Join The Virtual Artisan Market

Harrison Festival Virtual Artisan Market

The 2020 Harrison Festival of the Arts was unfortunately cancelled due to Covid-19. Subsequently, our annual September Craft Market was also cancelled. In this time of physical distancing, artisans, particularly those with a full-time business attached, have found themselves between a rock and a hard place. While the Festival Society has been able to provide the community with a Covid-friendly concert series, a market event takes on an entirely different level of planning and liability. With limited gathering numbers allowed, physical distancing rules, multi-touch surfaces, and cash transactions among a few of the issues, holding a market that is open to the public could be a nightmare. Not to mention we have not been given permission to host any kind of people-drawing event in Harrison yet.

We think a virtual market is a safe alternative to the traditional in-person markets we have and can be completely COVID friendly. It would also come with no physical setup, and vendors can participate from anywhere; we can provide an avenue for artisans to show their work and make some sales. Connecting the event with some clear marketing angles, like “shopping local safely” and “getting ahead of the Christmas shopping blitz” can make this an appealing event for a lot of people this season, all while making the consumer feel good about who their gift dollars are supporting.

Useful Information

How will this happen?

The Festival has a user friendly website that is great for generating and steering web traffic. The web page will be used as a hub for online artisans. The Festival website will not be a site for processing transactions or shopping for individual products even, but rather a place to direct traffic to artisan websites. A hub with a whole bunch of evenly distributed and sorted links. The festival is only a gateway to individual websites and profiles. This online event will only be available all summer long.
The page will be designed in such a way that it easy for all artists to represented as equally as possible. Essentially, it’s a full gallery with a thumbnail image, your name or business and a short description clearly displayed. The customer will also be able to sort through the categories of artisans as well, such as woodworkers, potters, visual artists etc… When a user clicks your image they are taken directly to your website in a new tab where they can shop to their hearts content! It’s that simple really!

When and where will it be?

The Market will be visible for a long time, but our marketing will only occur during July and August. The link to the Market is: https://harrisonfestival.com/wordpress/festival/artisan-market/

What’s in it for you the artist?
The online festival market will be a catalyst for online shopping before a busy and stressful summer shopping season. It will provide a way for artisans to join a larger marketing initiative and gain a much higher number of web views translating to sales. If you have an existing website/store, then you are already there. If you don’t, this could be a good opportunity to start one and get some sales going on the side. Your sales go directly to you with no commission for the Festival, There is no entry fee but an option to pay $10 for a dedicated social media post from the Festival. The money goes to boosting the post further. That’s it…. a very low risk, high potential project.

What’s in it for the Festival?
We would like this to be a zero income, zero loss for the Society. All the money received for the entry fees will go directly to advertising and promotion for individual artisans. It is our vision to be the “host” of the virtual market, but have it be a collective project, where all participants contribute to its success. Much like the Artisan Market during the Festival and the Craft Market in September. However, we do hope that as a side effect of this, the Festival can maintain its image as a strong community arts organization and maybe attract a few more vendors to join us on the beach…who knows? Like selling buttons at the beach stage, we will also have a button on the market page asking for voluntary donations to the Society. The whole thing will be free to the public.

What’s in it for the public?
A safe shopping experience before the Christmas rush that let’s shoppers connect with many local artisans. Should they make some purchases they’ll feel the satisfaction that they not only bought local and supported a talented artist but also get their shopping done without unknowingly contributing to the spread of COVID-19. The event is free to attend for customers.

Do I qualify as an artisan?
Most likely, but there are a few things we want to make sure are in place before you join:

• You have an existing online storefront and can process payments and deliver all your available products to customers without the assistance of the Festival Society through your website or virtual storefront.
• The artisan is responsible for all their own sales.
• Items are designed and made by yourself and you are not a reseller of products like Avon or Tupperware etc…
• Your business is based in BC.
• If correspondence with customers occurs, you agree to be respectful. (in your best interest and kind of a no brainer there…)
• All products must not be racist, discriminatory, or offensive.

What if I sell services, like lessons or sessions?
Sure, why not! We know that art comes in many forms and are not just items for sale in a store. If you’re a music teacher and can book lessons or sell gift certificates online, then sure. Or a portrait artist, henna, painting etc… Whatever it is, as long as it can be booked/sold online through your own means and meets the criteria above, you should apply! Gift certificates or lessons make great gifts. We do draw the line with brick an mortar shops like hair and nail salons, but we’ll look at it on a case by case scenario.

Can other arts organizations get involved?
Of course! If you run a non-profit arts organization and meet the criteria above, sign on up! We’d be happy to have you join!

What about businesses in town?
The Festival loves to support the business community here in town. Always has and always will. For this virtual market, we would love to have you join us in some way, shape or form. If you have a business within Harrison Hot Springs, you can apply to be in the market, or sponsor the market and we will acknowledge you in a way to support your business. We know times are tough right now, so we would like to work together so we can all come out the other side of this. Send us an email at info@harrisonfestival.com and we’ll chat about it!

How much does it cost?
it’s free! If you would like to add a dedicated social media post for your buisness, we’ll send you an online invoice for $10. It will be totally free for the customer to shop.

Is there a deadline to apply?
No, we accept applications on an ongoing basis.

Let’s do this! How does someone apply to be an artisan?
Easy peezy. Read through the info and fill in the application form below. You should be hearing from us shortly with a confirmation and electronic invoice for the application fee. It’s that easy.

I’ve applied, now what?
Now all you have to do it double-check your site is working as it should and help us by promoting it. The more you help the better it is for everyone. We also think it might be a good idea to think of some sort of shopping promo to use during the event. Like a promo code or special sale price. If you inform us, we’ll be sure to point it out on our channels to help drive additional traffic to your site. We’ll create a Facebook event for this as well where you’ll be able to share and comment on what will be available. You can use that to promote it to your followers too.

I own a small business in Harrison, can I get involved?
We have always prided ourselves on how we work together with the local business community. Yes of course, we would love to have you on board. If you have the capacity to sell things online, we would love to have you apply, if not, then maybe we can talk sponsorship. Shoot us an email at info@harrisonfestival.com

Is this the future of the Festival?
Definitely not!!! We like to meet in person just as much as you do, this is only a temporary placeholder during the COVID-19 pandemic and until we can safely meet again. That being said, if all goes really well, we might look at adding this as a regular thing on top of our usual in-person markets.

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