or years, craftspeople have lamented the fact that the general public doesn't really understand what they do. A recent, informal Internet survey conducted by The Crafts Report confirms that sentiment.
Yes, the economy is strong. People have more discretionary income than they have had in many years. But are they spending their money on high-quality, handcrafted items? According to our survey ... not really. We asked only a few questions:
- What is craft?
- Where would you expect to purchase craft?
- What would you expect to find at a crafts fair/show?
- How much would you spend on a craft item?
Who did we ask? Our group of respondents included mostly professionals over the age of 30, including a public relations director and a tax software developer, both in Philadelphia, an investment analyst in New York City, a university dean and a commercial real estate broker, both in California, a school superintendent in New Jersey and an analyst for a major airline, among many others.
In all, about 30 people responded to the survey. Despite the small scale, we felt the responses were quite surprising and worth sharing. Here are a few of them:
How would you define CRAFT?
- Anything that uses creativity, art supplies and a glue gun
- Homemade knickknacks for the home
- A craft is a project-based art form, I guess.
- A craft is a skill practiced by an artist or an artisan. It might grow from a hobby, but it is usually used to create something original.
Where would you go to buy CRAFT?
- a craft store
- arts and crafts show
- Lancaster (Pennsylvania)
- I'm not sure where you would buy craft.
- a store like A.C. Moore, perhaps a local hobby store, or a hardware store
- Wal-Mart
- A.C. Moore
- Ben Franklin's (store)
- Ken's Crafts (store)
- a craft store, such as Michael's
- a catalog
- a candle store or Pier 1 Imports
- If I want to buy something crafty, I go to a craft or hobby shop. If I hear about a craft fair, I sometimes check it out. But I rarely hear about them.
- Frank's Arts and Crafts
- probably a local shop in a resort town.
- To buy a craft you'd go to a crafts store or to a crafts fair. There are crafts stores in malls. Also, some stores like Pier 1 Imports have materials for crafts.
What kinds of items would you expect to see at a crafts show?
- little villages
- hot mittens (for pots and pans)
- spice racks
- art
- home-built furniture
- dolls
- quilts
- birdhouses
- driftwood sculpture
- jewelry
- clothes
- furniture
- house decorations
- magnets
- wicker things
- rabbits/mice with glasses
- yarn
- paper
- woodworking
- little scale models
- wooden stuff
- trinkets
- wreaths
- country stuff
- picture frames
- wall hangings
- afghans
- beaded jewelry
- pottery
- artificial flower arrangements
- dried flower arrangements
- toys
- knick-knacks
- creative memory photo albums
- blown glass
- wrought iron items
- ceramics
- sculpture
- needlework
How much would you expect to spend at a craft show?
Answers ranged widely from $0.99 to $200. Most answers fell within the $10 to $50 range.
What does this tell us?
Admittedly, this survey is not statistically valid, but respondents are somewhat representative of affluent professionals with disposable income, the kind of upscale clientele that helps keep the arts alive.
The survey seems to indicate quite strongly that the crafts community needs to do more at the grass-roots level to elevate the public perception of craft.
What can you do?
Speak to local school children. Contact local schools and tell them you'd like to show, demonstrate and talk about your work to the students.
Become a member of a local business group. Join the local chamber of commerce or business association. In addition to keeping up-to-date on issues that affect your business, you'll be able to establish a higher profile through local newspapers and community events. Members of local associations such as these are often quoted in local business articles.
Donate work to a local charity. Participate in a local fund-raising event like a benefit auction for a hospital or school. Often, volunteers will approach businesses for donations. Keep in mind that these events get lots of publicity.
Offer to do a slide show at the local library or museum. Contact your local librarian or museum events committee to see if they'd be interested in a slide presentation/discussion of crafts.
Be your own publicity agent. The work you do is very interesting. Share it! Be creative and think of a story angle about your business that might be interesting to the general public. For example, an interesting angle might be that you use raw materials indigenous to your area. Most local newspapers are interested in feature articles about intriguing home-grown businesses.
Spearhead an arts event in your community. Organize an "open studio" tour with other artists in your community. This is an excellent way to network with your artistic neighbors, heighten the profile of the local arts community and get free publicity.
