In Search of: Vendors!…a guide to finding vendors for your upcoming indie craft event

Organizing a craft event? You’ve got your venue squared away, and now you’re ready to squeeze in as many vendors as you can..and not just any vendors, RAD vendors that make awesome stuff.

I organize a monthly outdoor craft market and have found some interesting ways to ‘tap into’ the craft community and get a lot of responses to our calls for crafters. Here is a step-by-step guide:

• First, you need to have some sort of web site for the event. It’s important to have a place where prospective vendors can easily get information on the show, how to apply, and how to contact you with questions. This can either be a page on your existing web site, or if you don’t have a web site, you can start one easily in minutes using Blogger or WordPress (both are free!). Here’s an example of a blog my friend Moira of Bookish Lady put together for her Valentine’s Day themed craft event:Crafts and Kisses
• Once that’s ready to go, you’re ready to start posting. A great place to start is IndieCraftShows.com. This site is a great, free resource for crafters and organizers alike. It’s easy to create a login and start posting the call for everyone to see.
• Trade publications are another way to go. There are hundreds of magazines that focus on the craft industry. One that I’ve had luck with is The Crafts Report. For $25 you can list your show in their online ‘craft show finder’ and reach vendors on a national level.

Looking mostly for local artists? Here are some more easy (and free!) ways to find artists in your area:

• Craigslist…ahh, the neverending free resource that now reaches people in all nooks/crannies in the US and beyond! On Craigslist there are a couple of categories you could post your call in. Post in the ‘Artists’ section of the community bulletin board, or under ‘Creative Gigs’ in the employment section. Craigslist now allows for pictures and hyperlinks so you can really trick out your call and make it look appealing.
• Your local paper: A lot of local rags offer free or very affordable classified advertising for arts and events. Check out your favorite
  local newspaper and see about their online and print classifieds. If you’re in the DC area, the City Paper has their Crafty Bastards classifieds section which is free and has become a ‘go-to’ place for crafters and craft show organizers alike.
• and my new favorite way to find vendors in my region is Etsy. Etsy now has a ‘shop local’ feature that allows you to search for artists by city + state. For my upcoming craft event, I did searches for DC, MD and VA and then contacted artists who had work I liked. You need to have an Etsy account to contact the crafters, but it’s free and easy to set up.

By following these steps you’re mailbox will be flooded with tons of applications from near and far, and your indie craft event is sure to be packed with cool vendors selling the hottest handmade products!!

Here are some of the vendors I found for my market using these ‘tactics’…(I’m gonna be broke by the end of the summer):

For the full list of 2008 Ballston Arts & Crafts vendors (which just posted yesterday!) check out our blog: ballstonarts-craftsmarket.blogspot.com.

If you build it, they will come!!

xo, kristina

kristina bilonick is a dc native and fellow craft-addict, cooking up only the finest from her downtown dc studio. www.kristinabilonick.etsy.com