From: mwallis@lunacity.com (Michael Wallis)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.fandom
Subject: Re: Art Shows (was Re: Hello Confrancisco?)
Date: Wed, 09 Dec 92 21:54:03 PST
Organization: LunaCity BBS - (Clan Zen Relay Network) Mountain View, CA

jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com (Jim Mann) writes:

> This can perhaps work in an Art Show of 40 artists. It would
> be a nightmare at a Worldcon, we're you're talking hundreds of
> artists.

Not if properly organized. It would be a challange, but what it will be is
a reflection of the staff.

> Mail-ins are also trickier than you imply.  How do you handle
> insurance on them, for example.

Insurance intransit is the artist responsibility. Insurance on site (or
prior to con, at office) should be covered by the conventions policy.
Where's the problem?

> I wouldn't want to have
> a box of Michael Whelan's art sitting in my living room unless
> it were insured.  How is it delivered?  Does someone have to
> take time off work to wait for the delivery person to arive?
> And then it has to be transported to the convention. 

Oh come now. Are you saying that you've never figured ANY of these out?

> You structure your art show sales differently than we do.  We are
> NOT closed to the public during auction.  In fact, we have to 
> stay open. The way sales works is that people go to the art show,
> pick up the items that they have bid on and won (either by bid
> sheet or auction), and carry them to the sales tables to pay for
> them.

And you're worried about insurance while the art sits at the con office?
Jim ... most art shows I've seen have a very simple rule. Pay for it, then
get it. What's to stop someone from walking off? Whatextra security is
required because you've got live pickup with no access or crowd control?
Ghod! What a NIGHTMARE.

Hmmm ... if that's how you run art shows, no wonder you think of them as
nightmares. Maybe you should take a break and let someonw else run it for
a while?

> is a lot).  50 boxes would take a lot more than 5 hours,
> because the job is no longer a little one that we can handle
> without worrying about too much. Suddenly, insurance becomes
> an issue. The boxes are no longer something someone can put
> in the back of their car to bring to the con, or in the back
> of their car to bring to the post office.

Ah ... therein lies your problem. Stop with the extra worrying and do some
logistics planning instead. Things like insurance aren't bigger problems
because there's more mail in art. It's the same problem. It's handled in
the same way. It's what the convention buys insurance for. And if you KNOW
(and you'd better) that the art that was mailed in won't fit in the back
of a car, you PLAN on making two trips or on scheduling a run with the
Con's van. What's the problem?

> Another way to look at this is from a cost point of view: we charge
> per panel (no commission) at Boskone (and also did so at Noreascon).

So maybe it's time to rethink the policy. A 10% commission is both common
and reasonable. What's the problem?


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Michael Wallis -> mwallis@lunacity.com

PLAN:   Live fast, die young, leave a neat corpse.
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Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.fandom