How Much Money Should You Expect To Make At An Art Fair?
Making Money At An Art Fair Is Easier Than You Think – Here’s How.
* Updated December 2024
Let’s be real: your artwork is your number one passion. When your passion also just so happens to bring in the big bucks, well… then you really have a good thing going! Luckily for independent artists, art fairs are a great way to connect with art collectors and make money selling art.
The path from exhibiting your art to cashing in on it might seem fairly straightforward, but in reality there are many ways you could potentially make sales at an art fair other than cash and carry (AKA: when someone loves your art so much, they pay for it and take it home in the same day).
Making a plan to maximize your art fair income is a helpful and strategic way to visualize your journey to financial success.
So let’s dissect how exactly you’ll be making money at an art fair!
Choose An Art Fair That Brings The Money Directly To You
It’s safe to say that over the past year, the landscape of the art fair ecosystem has permanently shifted. There’s no more “art fair season” to get ready for – because the season is now all year long (and even online).
Let’s be clear: preparing for an art fair does not have to be the marathon challenge that some might expect it to be.
Gone are the days of dealers and gallerists shifting through their networks, selling work to the same group of people over and over again while paying massive overhead for physical spaces in the chicest areas of town. The good news here is that independent artists are benefitting more and more as the direct-to-collector art fair model continues to expand and improve.
With countless opportunities for individual artists happening year-round, choosing the art fair that aligns the closest with the demographic you’d like to sell your work to will help you realize your art fair income dreams.
Art fairs like Superfine bring artists, artwork and cultural experiences directly to collectors that are ready and proven to spend money. Our fairs are hosted in the heart of cities with exploding demographics of people who have money on their hands – cities like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles – and those same people also happen to be potential collectors looking for new, elevated ways to spend that money. For many of them, investing in artwork is an easy first choice.
Another great perk about exhibiting with Superfine: 100% of the profit from art sales belongs to you. That’s right – we don’t take a cut of your sales in any amount over the course of the fair.
Other fair models may have exhibitors pay a flat booth fee in addition to asking for a percentage of sales, which means that the more money exhibiting artists make, the more money the fair gets from their net earnings.
Manage Your Expectations
So… just how much money should you expect to make at an art fair? While it would be nice to rake in an entire month’s (or even an entire year’s) worth of cash from a 3-5 day art fair, the reality for many artists and galleries is that they find themselves only breaking even at first. That’s why, when it comes to making money at art fairs, the networking portion of these events is so important.
You may find yourself talking to artists and creatives who are able to make a living exclusively by selling their work at art fairs and online – which is amazing! But if you ask them about their cash flow when they first started out doing art fairs, you may be surprised to learn things weren’t always in the green.
Superfine exhibiting artist Elisa Valenti said it best:
“I think the first year allows you to understand the model and the second year allows you to tweak. In my first year I sold originals, prints and got 2 commissions. I also had a few articles written about my work. I gained publicity I would not have otherwise. Although, I just nearly broke even, I would call it a marketing expense and learning lesson for the future.”
Do Your Research: Find The Right Art Fair
Before you apply to sell your artwork with any art fair, always do your research. Whether or not you make money at the art fair depends a lot on how reputable the fair is!
Connect with fellow artists and galleries who have participated in the fair previously. What was their experience like? About how much money did they make? Did it meet or exceed their expectations?
To find out if an art fair is the right fit for you, ask questions!
How much foot traffic should you expect to see over the course of the art fair? What is the demographic, or the typical age, location, and income level, of the attendees? These factors and more will contribute to not only what type of product to bring, but also how much money you should expect to make.
For example, if the art fair you are participating in attracts young collectors who like to buy prints that cost between $150-$500, you’ll want to bring something in that price range!
Don’t be afraid to book a phone session with the founders of the art fair to discuss in greater detail what to expect, what to bring, and how you can maximize how much money you’ll make at the art fair.
Track Your Investments And Expenses
Measuring profit is more than counting your total sales numbers when the buzz of the art fair has calmed down. If you’re going to participate as an exhibitor in an art fair, you’ll have to invest money into basic operating, display and marketing costs, which is all money you’ll want to recoup through artwork sales. As a vendor, artists who exhibit at art fairs need to take into account not only their gross sales (the total amount sold) but their net sales – AKA, how much money is left after you subtract all your operating costs.
Make a list of your expenses and investments as you apply and prepare for your next art fair:
Marketing materials: business cards, flyers, guest books for signatures and gathering buyer information
Display needs: red dots, wall labels, flowers
Application fee (if any)
Booth fee
Transportation costs
Any hired help you need to compensate
Packaging/shipping supplies
Plus, of course, the cost of production for your artwork
Knowing how much money you’ve invested in your art fair experience will help you manage expectations regarding your art fair income.
Create An Attractive Booth Display For Your Artwork
It’s simple shopping psychology: half of the job when making a sale is done by presenting your product in an appealing way. Create an attractive display for your artwork by:
Rendering your layout in advance, instead of hanging or staging as you go.
Invest in attractive signage for your booth that is easy to read.
It’s all about the lighting. Make sure your work is well lit! Art fair organizers can typically help with this.
Hang your most important “show stoppers” where they will grab the attention of passers-by.
Diversify Your Products And Price Points
When you exhibit with an art fair like Superfine, we do the market research for you – so you will know before you even apply to one of our fairs what the median household income is for attendees. This information will help you price out your work in tiers that make sense while leaving room for profit.
Price your artwork according to these three categories:
Impulse buys: works that qualify as “impulse buys” are priced to sell – this is a great category to place smaller works and prints of the bigger ticket items.
Medium-priced works: medium-priced works should be the meat of your exhibition space.
Big-ticket items: everyone wants to sell their “big kahuna”, but you need to have the right collector who is willing to drop the big bucks on a piece in order to turn that profit. Having only a small percentage of your work fall into the big-ticket category ensures that you’ll still have expensive options available, while the vast majority of your work is priced to sell at a lower rate. Make sure to let collectors know if you are open to commissions, which are generally more expensive.
Assess Your Art Fair Income
Through keeping track of your investment, managing your expectations and pricing work accordingly, you’ll already have a leg up on making your target art fair income.
You may find that the first few times you exhibit in an art fair, the financial return will be slower to turn around – but by the time you’ve made your way around the circuit, you’ll have a deep understanding of how to make your target profit goal a reality.
As with any pursuit, it’s important to keep realistic expectations of your experience, while maintaining motivation. Pretty soon, you may find yourself making a living strictly from selling your artwork in art fairs like Superfine!