A ‘Black Friday for the Arts’ — Helping Artists Survive and Thrive in the Covid-19 Era

Media Alert: Virtual News Conference– A ‘Black Friday for the Arts’ — Helping Artists Survive and Thrive in the Covid-19 Era. I would like to attend with Charlie and I thought you might want to as well.

When: Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2 PM ET via Zoom video-conference. Register below:

Registration:

What: Artists Sunday – a new nationwide arts shopping alliance — will host a virtual press conference to highlight how consumers this holiday season can support artists amid the Covid-19 crisis.

Covid-19 has delivered a $14.1 billion hit to the arts and culture sector with an estimated 96 percent of in-person festivals, art fairs, and shows canceled due to the pandemic, according to Americans for the Arts. Artists Sunday addresses these troubling trends by encouraging consumers to shop the arts while providing artists a high-profile platform and marketing and PR tools to promote and sell their work.

Learn how thousands of artists across the United States are joining together for the inaugural effort to make the Sunday after Thanksgiving the biggest shopping day of the year.

Who: Featured speakers will make brief remarks followed by media questions.

Christopher Sherman, Artists Sunday founder,provides an overview of Artists Sunday – from the a-ha moment that sparked his idea for a “Black Friday for the Arts” – to building Artists Sunday into a fast-growing nationwide movement of more than 2,000 artists and 300 arts, civic and economic development organizations dedicated to making Sunday, Nov. 29 the largest art-buying day of the year.
Michael Seman, Assistant professor of arts management – Colorado State University’s LEAP Institute for the Arts, discusses his findings of his Brookings Institution study, Lost art: Measuring COVID-19’s devastating impact on America’s creative economy.
Ariel Davis, artist, gallery manager Artspace 111, and Artists Sunday participant, shares her perspective from Ft. Worth, Texas, where innovative initiatives such as Artists Sunday are vital to the livelihood of artists as Covid-19 cases soar.
Brian Rogers, Executive Director, Oregon Arts Commission, representing one of the more than 300 arts, civic and economic development organizations partnering with Artists Sunday.
Melody Capote, executive director of the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, highlights her organization’s tireless work supporting Harlem artists amid the pandemic — and how Artists Sunday offers a high-visibility platform for them to promote and sell their work.
Keona Tranby, Director of Marketing and Communications at the American Crafts Council, discusses the unique challenges faced by craftspeople and artisans, many of whom have largely relied on the art festival and fair circuit to generate sales of their hand-crafted items.

Artists Sunday: Fast Facts and Backgrounder

Planted squarely in the midst of the largest holiday shopping weekend of the year, Artists Sunday aims to make the Sunday after Thanksgiving the arts’ most profitable day annually. This day is Artists Sunday falls on Sunday, Nov. 29

Artists Sunday was founded by professional photographer and long-time entrepreneur Christopher Sherman. You can view his work here.

Artists Sunday has quickly evolved into a fast-growing nationwide movement with more than 2,000 artists and 300 arts, civic and economic development organizations. More join daily. Artists Sunday encompasses a full spectrum of the arts from painting, sculpture, and photography to clothing, jewelry, pottery, and a range of handcrafted items

Membership in Artists Sunday is free for everyone – free for artists, arts and economic development organizations, galleries – and free for consumers who can access and search the directory by artist name, location and type of work.

Sherman’s ah-ha moment came last fall when he noticed a spike in sales of his work the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Realizing that the Sunday during the busiest shopping weekend of the year was ‘open’ Sherman landed on the idea of a Black Friday for the Arts dedicated to promoting the sale of art as holiday gifts.

While the idea for Artists Sunday was born pre-pandemic, Covid-19 has added urgency to the effort as in-person opportunities for artists to sell their work have largely vanished.

The economic impact of the Pandemic on the arts and culture sector in the United States has topped $14.1 billion, according to an ongoing survey by Americans for the Arts, which surveyed 17,564 organizations.

Americans for the Arts found that a staggering 96% of organizations have cancelled events totaling 96 million in lost in-person attendance.

For participating artists, Artists Sunday offers more than inclusion in the directory and the support of a nationwide PR campaign. Each artist gets a comprehensive toolkit that offers PR and marketing advice and templates, and e-commerce tips.