, the need for artists to have a vehicle of communication that would be national in scope and the lack of nationally accepted show standards.

The result of this discussion was the suggestion that artists across the country be queried about the possibility of forming a nationwide independent artists association. Throughout the summer and fall surveys were distributed at several shows and it became obvious very quickly that there was a broad consensus in regard to what this association should be. Much momentum has been gained and many have been willing to contribute both time and money to the effort. Our initial goal is to establish a national communications network for artists. Ray Hartl has been working on the development of a newsletter to be published later this spring. Michael Hamilton has developed our Web site on the Internet - which has been up since January.

Our next goal is to provide exhibitor prospectives to show directors. To this end we will be establishing information gathering mechanisms to assemble information not only from the entire interested community of artists but also according to media, in order to address concerns of specific media catagories. In addition, in the future we paln to explore the establishment of artists advisory committees, member discounts from suppliers lodging, travel and other services, providing major medical insurance, producing a yearly trade show, developing resources for legal council, developing educational programs for the public, maintaining a database of member's work, providing information and support to emerging artists, and providing emergency services to members.

If you would like to be a part of this effort, please fill out the enclosed form. If you have any further questions please let me or any of the other committee members know.

Sincerely,
Kathleen Eaton - Secretary

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Gordon Rick Bruno - Artist's Advisory
Ray Hartl - Newsletter
Ginny Herzog - National Show Standards
Lynn Krause - Meetings, Legal
Dan Gable - Treasurer
Banister Pope - President
Celeste Simon - Education
Michael Hamilton - Web Site