Why?
Well, simply put, each time an exhibition takes place, that means, yes, that an artist has been juried in to display her works. That also means that a downtown Edmonds merchant has willingly agreed to provide the exhibition space for free and to pay for the advertising. (Usually they cough up the dough for appetizers and drinks, too.) All this, at no cost to the artist.
That's why so many art walks ultimately fail. The merchants just get worn out. They get tired of providing all that for free, month after month.
Not our Art Walk, though! Last year 497 exhibitions took place. That means, 497 times, a merchant put up the cash to make that exhibition possible. Why would they do that? Well - and I think that this is the true secret of our Art Walk's success - the merchants put up the cash because they believe that investing in the Art Walk will increase traffic to their store.
To some that might sound mercenary. Not to me. Manya and I've always demanded that when it came to our Art Walk, we're only interested in win-win scenarios. We chuck anything else. If it's not simultaneously a win for the artist and a win for the merchant, we won't do it. And, since the Edmonds Art Walk is in its ninth year, I suppose that's been the right decision to make.
Final thought: This was pointed by a friend yesterday. We did almost 500 exhibitions last year. We did almost 250 exhibitions in 2007. You know what that means, right?
Yep! The Edmonds Third Thursday Art Walk doubled in size these last two years.
(Yikes!)
--Jeff
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