Art Project
Art Project
2017 Minnesota Pottery Festival
John White: writer, photographer, retired journalist; Georgette Jones: literature teacher, theatre actor/director/teacher; Marilee Strom: musician, former art teacher, business owner; Kathy Fransen: musician, theatre, Rhythm of the River coordinator; Janet Olney: visual artist, Willmar Area Arts Council coordinator; Joyce Meyer: photographer, retired art teacher, Canby Arts Council; Pam Blake: retired art teacher, visual arts, Tyler Arts Council, Southwest Minnesota Weaver's Guild; Michele Knife Sterner: theatre actor, Southwestern Minnesota State University Associate Director for Access Opportunity Success program; Tom Wirt: artist, owner of Clay Coyote Gallery, Hutchinson Center for the Arts, past member of Hutchinson Public Arts Commission; Joyce Aakre: visual arts, writing, Discover Dassel committee, Board member for Litchfield Community Education, Exhibit committee for Dassel Area Historical Society; Kelly Muldoon: graphic artist, Prairie Music Association, Prairie Oasis Players; Dan Wahl: writer, visual artist, director, adjunct English instructor at Southwest Minnesota State University; Anne O'Keefe-Jackson: human resources director, bead and quill work; Cindy Reverts: visual artist, Rock County Fine Arts Association treasurer, Council for Arts in Humanities in Rock County; Brett Lehman: Worthington International Festival, Worthington City Band, Worthington Concert Association; Reggie Gorter: vocalist, theatre, voice and dance teacher; Dana Johnson: producer/filmmaker; Claire Swanson: visual arts, arts teacher, Meander Art Crawl Committee.
Joyce Aakre: visual arts, writing, Southwest Minnesota Arts Council Board; Ron Porep: Arts administration; Ruth Ascher: arts administration; Sheila Tabaka: Theatre; Cheryl Avenel-Navara: Arts appreciator; John Voit: Music, theatre; Joyce Meyer: visual arts, Southwest Minnesota Arts Council Board.
Southwest Minnesota Arts Council, Nicole DeBoer (507) 537-1471
ACHF Arts Access
Our goals are: Increase attendance by nearly twenty percent. Increase audience awareness of pottery types and techniques. Positive visitor experience. Maintain or increase sales for exhibiting potters. Measuring attendance: We will use our "bring a friend" marketing message across all promotional platforms. Also, for the first time, parking volunteers will work together to get a real audience count including counting adults and kids (under 18) separately. Measuring visitor experience including awareness of pottery types and techniques: Our Survey Administrator is responsible for going around the festival to capture feedback. In 2016, for the first time we added demographic questions to the survey to gather benchmarks to measure future audience demographics growth; 2017 we will have comparison data. Measuring impact on exhibiting potters: In 2015 and 2016, we gathered real sales and experience results from all participating artists. We will be able to use this data as a reference point to ensure that participating potters have increased sales year-over-year.
We were able to measure where our audience came from, what brought them to the festival, what they liked the best, what they would improve, how they heard about the event, and their demographics. We were also able to survey the artists and find out their average sales, their personal impressions, and we were able to determine if they would return. Of the potters in attendance in 2017, 91% say they plan to reapply in 2018 and if selected would attend (primary reasons for not returning include moving and scheduling conflicts), this was an increase from 79% in 2016. 81.8% of the artists also reported that the event met or exceeded their expectations. This year's average sales were $1,588 for a total of $54,000 in direct artist revenue, almost double 2016. The average sales in 2016 were $1,431 (bad weather) and 1,574 in 2015 (ideal weather). The potters’ feedback is that this is one of their favorite events of the year because most traditional art shows (a) don’t draw pottery focused audiences and (b) do not foster opportunities for the potters to collaborate and share techniques, philosophies, and design objectives.
Other, local or private