Would you like to sponsor our weekly newsletter and reach 13,000+ artists and art lovers? Get in touch.

3 Lessons On Entrepreneurship From HUGFest, Our First Art Fair

Two weeks ago, nearly 1500+ artists and art lovers from New York City and beyond gathered at the Oculus World Trade Center to celebrate creativity, community, and entrepreneurship at the inaugural HUGFest.

Since day one, our mission at HUG has been to empower artists to become creative entrepreneurs and to make a sustainable living from their work. From providing exhibition opportunities to sparking new relationships through art, this special occasion represented everything we care so deeply about at HUG. HUGFest was our first time going IRL with our mission to help artists earn an income by getting their work in front of new audiences, and we learned a lot that day from hosting our first art fair.

Here are 4 lessons on entrepreneurship and how to make the most of yours as a vendor at events like pop-ups or art fairs.

#1: Get To Know Your Customer

At an event like a pop-up market or an art fair, you’re more likely to meet people who are new to your work rather than those who aren’t. First impressions mean everything and can make the difference in a passerby going from a stranger to becoming one of your biggest fans.

Make it easy to get & stay connected:

Artists at HUGFest shared QR codes to their HUG Artist Profiles, where attendees can explore a portfolio of past and present work, connect with them through their various social accounts, and follow them on HUG to stay up to date on new releases and announcements.

Additionally, HUG encouraged attendees to visit each booth to collect free digital stamps with a POAP. Attendees would simply tap their phone to an artist’s booth to receive a digital stamp that featured both the artist’s name and a preview of their work.

If using digital activations isn’t for you, that’s ok! Many artists go analog and choose to share free or affordably priced stickers instead.

Have appropriately priced artwork & offerings:

Every event and art fair will attract a different audience with different expectations on what is appropriate to spend. The Affordable Art Fair, prices range from $100 to $10,000 with Miami Art Basel operating at $10,000 and above. Meanwhile, most independent pop-up markets like HUGFest will feature accessibly priced art and merchandise from $20 and up.

There are a lot of factors to consider in pricing your art - from the cost of materials, the value of your time, and in this case, the expectations of a particular event. It’s important to choose the right works to sell at an appropriate price while also not compromising on what you would charge for something more valuable like an original painting. Offering affordably priced stickers and small prints is a great way to encourage new collectors to make their first purchase with you, with hopefully more to follow.

#2: Attendees loved Interactive Art

Our most popular artists at HUGFest were the ones who invited attendees to get creative alongside them in addition to selling art and merchandise:

• Grace Duong, founder of Mystic Mondays, provided personalized tarot readings with a deck she herself designed and developed. Grace even peered into the fortunes and futures of HUG’s founders, Randi Zuckerberg & Debbie Soon!

• Rob Anderson drafted an outline of his signature Kittizen characters on a large canvas that guests could color in using paint markers.

• Fresh Off The Press screen printing allowed attendees to choose a free canvas tote in 1 of 4 designs in different colors.

• NYT best-selling illustrator Agnes Garbowska offered commission portraits priced at pay-as-you-wish, painting each piece in mere minutes with her portable watercolor set.

Each of these artists involved their audience in different ways, all while staying true to their respective creative practices. Even if it’s not long, the time spent on this interactive art allows creators to either better introduce themselves to newcomers or reinforce relationships with pre-existing admirers.

Ready to get creative with collectors, but not sure when you’ll be headed to an event anytime soon? Consider commissions, which serve as a memorable way to craft more personal experiences and art with individual collectors and bigger brands and businesses.

#3: Follow-up for Future Sales

In a post-event survey, attendees were asked if they made a purchase from an artist they met at HUGFest:

• 35% said yes, they made a purchase at HUGFest.

• 64% said not yet, they didn’t buy something that day but intended to keep in touch with an artist to make a future purchase.

• 1% did not make a purchase, nor did they intend to in the future.

In marketing, “The Rule of 7” dictates that most consumers will interact with a brand seven times before making a purchase decision. There are a lot of reasons why someone may not choose to purchase, so try not to take it personally. Meanwhile, there are several ways to harvest the momentum from meeting new people at an event to encourage future sales:

• Provide a coupon code to attendees to make a future purchase

• Post photos from the event on socials to remind new followers about your work. Tag or DM them if you happen to know their handle!

• Send a message to new collectors through any dedicated communication channels you may use, such as HUG, email, Instagram Broadcasts, Discord, Telegram, etc.

While roughly 1/3 of our surveyed attendees did make a purchase at HUGFest, 2/3 expressed the desire to make one later. That metric proves that making new relationships is just as important as making sales. New or old, never shy away from reminding fans and followers why you and your art are special.

Closing thoughts

Whether it’s at in-person events like HUGFest or online, experience is the best teacher for entrepreneurship.

While HUGFest posed unique challenges and learnings for participating in an art fair, much of what we learned from the event can be applied to any artist hoping to sell their work to make a living from their art.

Selling your art, much like creating it, requires constant exploration, experimentation, and reiteration. Learn from your experiences and remember to congratulate yourself for trying new things and reaching new milestones.

If you couldn’t make it to HUGFest as a vendor or as an attendee, don’t fret…

Coming Soon: HUG Artist Storefronts!

HUG Artist Storefronts are an add-on to turn your HUG Artist Profile from a virtual showcase of your work to one that helps you grow and diversify your creative revenue.

Through HUG Artist Storefronts, you can diversify your revenue streams through selling on-chain collectibles, digital downloads, physical art & merchandise, and even live coaching & classes. Onchain or online, offline or on canvas—grow and diversify your creative revenue with HUG.

Starting tomorrow, we’ll roll out new Artist Storefronts from some of our most entrepreneurial and educational creators, starting with Amber Vittoria! Through her HUG Shop, you’ll be able to explore her art, apparel, merchandise, and learn the art of licensing through her exclusive HUG masterclass.

Are you ready to learn more, do more, sell more with HUG?
Sign up for our waitlist to be first in line!

Artist Grants and Opportunities

• 🖼️ HUG is giving away $1000 in our Portfolio Contest: To celebrate the launch of our newly designed HUG Artist Profiles, we are awarding $250 to the best Portfolio in each of the following categories: Digital Art, Physical Art, Multidisciplinary Art, and Most Innovative.

• ☕️ Sell & feature your art on a coffee roast: CoinCoffee™ is seeking 3 artists to create art for coffee packaging and as an accompanying NFT, with artists receiving 21% of each sale. Learn more and submit here.

• 🌞 Share your picture-perfect summer in a photography exhibition: Indonesia’s leading digital art gallery, Superlative Gallery, is seeking summer-centric photography for an upcoming Solstice Snapshots Exhibition. Learn more and submit here.

• 🎥 Showcase animated works for Art on Arb with Transient Labs: Digital Dreams Gallery in Kansas City is curating art on the theme of digital identities to mint with The Lab by Transient Labs. Learn more and submit here.

• ☁️ Get access to Celo’s $150,000 USDC Creator Fund: Get awarded with several 1000 USDC grants from Celo, a new NFT marketplace powered by RaribleX. Learn more and submit here.

• 💰 HUG is offering $500 USD grants to two artists each month in exchange for artwork to raffle off to our community. Learn more and meet all our HUG Visionaries here.

This Week’s Art Drops

Did you know that these are just 8 of hundreds of art drops on HUG? Get a full list of this week’s art drops from HUG here.