Belleville’s Art on the Square rejoins Top 5 nationwide in sales
Art on the Square, which takes over the Public Square in downtown Belleville each May, has returned to the Top 5 rankings for art shows across the country.
The 2019 show was ranked fourth nationwide in exhibitor sales reported to Art Fair SourceBook.
The No. 1 show in sales last year was Art in the Square in Southlake, Texas, and the No. 2 show was the St. Louis Art Fair in Clayton, Missouri.
Art on the Square in Belleville was ranked No. 1 in sales six times between 2006 and 2017 but the 2018 show slipped down in the rankings, which organizers attributed to the rainy weather during that show.
But artists’ sales rebounded in 2019.
Greg Lawler, editor and publisher of Art Fair SourceBook, said he has visited Art on the Square and he credits the “community support” as the primary reason for the high rankings the Belleville show has received.
“It’s just so clear how behind the show the community is every time I’ve been there,” Lawler said.
Lawler said artists enjoy the hospitality provided to them by the 600 or so volunteers who “feed and pamper the artists and BUY from them,” he wrote in an analysis of Art on the Square.
Artists sold an average of $8,824 worth of fine art during the 2019 Art on the Square.
Lawler said Art on the Square’s Art Cash program also contributes to the fair’s ranking. Art Cash is sold in $50 increments and then used like normal currency to purchase works of art during the fair.
“We are really thrilled that things held pretty well for us last year with the weather,” said Patty Gregory, executive director of Art on the Square. “We’re very appreciative of all the sponsors, the patrons, the artists, all of the organizations that volunteer with us and of course the committee and the city and Allsup for continuing to be our large sponsors and it’s because of all those people working together that we’ve been so successful.”
“They are all so creative and so dedicated,” Gregory said volunteers on the show’s steering committee.
The 19th annual show will be held May 15-17.
Admission is free and this year’s theme will be “C’est la vie.”
Look for mimes performing on the street and ballerinas.
For more information, go artonthesquare.com.
