Deadline Approaching for ACRE's of Opportunity

Once again, the National Polymer Clay Guild is providing a perfect opportunity for someone who has been considering doing a wholesale show. They will again have a sponsored booth at the ACRE show in Las Vegas in the spring of 2009. Three artists will share the space, display there work, and take orders! Last year three very talented artists took advantage of this opportunity; Meisha Barbee, also a Niche 2008 award winner, Sandra McCaw, whose work has been featured on and in numerous books, and Lindly Haunani, a finalist for the Niche award in 2008, and the co-author of an upcoming book about color. These women happened to have some wonderful credentials, but not one of them had done a wholesale show in the past. They saw this as an opportunity to take that step, while minimizing the financial risk involved.


In addition to being able to avoid the booth fee, the participants recieved mentoring in order to be fully prepared for the show. Meisha said, "Prior to the ACRE show, I didn’t even have a colored business card. Well, now I have a beautiful business card, several postcards, and I designed and printed a full colored brochure and price sheet. I even learned how to send my brochure and pricing information via the Internet.”

Sandra had similar feelings, "it really forced me to get my professional act together and I am looking forward with confidence to the next wholesale show. This mentoring opportunity…truly did give me a hand up and made a seemingly daunting task manageable."

And Lindly felt that their experiences could help guide the next group with more information and data to draw on, helping them to prepare a realistic budget for their expenses. While they did not pay for the booth itself, they still had to provide displays and marketing materials, shipping and travel costs, and other expenses associated with their stay in Las Vegas.

If you work in polymer clay, are a member of the NPCG (or want to be!), and want to do your first wholesale show, be sure to check this opportunity out before the deadline passes. Applications must be submitted prior to September 10th. Applications are accepted on-line through the CaFE system.