[MR] Artists: a Chance to Merchant at Pennsic

[Henry Best]

If you are an SCA artist and would like a painless and supportive way to try
merchanting your art at Pennsic this summer, read on!

 

Greetings, O SCAdian, however this message reaches you, from Dr Henry Best.
If you regularly attend Pennsic, you might know of me from my daily advice
column in the Pennsic Independent, "Ask Doctor Best".  

 

The past three Pennsics, I've told fortunes in the back of Sunbaked Studios,
Mistress Nonna's Pottery Studio. It's been a great partnership, but Nonna is
retiring from active merchanting, and I am stepping up as the new manager of
the booth, now renamed to Starlit Studios. 

 

We will be offering some exciting products: consulting divinations using a
wide range of period oracular techniques, from astrology to cards, from
palms to i Ching, we will be using any period system we can find and
document which doesn't involve disemboweling animals or nice people.  We
will be performing magic shows in the street and generally having, and
sharing, a jolly time.

 

Now, this project is, at its heart, more a large scale Arts and Sciences
experiment than a money making venture. Our customers are a critical part of
our research into these arts and their nominal payments are part of the
experiment.  And what I'm discovering, as I step up to run the booth, is
that, what with booth registration, liability insurance, tent rental, etc,
merchanting at Pennsic is hideously expensive, far beyond anything I can
reasonably expect to make back telling fortunes. In short, if I don't change
my business model, I will go broke in one year and be forced to shut my arts
project down.

 

And so, to keep my project alive, I am offering retail space in my booth, on
a year to year basis.  My vision is that, as I run a personal consulting
service in back, my front waiting room will be filled with incredible art
created by our fellow SCAdians, and the art will be for sale. If you are an
SCA artisan, and you've ever considered merchanting at Pennsic, for a market
of some 12,000 people, I am offering an open door to you, bypassing the
massive cash and administrative investment (and time spent on a near
infinite waiting list) that it would normally take for you to attempt this.

 

I will share the actual financial numbers with serious querents, but here I
will say that I hope to host six to eight artists, granting each one space
for a 5 foot display table at a prime booth along Battle Road, next door to
the food court. 

 

These artists can participate under one of two plans:

1)      You pay a flat fee for your space, to help cover the booth's
expenses. You help your fellow merchants man the booth, serving as sales
clerk for everyone's art and as receptionist for the consulting business.
With 6-8 artists, you'll probably only need to man the booth for two days
out of the war. 

2)      You pay a flat fee for your space, as above, but you don't help man
the booth. In that case, you also contribute a percent of your revenue. This
money goes into a kitty, and is split among those who DO man the booth on
your behalf. 

 

So there it is. For the right artists, this is a golden opportunity. Because
we are sharing costs, this is an extremely painless way to put your art up
for sale at the largest market in the SCA. 

 

Please pass this message along however you wish, and especially forward it
to those who make exquisite art, and really deserve a wider audience.  And
thank you for reading.

 

Dr Henry Best

Henry at AskDoctorBest.com

 

If you are an SCA artist and would like a painless and supportive way to try
merchanting your art at Pennsic this summer, read on!

 

Greetings, O SCAdian, however this message reaches you, from Dr Henry Best.
If you regularly attend Pennsic, you might know of me from my daily advice
column in the Pennsic Independent, "Ask Doctor Best".  

 

The past three Pennsics, I've told fortunes in the back of Sunbaked Studios,
Mistress Nonna's Pottery Studio. It's been a great partnership, but Nonna is
retiring from active merchanting, and I am stepping up as the new manager of
the booth, now renamed to Starlit Studios. 

 

We will be offering some exciting products: consulting divinations using a
wide range of period oracular techniques, from astrology to cards, from
palms to i Ching, we will be using any period system we can find and
document which doesn't involve disemboweling animals or nice people.  We
will be performing magic shows in the street and generally having, and
sharing, a jolly time.

 

Now, this project is, at its heart, more a large scale Arts and Sciences
experiment than a money making venture. Our customers are a critical part of
our research into these arts and their nominal payments are part of the
experiment.  And what I'm discovering, as I step up to run the booth, is
that, what with booth registration, liability insurance, tent rental, etc,
merchanting at Pennsic is hideously expensive, far beyond anything I can
reasonably expect to make back telling fortunes. In short, if I don't change
my business model, I will go broke in one year and be forced to shut my arts
project down.

 

And so, to keep my project alive, I am offering retail space in my booth, on
a year to year basis.  My vision is that, as I run a personal consulting
service in back, my front waiting room will be filled with incredible art
created by our fellow SCAdians, and the art will be for sale. If you are an
SCA artisan, and you've ever considered merchanting at Pennsic, for a market
of some 12,000 people, I am offering an open door to you, bypassing the
massive cash and administrative investment (and time spent on a near
infinite waiting list) that it would normally take for you to attempt this.

 

I will share the actual financial numbers with serious querents, but here I
will say that I hope to host six to eight artists, granting each one space
for a 5 foot display table at a prime booth along Battle Road, next door to
the food court. 

 

These artists can participate under one of two plans:

3)      You pay a flat fee for your space, to help cover the booth's
expenses. You help your fellow merchants man the booth, serving as sales
clerk for everyone's art and as receptionist for the consulting business.
With 6-8 artists, you'll probably only need to man the booth for two days
out of the war. 

4)      You pay a flat fee for your space, as above, but you don't help man
the booth. In that case, you also contribute a percent of your revenue. This
money goes into a kitty, and is split among those who DO man the booth on
your behalf. 

 

So there it is. For the right artists, this is a golden opportunity. Because
we are sharing costs, this is an extremely painless way to put your art up
for sale at the largest market in the SCA. 

 

Please pass this message along however you wish, and especially forward it
to those who make exquisite art, and really deserve a wider audience.  And
thank you for reading.

 

Dr Henry Best

Henry at AskDoctorBest.com