Art maven paints area ripe for comeback

New York art show entrepreneur Richard Rothbard is confident the slumping art industry is inching toward a rebound, with the Sarasota-Bradenton region at the front.

Rothbard has pinned his belief — and a six-figure investment — significantly on the American Craft Show Sarasota, which is scheduled for Dec. 2-4. The annual three-day event has been held in the Sarasota-Bradenton area since 1992. Rothbard's firm, Slate Hill, N.Y.-based American Art Marketing, took over the show's operations from the American Craft Council in 2009.

The firm cut marketing for the show in 2009 and 2010, given the recession. But for this year's event, Rothbard tells Coffee Talk he put more money than ever before into branding and advertising. (The show advertised with the Observer Group, sister papers of the Business Review.)

“We are back,” says Rothbard. “My plan is to re-grow this show.”

Held for the past few years at the Sarasota-Bradenton International Convention Center, the show has historically been a big draw. Works featured at the show include ceramics, decorative fiber, glass, jewelry and leather.

But when American Art Marketing assumed operations, the niche world of art shows was stagnant. Rothbard says many artists he booked for shows, locally and in New York and Massachusetts, had to work three events to make what they used to earn in one show.

Rothbard, however, thinks a new pricing reality has finally settled into the artist community, especially in arts-conscious Sarasota-Bradenton. That's why he thinks the market is poised for a rebound. “All the artists,” says Rothbard, “have adjusted to not making as much money.”