No. 1 in Fine Art & Design - Affordable Arts Festival
The Affordable Arts Festival draws artists from throughout the country, and attendees line up hours before the one-day show opens.
“This is only the 13th year of the event,” said Jim DeLutes, the festival’s director. “Considering that our festival is only six hours long and all of the art is priced at $150 or less, having the highest sales per artist speaks volumes as to the quality of the art and the buying enthusiasm of our patrons.”
The show usually features artists from 22 states. The sales artists made last year at the Littleton, Colorado, festival put it at the top of the Fine Art & Design category in Sunshine Artist’s 200 Best for 2024.
“I have 35+ years in the arts festival business — 16 years as an artist, having done over 300 festivals across the country, and now 19 years running both the Affordable Arts Festival and the Denver Arts Festival,” DeLutes said. “In all those years and shows, I have never seen the buying energy that exists at the Affordable Arts Festival.”
He explained how the show came to be. “A few years before the first Affordable Arts Festival, I was asked by an artist to create a show like the one they had in Milwaukee, where it was a one-day show and everything was $100 or less. I began researching it online, interviewed artists who participated, and applied and got into the show myself. I had a great time doing the show and knew, on my drive back to Colorado, that I was going to make it happen,” DeLutes said.
A few days later, he met with the director of the Arapahoe Community College Foundation and proposed a partnership. The event would be held on the campus, with proceeds from the ticket sales given to the foundation for scholarships.
“As of last year, we have raised over $290,000. The surprising part of the success of the show is the number of attendees. We range between 8,000 and 10,000 patrons, making it seem impossible that our sales could be that high, but we have almost 100% of people attending buy something, and most of the time, they buy from multiple artists,” DeLutes said. “The artwork is exactly what you see at most of the top art shows. The show is heavily promoted throughout the Denver metro area, and we have a lot of higher-income shoppers but also attract buyers who are wanting to start collecting art.”
Promotion includes six to eight appearances on local TV networks, highlighting work that will be at the show. In addition to social media, they do online ads, print ads, posters, and flyers.
One of the most-asked questions they receive is, “Why would artists sell their work so cheaply?” He said from a business standpoint, the amount of work artists sell makes it worthwhile, but the underlying reason is artists know their great deals draw crowds.
“We have such amazing deals on art that people start lining up at 5 a.m. for the 9 a.m. opening. By the time the gates open, we will have 4,000+ people in line,” DeLutes said.
With the festival’s ticket sales funding scholarships, artists can participate and make money from their “donations,” he said. “They also know that a lot of art is being bought by people who may just be starting out with collecting artwork, and the prices allow everyone to be an art collector,” DeLutes said.
He said many artists have dropped several shows from their schedules, so they can be ready for the festival. Booth spaces are 15 x 15, giving artists room to take care of customers without blocking their booth.
Artists keep track of benchmarks and then try to beat them. “The fastest that a booth has been emptied is 25 minutes,” DeLutes said. “The highest sales for a single artist were just over $29,000 (not bad for six hours).” Because attendees buy so fast, he recommends artists have someone along to help them keep up.
Like most shows, they look for the best applicants. “We are looking for imagination, execution, and a professional-looking booth,” DeLutes said. “In our first year, we had 130 applications for 115 spots. This year, we have 365 applications for 165 booths.”
The show is also a great way for artists to add to their list of collectors. “Many artists get orders from clients after the show,” he said. “Of course, anything bought after the show is at the full price.”
