Pop-up events are growing in numbers and enthusiasm. They provide casual, in-person gatherings, they cut out the middleman, and they are one more way to get your name and work out there that does not require hours of online posting.
Over the last few years, pop-up markets have become an increasingly popular way for artists and venues to expand their audiences. These casual, collaborative events allow people to come together, outside of traditional online and in-person galleries, to support artists, see fresh work, and connect.
At the NCECA conference in 2017, Sam Oliver and Brent Pafford noticed a lot of work that excited them just wasn’t present in the Gallery Expo booths. With a vision of knitting together friends, acquaintances, and collaborators, they asked a cohort of playful, early-career potters to participate in a rogue sale in Pittsburgh during the 2018 NCECA Conference. The group became Crisscross Ceramics Collective (CXC) and has since pursued three goals: sell enough work to finance the conference trip, have fun while doing it, and engage directly with local small businesses.
Pop-ups have become a quintessential part of the NCECA experience, alongside other unofficial events, chance encounters, and spontaneous gatherings that celebrate in-person connections, joyful exchange, and ultra-low overhead. Here is what we’ve learned by organizing our yearly event in a new city, far from home.
#Goals
CXC uses a collaborative decision-making process, connecting throughout the year to choose a site, find shared housing, and order shared supplies. Setting a solid foundation of working together nurtures friendship and success. We split costs and responsibilities, from managing the site agreement and scheduling Instagram takeovers, to cheerleading and ordering lunch for fifteen people.
Partners
Pop-ups create a direct interaction between conference attendees and local communities, both financially and socially. NCECA’s host cities have incredible local art scenes, and our hosts often have experience with art markets or other events. Many sites have a rental/event manager and agreement process to get on their calendar, so we play the role of client as we explain our needs. It’s important to stay flexible with our needs as we balance proximity to the conference center, cost, capacity, and availability. While we tend to focus on craft brewing and distilling venues, sites that focus on serving alcohol aren’t appealing or accessible to everyone.
For us, it’s a big plus if the venue serves food or hosts food trucks, and we may gently coach a venue to double-check their staffing for a busy weeknight.
Tax Stuff
The biggest unknown each year is the burden of sales tax. Is it easy to become licensed in a state, or not? When do you need to submit the sales tax you collect, and can you do it online? Is a raffle technically “gambling” that needs a special permit, or is it just good fun on a Thursday evening? You might be surprised to learn it is the former.
Capacity
We invite a few guest artists each year, often highlighting under-exposed artists, but we adjust the total number of artists based on the venue. We bring different quantities of pots (from 30 to well over 100) based on our individual making schedules and expectations for the sale.
Getting to NCECA
One initial impetus of CXC was to offset all of the expenses of attending NCECA. Now, we think just as much about how to get to NCECA logistically. We fly with hard-sided luggage and ship extra pots to local mailing centers or the hotel. Typically, someone lives close enough to drive, and they might bring extra tables or their regular market display stand instead of, say, chipboard boxes and hot glue.
Making Time
During a 3- or 4-day conference, it’s not uncommon for CXC to be a 10- or 15-hour commitment. We have a meeting at the venue before our event, and like to set up in the early afternoon for an unrushed time together. After the 3- or 4-hour pop-up, we help clean and usher our goofy ceramics buddies out quietly and on time. There is often some repacking of unsold work, then the legwork to find a local shipping solution.
We feel really lucky and grateful to have a community who has as much fun at our show as we do. It means the world to us when our individual fan base walks through the door, brings their friends, and trusts us to bring together an exciting group of artists.
Filling the Gaps
CXC exists because artists found and used a gap in the NCECA ecosystem. The excess of pop-ups lately demonstrates that artists have found a more decentralized way to participate in the economic opportunities of NCECA, but it may also be evidence that artists still struggle to find sustainable access and business models for themselves. Artists are hungry for recognition and to share their process and skills during this important time for connecting.
If exposure is one limited resource at the conference, time is certainly another. Low-cost and free methods of sharing artwork and making connections offer another way to participate. This “trades and trinkets” economy focuses on collecting and connecting, celebrating art, beauty, and makers for their own sake. These spontaneous exhibitions are flourishing. Watch for artists carrying pins, magnets, merchandise, and other small works to swap. Projects like the Vending Machine Gallery by Michael Guerra Foerster draw big crowds for small works by an array of artists.
Hosting an event means investing a significant chunk of conference time. It’s worth considering how much work you want to take on amidst seeing exhibitions, attending conference programming, connecting deeply with friends and colleagues, and eating anything besides a convention center hot dog.
There are lots of ways to participate at NCECA. This is our outline for hosting a pop-up, but the real trick is deciding what you want to get out of the conference, and what you’re willing to put in.
the author Dustin Yager is an artist and educator based in Brooklyn, New York. He is one of the original members of CXC. The current roster includes Liana Agnew (Pittsburgh, PA), Casey Beck (Cobb, CA), Neil Celani (Batavia, IL), Dehmie Dehmlow (Philadelphia, PA), Sam Oliver (Tryon, NC), and Brent Pafford (Eugene, OR). Follow the group on Instagram, @cxc_ceramics_collective.
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Pop-up events are growing in numbers and enthusiasm. They provide casual, in-person gatherings, they cut out the middleman, and they are one more way to get your name and work out there that does not require hours of online posting.
Over the last few years, pop-up markets have become an increasingly popular way for artists and venues to expand their audiences. These casual, collaborative events allow people to come together, outside of traditional online and in-person galleries, to support artists, see fresh work, and connect.
At the NCECA conference in 2017, Sam Oliver and Brent Pafford noticed a lot of work that excited them just wasn’t present in the Gallery Expo booths. With a vision of knitting together friends, acquaintances, and collaborators, they asked a cohort of playful, early-career potters to participate in a rogue sale in Pittsburgh during the 2018 NCECA Conference. The group became Crisscross Ceramics Collective (CXC) and has since pursued three goals: sell enough work to finance the conference trip, have fun while doing it, and engage directly with local small businesses.
Pop-ups have become a quintessential part of the NCECA experience, alongside other unofficial events, chance encounters, and spontaneous gatherings that celebrate in-person connections, joyful exchange, and ultra-low overhead. Here is what we’ve learned by organizing our yearly event in a new city, far from home.
#Goals
CXC uses a collaborative decision-making process, connecting throughout the year to choose a site, find shared housing, and order shared supplies. Setting a solid foundation of working together nurtures friendship and success. We split costs and responsibilities, from managing the site agreement and scheduling Instagram takeovers, to cheerleading and ordering lunch for fifteen people.
Partners
Pop-ups create a direct interaction between conference attendees and local communities, both financially and socially. NCECA’s host cities have incredible local art scenes, and our hosts often have experience with art markets or other events. Many sites have a rental/event manager and agreement process to get on their calendar, so we play the role of client as we explain our needs. It’s important to stay flexible with our needs as we balance proximity to the conference center, cost, capacity, and availability. While we tend to focus on craft brewing and distilling venues, sites that focus on serving alcohol aren’t appealing or accessible to everyone.
For us, it’s a big plus if the venue serves food or hosts food trucks, and we may gently coach a venue to double-check their staffing for a busy weeknight.
Tax Stuff
The biggest unknown each year is the burden of sales tax. Is it easy to become licensed in a state, or not? When do you need to submit the sales tax you collect, and can you do it online? Is a raffle technically “gambling” that needs a special permit, or is it just good fun on a Thursday evening? You might be surprised to learn it is the former.
Capacity
We invite a few guest artists each year, often highlighting under-exposed artists, but we adjust the total number of artists based on the venue. We bring different quantities of pots (from 30 to well over 100) based on our individual making schedules and expectations for the sale.
Getting to NCECA
One initial impetus of CXC was to offset all of the expenses of attending NCECA. Now, we think just as much about how to get to NCECA logistically. We fly with hard-sided luggage and ship extra pots to local mailing centers or the hotel. Typically, someone lives close enough to drive, and they might bring extra tables or their regular market display stand instead of, say, chipboard boxes and hot glue.
Making Time
During a 3- or 4-day conference, it’s not uncommon for CXC to be a 10- or 15-hour commitment. We have a meeting at the venue before our event, and like to set up in the early afternoon for an unrushed time together. After the 3- or 4-hour pop-up, we help clean and usher our goofy ceramics buddies out quietly and on time. There is often some repacking of unsold work, then the legwork to find a local shipping solution.
We feel really lucky and grateful to have a community who has as much fun at our show as we do. It means the world to us when our individual fan base walks through the door, brings their friends, and trusts us to bring together an exciting group of artists.
Filling the Gaps
CXC exists because artists found and used a gap in the NCECA ecosystem. The excess of pop-ups lately demonstrates that artists have found a more decentralized way to participate in the economic opportunities of NCECA, but it may also be evidence that artists still struggle to find sustainable access and business models for themselves. Artists are hungry for recognition and to share their process and skills during this important time for connecting.
If exposure is one limited resource at the conference, time is certainly another. Low-cost and free methods of sharing artwork and making connections offer another way to participate. This “trades and trinkets” economy focuses on collecting and connecting, celebrating art, beauty, and makers for their own sake. These spontaneous exhibitions are flourishing. Watch for artists carrying pins, magnets, merchandise, and other small works to swap. Projects like the Vending Machine Gallery by Michael Guerra Foerster draw big crowds for small works by an array of artists.
Hosting an event means investing a significant chunk of conference time. It’s worth considering how much work you want to take on amidst seeing exhibitions, attending conference programming, connecting deeply with friends and colleagues, and eating anything besides a convention center hot dog.
There are lots of ways to participate at NCECA. This is our outline for hosting a pop-up, but the real trick is deciding what you want to get out of the conference, and what you’re willing to put in.
the author Dustin Yager is an artist and educator based in Brooklyn, New York. He is one of the original members of CXC. The current roster includes Liana Agnew (Pittsburgh, PA), Casey Beck (Cobb, CA), Neil Celani (Batavia, IL), Dehmie Dehmlow (Philadelphia, PA), Sam Oliver (Tryon, NC), and Brent Pafford (Eugene, OR). Follow the group on Instagram, @cxc_ceramics_collective.
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