July, 1996
Ann Arbor Art Fairs
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ginny Herzog, Banister Pope, Rick Bruno, Michael Hamilton, Jim and Kathleen Eaton and Larry Oliverson got together after the Ann Arbor show to discuss future efforts of the NAIA. Although the discussions covered many areas the primary focus was related to the next issue of the newsletter.
It was generally agreed that the topic that is of the greatest interest to the membership is that of National Standards or Show Practices. It was suggested that the upcoming newsletter should concentrate on this area and that it should be used as a mechanism to survey our membership to determine specific concerns, preferences, etc., that will become the data base for future efforts to improve our industry. In order to provide the respondents with the best background information possible and to create a newsletter that will have th potential of being of enormous interest to exhibiting professional artists it was agreed that directors of the major shows shouldbe given an opportunity to tell our membership how they run their shows, how exhibitors are selected, how jury and booth fees are used, etc.
To this end we have prepared the attached questionnaires, one for the directors and one for the artists. Neither is complete. What we would like is for you to reveiw these documents and feed us your suggestions for additional questions, modifications, etc. We think the best way to approach the various directors might be to phone them, let them know what we have in mind, send them the questionnaire and follow up in a week or so with a phone interview. The directors may also wish to respond in writing. Both Rick Bruno and Banister Pope have volunteered to handle this end. We wil also need to know which show directors we plan to contact.
Kathleen Eaton