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Dani · Post by **Dani** » Sat May 31, 2003 2:27 pm

Has anyone participated in shows geared toward the museum industry? Gift shows that sell to museum gift stores is what I'm thinking of. What are the best shows? Are they worth the price? Thanks. Any comments welcome.

Marty · Post by **Marty** » Sat May 31, 2003 10:43 pm

Hey Dani- I tried the Museum Store Association in '86 or 7. I had to join the org to do the show (was in MN that year- it moves around).
It wasn't great, I have no idea what it's like now.
Museum shops in general are looking for stuff they can mark up 3 or more times, ie imports. Occasionally you'll find specialty museums that are interested in more focused work. Probably better to search the net and cold-call.
A lot of museum shops do the gift shows- is Handmade at NYGift an option for you? The NYGift promotor George Little Managment also has a Museum Resource section- you could try them
I gave Wendy Rosen the mailing list from the Museum Store Association way back when- you might call her for advice.
Marty

Geri Comstock · Post by **Geri Comstock** » Sun Jun 01, 2003 1:47 pm

Sigh. I tried to post a response to this last night, but NetScape crashed just as I was about to post it and then I had to leave to go out for the evening.

We saw the play "Rocky Horror Picture Show". Too much fun!

Anyway, I would guess you could get information about this from the TCR board. I remember seeing a post about this some time ago.

I've sold my work through museum shops...in 1996 at the San Jose Museum of Art in conjunction with a Chihuly exhibit they had at the time. The markup at that time was 2.7 times wholesale. More recently, I've sold my work through one of the Frank Llyod Wright house gift shops. Lower markup, but they haven't sold very much.

I volunteered to work in a museum giftshop about 10 years ago when I first made the transition to a full-time career in glass. Basically, what I saw is that museum gift shops (at least the one I worked in) tend to sell very inexpensive souvenier type items or items related to current exhibits that drew large crowds.

I never pursued museum giftshops unless they approached me first, because I simply can't sell my work at the low wholesale prices they require to keep it inexpensive enough for people to buy in their shops. It seemed that people rarely bought anything over $75-80. If you do the math, the wholesale selling price is very low.

If you try this avenue, please keep us informed as to how it goes.

Geri

Deb Libby · Post by **Deb Libby** » Sun Jun 01, 2003 7:43 pm

Dani - I got an order at BMAC last July from the American Craft Museum in NYC, so Wendy Rosen could help you there. And when I've done the Boston Gift Show (part of George Little Mgmt., same as Marty mentioned), they have an entire section called "Museum Source". You could contact Mary Strope at George Little for more info. on those shows which are all around the country. Contact me off board if you need phone numbers, etc. Good luck.

Dani · Post by **Dani** » Mon Jun 02, 2003 9:44 am

Thanks for the feedback.... I'm really more curious than anything. I get such mixed feedback and I can only speculate that it's because each museum gift store is so different. For example, several of the museum stores near me have very high-end work and buy quite a lot from local artists. When my husband started in glass thirty years ago, he worked for a woman who marketed almost exclusively to the museum trade and supported quite a staff of "elves" through that revenue. Most of the work was small production work, but very clever and extremely well-designed pieces. I'll get more info from the Museum Store Assn. and their retail conference and expo. But, I suspect the managers are as apt to attend any of the other gift shows including BMAC, as their own association show. I'm also thinking everyone is looking for venues that are closer to home, or buying by mail or internet. I'm sensing a shift here, and am trying to get a handle on it.