[Bumped up. Originally from post art show season, 8/29/05]
How many artsy fests are there in the US every year? 1000?
What % of art-fair booths are female-oriented, neutral and male? I’d say 80-20-0. But there are a lot of guys at these fests, some perhaps against their will, most under some level of duress.
A friend and I propose to counteract the bad ratio and bad man-vibes with a Man Booth. We’d go for artisan stuff sweet enough to make it past any jury.
We wouldn’t mind being tokens, a public service booth. We figure our booth will be in such demand that this alone will stoke our economic engine: we’ll have a cover charge.
Here are a few of the things we’d offer for simultaneous use and purchase: *chairs, *coffeetables, *art edition books and craft zines (like Riv Reader and Messing About in Boats), *pipes & tobacco, *hats (https://BrentBlack.com), *flasks, *fancy knives (Laguiole for one), *leather bags, *polished beach stones, *a few paintings, *a couple canoe and kayak paddles, *some bike accessories, luggage and jerseys.
Can you imagine the reactions we’d get when sweating, zombified guys came stumbling past the booth then noticed or gradually realized what it was?
Of course anyone is welcome in the Man Booth, just like at the Women’s Arts Booths and such.
