Transcription:
Lee Van Roth: You're listening to 89.1 WEMU. I'm Lee Van Roth, and this is On the Ground Ypsi. The holiday shopping season is just around the corner, and Riverside Arts Center is bringing back its annual Holiday Art Fair for another year. Now in its fourth year, the event brings together more than 60 vendors for a weekend of shopping local artisans with everything from handmade artwork and vintage goods to self-care products and more. Today, Riverside Arts Center Executive Director Liz Warren is here to tell us more about this year's Holiday Art Fair and what visitors can expect. Liz, thank you so much for being here today!
Liz Warren: Hi, I'm so happy to be here! Thanks!
Lee Van Roth: So, as I said at the top, this is the fourth year of the Holiday Art Fair at RAC. How have things changed, evolved, grown, over these past couple of years, as far as amount of vendors, types of vendors? How many people are coming in through the doors? How have things kind of changed over these four years?
Liz Warren: Yeah, it's definitely gotten busier and busier. We have more and more people coming in every year, getting the word out that it's happening. That first year felt very scrappy, like creating everything from scratch and deciding how we wanted it to look and what we wanted to be.
Lee Van Roth: Seems fitting for an art center.
Liz Warren: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And now, we pretty much have our map down, so a lot of the core pieces that really help with the planning, we have our process down better. So it goes quicker in the admin side, which means we can really focus on making sure, number one, that the word's getting out. I think that's one of the most important things we can do is just let people know that this opportunity is out there for artists and for the community to get involved with. And we can really focus on the quality of the art and making sure that what we're bringing into Riverside Arts Center is representative of the community but also just really high-quality things that you can't find anywhere else. Like, we're not going to walk into a big box store and find a gorgeous ceramic frog face that you can mount on your wall.
Lee Van Roth: And speaking of the selection process and the diversity of vendors, what is that usually like? And what was it like specifically this year? I mean, 60 vendors is a lot of people and a lot of different kinds of art. How were those decisions kind of made for this year?
Liz Warren: Yeah, I mean, a lot of it is sort of intuitive, but we do have sort of a grading scale that we go by as a jurying body. And we have obviously several different kinds of categories that all the artists fall into, so we want to make sure that we have a good variety. If we accepted every single jewelry artist that came in, it would be incredible, but it wouldn't be the variety that folks really want to see when they walk in. So when I'm making the map, I try to make sure that not all the ceramicists are next together and not all of the print artists are next together....next together is not a word. Next together?
Lee Van Roth: Next to each other?
Liz Warren: Next to each other. So, I try and make sure all the ceramists are not next to each other, and all the jewelers are not next to each other. And I try as hard as I can to make everybody has electricity that wanted electricity or a wall. But the diversity of the actual artists really plays out on its own, because it's sort of a blind jurying process. We really just look at the art itself and think, "What do we know historically?" Now in our fourth year, we kind of know what people are going to buy or would be looking for when they come in. So not only are we looking for the art that is good, but it's like matchmaking between what the community buys, because we really want the artists to have a good show. So, that means marketing on the outside, and then, on the inside, making sure that the artists that we're picking will be successful.
Lee Van Roth: And there's way more than just the shopping and the supporting local artists this year as well. We've got food options, food trucks, that will be out in the plaza at Riverside. Putt-R-Round is also going to be making an appearance. As someone who has attended this event in previous years, what was the drive to kind of expand these kinds of offerings and have a fun activity as well as the shopping and then being able to eat while you shop, those kinds of things?
Liz Warren: Yeah, I think they all just really add to the entire experience. It's an event you're not just going to go and spend money. You're going to spend time in community. And the way that we do that is we build more fun things in. I mean, food is just a given. Everybody's going to have a good time if there's delicious food.
Lee Van Roth: Sure!
Liz Warren: And this year, we've got the Corned Beef Queen coming out, which is incredible. And then, Putt-R-Round, as you said, it's just a fun activity for folks to do, which I think leads into play, which is I think really important for an art center to be able to provide those opportunities to play. And not only that, it activates just one more space, so that people feel the autonomy and the freedom to wander the building. It's such a gorgeous building and kind of a maze and so many back staircases and ways to get lost. When I've been walking around in years past, just making sure everything is okay, I'll find someone in a room that's not being used, and they kind of get nervous for a second. I'm like, "No, no, no! You should be curious. This is what we do in here. Thank you for taking advantage of this space and making sure that you saw everything while you're here." So it invites people to explore and then also maybe take a break from purchasing and walking around because it's a lot of vendors all at once.
Lee Van Roth: Oh right.
Liz Warren: Especially if you're bringing your kids, we want you to be able to. We have an elevator, so you can bring that stroller right in the elevator, go up and down stairs, and then take your kids somewhere where they can just sit and play and Putt-R-Round.
Lee Van Roth: This is On The Ground Ypsi on 89.1 WEMU. I'm talking with Riverside Arts Center Executive Director Liz Warren about RAC's fourth annual Holiday Art Fair. So, Liz, like you mentioned, this is not just an opportunity for community members to play, to shop, to support local artists, but also to get a really good idea of what is going on at Riverside Arts Center throughout the year, not just in the winter time. How does this particular event, especially looking at it in its fourth year, kind of support a lot of those other fun things that are going on at the Arts Center the rest of the year?
Liz Warren: Yeah, absolutely! I'm one of those people that if I don't know the parking situation, I get very nervous. And so this is one of these opportunities, and we have very few opportunities like this during the year, where the doors are just open and you can just walk in whenever you want, walk around and you have the freedom to do that. So you can walk in on your own without an appointment, look at all the different spaces. Maybe you've heard that we have a Fine Arts Club. You get to hang out in the gallery and see what that looks like if you ever wanted to come back. Maybe you heard about shape note singing in the Off Center and you're like, "What's an Off Center? Is that a building? I have no idea." But then you get to be in there and see it used for a beautiful purpose. You feel the energy in there, and it kind of primes your brain to be a comfortable space to come back to. And then I think that it's one of the less vulnerable ways that you can interact with the Arts Center because it's so free and open, and you are not there to see any one specific person. Coming in for a specific program sometimes feels more vulnerable, as in you're going to sing in front of people. Maybe that's not something that you're very comfortable doing, but at least you know the parking situation and what the room's going to look like. So it's a good invitation. And then it's a good reminder for people who don't get to come in very often that it's two full days, so much different time that you can come in and out. It's a choose-your-own-adventure situation, and who doesn't need that now?
Lee Van Roth: These two full days, Nov. 21 and 22, obviously, there maybe isn't room for more artists to join at this point, but there is room, I'm assuming, for other ways for folks to get involved. Are you looking for volunteers? Are you looking for folks who sort of make those days run a little bit more smoothly? What does that look like for folks that want to get involved?
Liz Warren: Yeah! We definitely are looking for volunteers. So, if you have some time, the best, my favorite one, is vendor sitting. It's something that we do obviously for the vendors because if you're running a booth by yourself all day, you need a little break. You need to take care of yourself. So we have volunteers come in and sit for, we call it vendor sitting, and they sit for the vendor, so they can take their break. And I think that the added bonus of vendor sitting is that you kind of get over your nerves of shopping because you get to go backstage. And not only that, you get to sit there and talk about someone's art and sell it for them if you want, or you sit there quietly and just make sure that nothing breaks or leaves the table. But I have found that it's so much fun to sit and say, "I know! Isn't this incredible? This is how she does it. She uses this process. And you should definitely talk to her when she comes back. Sure, I can sell those pair of earrings for her. Absolutely." So it's fun to be on the back end for people who definitely get nervous, like walking through and maybe walking by vendors and not knowing how to interact with them. Once you're backstage, you kind of have broken that wall, and it gives you more freedom to interact. And then you get to know the artists, you get to know their work, you get to know a little bit of their story. It's just more community building and fun, and it's just a good time!
Lee Van Roth: And I'll wrap things up just by asking, if there's someone listening who hasn't had a chance to attend this event in the past, what is something you would say to encourage them to come out this year?
Liz Warren: So, this year, we are able to provide awards. So Mayor Nicole Brown is coming to be our judge and choose best in show and runner-up. But we also really need the community's voice in our People's Choice Awards, so come check everybody out. You can vote for your favorite vendor. They win a prize, a cash prize, which is so fun! So you get to have your voice in it too, and name your favorite. And I think that gives a little bit more ownership and more fun, just that extra element of engagement for community members.
Lee Van Roth: Liz, I want to thank you so much for joining me today and for sharing more about this year's Holiday Art Fair over at RAC! I know I'm looking forward to it. I hope there's lots of people looking forward it now as well. Thank you so much, and thank you to RAC for supporting local artists throughout the year and not just around the holidays!
Liz Warren: Oh, it's absolutely our pleasure! Thank you so much for having me.
Lee Van Roth: For more on today's conversation and a link to the full article, visit our website at WEMU.org. On the Ground Ypsi is brought to you in partnership with Concentrate Media. I'm Lee Van Roth, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU, Ypsilanti.
Resources:
Jenny Rose Ryan's Feature Article: Riverside Arts Center hosts fourth annual Holiday Art Fair
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