Nadia Korths, Craft Marketing Programs Coordinator/ANCA, Adirondack North Country Crafts, receives and gathers news for and about the region's crafts community and passes the news to 577 of you via this bimonthly email newsletter.
CONGRATULATIONS TO
Featured retailer, this month, Gardenworks Farm at Adirondack North Country Crafts. Great example of multi income streams; gift shop which includes dried plant arrangements made on the farm with plants grown on the farm, pick your own berries, sheep and more.
CONGRATULATIONS TO
Featured artisan, this month, A Quilted Heart at Adirondack North Country Crafts. Lisa has come back home to Port Leyden from many years of California living and with help of family and friends, has opened up a quilt shop with many offerings including the wonderful quilts she makes.
CONGRATULATIONS TO
Julia Pierce, John and Lorrie Hossley's daughter, and her partner, Ali Hamden, now co-owners of the Long Lake landmark, Hoss's Country Store, the ice cream stand and the Christmas Store. John and Lorrie still own and run the new mini mall behind the store, the miniature golf course and the campsite for motor campers.
How were the crafts shows for you this year?
When answering please include type of product you sell. That will be the only personal info Korths will include. Which ones were better, which ones were worse, what made them better or worse. Korths will list responses in next newsletter.
CONGRATULATIONS TO
Brian Morris, North Country Images, photographer, and his brother, for opening up their fine gallery North Country Images and Accents in Long Lake behind Hoss's Country Store in one of the cabins of the mini mall. Beautiful space open since July 3. Paradise Pastry and Cyber Creek Internet Cafe and Deli are other businesses in mini mall each in one of the other cabins.
Workshop
Join a professional candlemaker who supplies many of the high-end shops in NYC for a candlemaking workshop. Sept. 25, 2004, 10am - 3pm. $30/person. Betterbee.com, Greenwich NY. To register call 800.632.3379.
CONGRATULATIONS TO
The "Christmas in the Country" Open House Tour through West Fort Ann to Kingsbury, Washington Co., east of Glens Falls. Started in 1990 and always held on the first full weekend in December (4 and 5 this year), most participating sites (8 - 10 of them) each receive some 300 visitors. Penny, from Northeast Corner Herbs, says they market this Open House Tour as an alternative to the mall, and all sites offer refreshments, and some offer music, door prizes and Santa Claus at the door. Penny also turns her house into a vendor showcase with some 8 - 10 artisans each setting up a space to sell their wares.
CONGRATULATIONS TO
McCadam Cheese of Chateaugay for winning 3 ribbons at the 21st annual American Cheese Society competition; 2nd place in "cow's milk cheddar, aged less than 12 months" category, making it the top ranked NY cheese in category; Monterey Jack earned second place ribbon and its top scoring muenster took 3rd place in the "American Originals" category.
Exhibit for Glass Makers
The Corning Museum of Glass' exhibit "The Italian Influence in Contemporary Glass" until Oct. 31.
Fall Open House
Oct. 30, Gallery 812, 7899 Ridge Road, 1 mile north of Lowville. All regionally made product.
Christmas Open House
Nov. 27, Gallery 812, 7899 Ridge Road, 1 mile north of Lowville. All regionally made product.
CONGRATULATIONS TO
The Northern New York Art Association for their first time sculpture show of some 28 pieces by some 10 to 15 artists from the St. Lawrence River Region. At the Salmon River Mall in Watertown. Running through the month of September.
Christmas Open House
At Creekside Gifts & Antiques, between Woodgate and Boonville, Nov. 27 and 28, 10-5. Door prizes every hour both days. 458 folks went last year.
Burls for Sale
All sizes. Bruce Wight, Truly Adirondacks, Piseco. 518.548.8717.
CONGRATULATIONS TO
Schroon Lake's downtown with many new shops; Schroon Lake Antiques and Higher Ground Cafe (518.532.9092), Red Horse Antiques, and The Emporium (518.532.9900). The Cafe and the Emporium already have works by local artisans, are doing well with them, and are looking for more.
Looking for a Gift page now has 189 links to artisans and retailers
There are now 189 (11 more than 2 months ago) direct links to shops and studios at Looking for a Gift. The region's handmade, each with their own website, all listed at one place! The most visited page at Adirondack North Country Crafts where all of you are listed. Keywords used by search engine users are just as likely to be your business name as well type of product. Some business names that were used as keywords on 9.15.04 are; Barry Gregson, Adirondack Living Show, Chateaugay Weaving and Woodworking, Stephen Cressey, Fosters Forge, and Joe Capozio.
CONGRATULATIONS TO
The businesses who organized and participated on August 13 and 14 in the 2nd annual Focal Points Salem Area Arts & Agriculture Studio/Gallery/Farm Self Guided Tour of Washington County (east of Saratoga Springs). The tour has been added to the region's many open studio tours listed at Regional Open Studio Tours.
Participating agricultural sites, farmers' markets, local artist, and artisans' studios and galleries were; Gillis Hill Studio with painter Joan Duff-Bohrer and her contemporary oil paintings, bird paintings and decorated boxes, ARTS 220 Gallery and Studio exhibiting NYC/Salem artist Pud Houston, Beauty of the Earth Gallery & Studio with paintings by Mary Sinnamon and photographs by Rowland Sinnamon, and Tim Shea at work (creating jewelry) at his studio Tim Shea Precious Metal Designs. Woody Hill Farms' dairy operations; Alpacas of Maple Lane; Gardenworks, flower and raspberry farm with a barn marketplace full of floral designs, specialty foods, and handcrafts and in the Gallery Showroom, the pastels and watercolors of Salem artist Tom Kerr; Sheldon Farms with extensive farm market including artisan breads and jams; Healing Heart Center's opening party with inspirational art and healing energy; Ovington Violins and The Dionondehowa Wildlife Sanctuary and School with regular tours of violin maker Ovington's Studio with "Trance Drawings" by artist Suzanne Field-Sloan; Gallery 668 exhibited works of artists Reeve Schley, Harry Orlyk and Mike Favata and the Georgi Musuem houses artwork dating back to the 1400s. High Hopes Cafe and Steininger's Chocolates and Cafe were recommended as lunch stops.
CONGRATULATIONS TO
The region's retailers and studio businesses that Nadia Korths will be interviewing in the next 6 weeks to help compare the region's best studio/shop practices in attracting visitors and selling product to the best practices across North America. The result of this study will be presented at a number of onsite workshops. Korths will list the names of interviewed retailers and studio businesses in the next email newsletter.
Those who have signed up for the Handmade in the Northern Forest Guidebook will be the first businesses invited to participate in the review of best practices at onsite workshops that will be offered throughout the region during the winter and spring. Hopefully the guidebooks will be distributed to those who wish to resell them at the later workshops.
CONGRATULATIONS TO
The staff of Businesses for the Northern Forest for completing the recruitment phase of the Handmade in the Northern Forest Guidebook with a wonderful collection of 330 studios, shops and other sites in NY, VT, NH and ME. This book will be distributed in May 2005. Congratulations to all project partners; Businesses for the Northern Forest, VT; Women's Rural Entrepreneurial Network, NH, Adirondack North County Association, NY; St. Lawrence Arts Council, NY; Maine WoodNet, ME; Arts Alliance of Northern New Hampshire, NH; Northern Forest Center, NH; Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce, ME; Maine Fiberarts, ME; Mid Vermont Heritage Guide, VT; and Oxford County Cultural Inventory, ME; for recruiting these participants.
Take the time to visit the link below to the page where the partners are linked. Some of them provide wonderful workshops for the artisan/retailer small business. http://www.adirondack.org/Links.htm">Partners. NYS partners and contacts are Nadia Korths, steering committee member/project coordinator, and Terry Martino, Executive Director, ANCA, and, Hilary Oaks, President, St. Lawrence County Arts Council. Korths wishes to thank all the 40 studios and shops she visited during the past 3 weeks as the final step in completing the NYS site recruitment. Korths also thanks those who took the time to confirm site information and anwer questions via the phone.
Visitors who buy these books ($16.95), starting next spring, are in for a treat. The books are anticipated to have some 400 photos of product, sites, artisans and views along the way. Korths was delighted to submit notes about the many panoramic views on the NYS five driving loops to Business for Northern Forest where the copy is being developed for the book.
Those attending the free 9am to 4pm eBay University seminar on Oct. 10 in Saranac Lake at the Saranac Lake Free Library.
Because the next expansion of the Northern Adirondack eBay Cooperative covers the counties of Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson and Lewis, the free eBay University Seminar will be held in Saranac Lake on Oct. 10 from 9 am to 4 pm at the Saranac Lake Free Library Cantwell Community Room. The Northern Adirondack eBay Cooperative and the St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Adirondack North Country Association graciously offer this free workshop to the many craftspeople and others who have shown interest in participating in the program but have not been selected in this round for the one on one training to become a Cooperative member. What makes the Oct. 10 workshop unique is that these eBay University presenters have been trained by eBay staff to become trainers for those who wish to use eBay the most effectively to sell product.
The next expansion will include craftspeople from the counties of Warren, Saratoga, Oneida, Herkimer, Saratoga, Washington, Fulton and Oswego.
To register for the Oct. 10 class, please hit reply and include your business name, name, address, phone number, type of product/media, and website (not necessary to have)."
The 70 names who had shown interest in attending the eBay University workshop by responding to the online March survey, to the June email notice and verbally with Nadia Korths, were submitted to the eBay project coordinator, Ruby Moore, in early August. Some businesses from Essex, Clinton, Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson and Lewis Counties have been recruited for the intensive eBay University training required of the 20 who are next to join the Adirondack North Country eBay Cooperative. The 70 business names submitted are posted at Adirondack North Country Crafts click on Workshops.
Adirondackcraft.com celebrated their third anniversary of online sales for the region in December, 2003. They continue to encourage craftspeople and artisans in the 14 county Adirondack North Country region to consider adding a few products to this attractive online store and catalogue serving customers in 44 states. No monthly charges, reasonable commission on the retail sale price. Sponsored by Adirondackcraft.com.
How does Your Income Compare?
Inspired by the first time national survey of craftspeople in the US, the CODA 2001 survey, the Canadian Crafts Federation's recently released "Profile and Development Strategy for Craft in Canada" looked at the following: number of professional craftspeople, how they work, how and where they market their products, sales, and income levels, where they find educational and business support, and what other entities (retailers and wholesalers, material suppliers, guilds, etc.) receive economic benefit or provide support to craftspeople.
The estimated 14,048 craft studios in Canada employ 22,527 crafts professionals; 11,968 full-time and 10,629 part-time. In 2001, the crafts sector generated an estimated $727 million in gross sales, $100 million in export to the US. The crafts sector with $727 in gross sales, is in the same economic impact category as publishing and recorded music!
Full-time craft professionals averaged gross revenues of $60,000 and median revenues of $30,000. 10 % of the study respondents grossed in excess of $120,000.
Net craft income from full-time averaged $17,300 ... which comes out to less than $10 per hour. Median net income was $12,000. Top 10 % had a net income of $49,000.
73 % operate as individuals, 10 % in partnerships and 17 % have employees. 25% generate some revenue through export.
Excerpts from Canada's $727 Million Craft Industry is Forging a Strategy for Growth, The Crafts Report, June 2004, p. 23.
Workshop
The Small Business Development Center in Plattsburgh and ANCA are sponsoring a series of "Build Your Website in a Day" workshops to be held in Pisceo - Nov. 4, Malone - Nov. 9, Elizabethtown - Nov. 10, and in Plattsburgh, Jan. 22, 2005. All run from 10 am - 3 pm. Tom Amorosa, The Leather Artisan, is copresenter in Pisceo and in Malone, and Terry Young, Young's Gallery, is copresenter in Elizabethtown and Plattsburgh. Nadia Korths, Craft Programs Coordinator/ANCA will be presenter at all 4.
Participants bring copy and photos on disk to workshop and place them in a 2 page website template in the morning. In the afternoon we critique each other's websites and do some editing.
You also receive a booklet reviewing workshop work with suggestions of some regional website hosts and ftp software to upload your own files. Workshop fees are $40/individual and $60/partners/share computer workstation. If unable to attend the workshop you may buy the booklet for $15. In addition, the book "HTML...Your Visual Blueprint for Designing Effective Web Pages," will be on sell at the workshops ($18). It provides excellent screen shots of code and results when viewed with browser.
Register at the SBDC office; 518.564.2042 or sbdc@plattsburgh.edu or Small Business Development Center
After registration you will receive via email sample product and business descriptions to help you prepare your copy and some suggestions on how to compress your photos. You also have the choice to make a free appointment with the Plattsburgh SBDC to develop your product and business descriptions.
For those of you who earn income from teaching workshops, at Regional Support Organizations, you'll find links to some 50 to 60 regional cultural organizations that offer workshops. Check them out and contact them.
This is another marketing opportunity for you. ANCA has simplified the search process for you by listing the links geographical, ie, all of the Lake George - Saratoga region ones are listed together.
CONGRATULATIONS TO
Sam Hendren, Clover Mead Farms, Keeseville, for writing such great articles on a weekly basis in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise about the Lake Placid Farmer's Market vendors and activities. If only we could all have someone like Sam writing about us.
CONGRATULATIONS TO
to Adirondack North Country Crafts. Since June 10th, 2004, adknccrafts.com has had 4,949 unique visitors. Most of the visitors are using search engines and keywords with the Looking for a Gift page the most popular one. The regional shows listing page is also a popular page.
Artists' Fellowships
Grant applications to one of the largest sources of support for individual artists in the country postmarked on or before Oct. 1st.
Categories include crafts, printmaking/drawing/artists' books and sculpture. In 2004, the New York Foundation for the Arts awarded 148 Artists' Fellowships to 151 artists (including 3 collaborating artists), awarded a total of over $1 million. Fellows receive unrestricted grants of $7,000 each to support the advancement of their careers. New York Foundation for the Arts
Workshop
The Adirondack Ecological Center will host the Forest, Trees, Wood and Craft: A Hands-on Introduction From a Woodworking Perspective Oct. 1 -3. This workshop will examine the link between fine wood craftwork and the forest. Woodworkers Barry Gordon and Ken Pierson will team up with ESF forest ecologist Greg McGee to lead a 3 day class at Huntington Lodge and in the Stone Garage woodshop. Information about trees, the wood inside trees and means of directly obtaining that wood will be presented through lectures, field trips and hands-on woodworking. The instructors will focus on tree biology and the structure and properties of wood. Methods for drying wood will be addressed as well. As part of a discussion of small sawmills, a local sawyer will demonstrate converting a hardwood log into useful lumber. Participants will identify species suitable for walking sticks and kitchen utensils and will make one of each. Workshop limited to 15. FMI, call 315.638.4749 or email bbgordon@att.net.
CONGRATULATIONS TO
Yannig Tanguy, Crown Point Bread Company, for being recognized as the Village Capitalist of the Month by Comic News Champlain Valley, 16th issue, for being one of the two best artisan bakeries in the area. People come from both sides of the lake, Albany, and even more distant points on bread runs to his modest shop and most claim it's worth the drive.
CONGRATULATIONS TO
Statcounter.com; For those of you interested in tracking traffic at your site by pasting the code for a traffic counter on your website, the free version of www.statcounter.com will track and generate reports on your latest 100 visitors. Some of the reports are: visitors, keywords, paths, most popular page and about 6 others. For $9.95 a month, www.statcounter.com will track 1000 visitors.
CONGRATULATIONS TO
The Westport Cornell Cooperative Extension and Adirondack Harvest for organizing the tour showcasing 6 of the 72 small farms located in the rich Canadian farmland just north of Malone, Chateaugay and Rouses Point on May, 19.Nadia Korths, ANCA's craft marketing programs coordinator, went on this tour to see what marketing tools and connections could be made.
Francois Pouliot and Stephanie Beaudoin Pouliot, La Face Cachee de la Pomme, Hemmingford, Quebec, 450.247.2899, The Hidden Face of the Apple, mentioned their interest in visiting this area and Lake Placid Lodge in particular. Their apple ice wine Frimas "frost" was named by wine expert and author Francois Chartier as one of his favorites in the 2002 Salon des Vins & Spiritueux of Montreal.
Korths offered the couple and their child a place to stay for the weekend in July and they did so. As we discussed business after a refreshing swim in one of our lakes, they said they hope to work with artisans and artists on their property. So Korths will keep you posted as the business grows. And in the meantime, go north and discover how artisans market themselves just across the border while treating yourself to some wonderful treats and views.
CONGRATULATIONS TO
Michele E. Ledoux, executive director of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Lewis County, and Roxaina Hurlburt, marketing manager for Mercer's Dairy in Boonville, for manning the busy North Country Products Booth at the daylong I LOVE NY food festival in the Empire State Plaza in Albany during the week of Aug 8, 2004.
In March, the two women, along with several other north country representatives, handed out the brochures and samples of North Country products at the International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of New York at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhatten. Ledoux said her agency is still working with city of Yonkers officials in hopes of creating a larger market for north country goods there. There's also a "movement under way" to develop a larger, more regional promotional campaign.
CONGRATULATIONS TO
The Corner Stone Adirondack Artisan Cooperative for the coverage it received of their Demo Days held on July 11 in the Tri-Lakes Edition, Free Trader, July 17, 2004. Coop member Janice Miller-Hoffman showed the complete process of making custom designed stained glass works, Meg Stone demonstrated chair caning, and Majorie Swift, "the Bug Bonnet lady," modeled her hats. Visiting artisan Damian Gormley, made iron furniture and sculpture. Corner Stone Adirondack Artisan Cooperative.
CONGRATULATIONS TO
The North Country Cultural Center for the Arts' anticipated purchase of the Strand Theatre, both in Plattsburgh. Movies will continue to be shown while other art offerings will also be available. July 15, 2004, p.2, Press Republican. North Country Cultural Center for the Arts
CONGRATULATIONS TO
Saratoga County Art Council member jeweler Dennis DeJonghe for having two of his broaches selected for the July 9 to Oct. 3, 2004 New York Collects Buffalo Show celebrating Buffalo State College alumni artists at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center.
CONGRATULATIONS TO
Saratoga County Art Council's First Thursday Gallery Walk galleries and storefronts for showcasing crafts as well as visual artists.
CONGRATULATIONS TO
The Art District on Beekman, Saratoga Springs, NY for marketing their individual business together in a great glossy brochure rack panel piece. These businesses are Beekman Artists, 70c Beekman Street; Beekman Art Gallery, 70 Beekman Street; Knit 2 Together, 70b Beekman St. and Beekman Artists Co-op, 79 Beekman St.
Workshop
Learn Adobe Photoshop, Mark Bolles, Oct. 6, 13, 20, 27 and Nov. 4, 11. 7-9pm. $95 non-members of Saratoga County Arts Council. step by step instruction for page layout, creative design, file formatting and photo restoration as well as many useful hints. Held off-site at BOCES on Henning Road. FMI on Mark Bolles
Register at SCAC, 518.584.4132.
No health insurance?
Healthy NY is a 6 month old NYS health insurance program. Korths has already heard that craftspeople have signed up for this program. Reasonable prices - varies by county - ie, Franklin County w/out drugs -$117.93 per month per individual.
Healthy NY
Rustic Nature Buyer Days 2004 and 2003 vendor booth shots with contact info are posted at Adirondack North Country Crafts click on Buyer Days. So for those shopowners who couldn't make it to the show...
The Exhibitor Application
For 2005 Buyer Days is posted at Adirondack North Country Crafts, click on Buyer Days. Rustic Nature Buyer Days 2005 is scheduled for March 30 and 31 at the City Center in Saratoga Springs. Mark your calendars.
Applications to ANCA's Craft Marketing Programs
Will be mailed out in early October. Program applications include 1) Self-guided driving tours of this region's arts, crafts and foods, 2) Group booth at Rochester's Western New York Gift Show, 3) Buyer Days, 4) Design a Website in a Day workshop, and 5) How to Establish and Maintain Wholesale Accounts.
All 2004-05 applications will be posted shortly online at Adirondack North Country Crafts.
Adirondack North Country Crafts is your 24/7 regional craft and retail business resource center with;
- links to the region's small business development centers where you can get free start up, in process of expanding, product development and other business services - on the regional resources page.
- for those artisans who offer workshops to generate income, links to many of the region's workshop providers - on the regional resources page.
- links to many national sites with how to do business info (retailers, there's some good ones here for you) - on the resources page.
- links to regionally made product and/or regional shops to sell in - on the Looking for a Gift page
- links to many national product for sale sites - on the resources page
- provides contact info on some 25 regional shows which are, for the most part, vendor recommended - on the show listings page.
- info and applications on craft marketing programs offered by ANCA and links to partner marketing programs.
- Rustic Nature Buyer Days, the only rustic nature trade show on the East Coast,
- How to Establish and Maintain Wholesale Accounts and Product Review 4 hour workshop, held 2 to 4 times in the fall and mid winter,
- Group Booth at Western New York Gift Show in mid February, best for country style product which retails for $10 or less,
- Self Guided Driving Trails of the Region's Arts, Crafts and Foods, with 30,000 distributed to 900+ lodgings and chambers
- Crafts trade newsletter for and about the artisans and retailers of the region. Archived at Adirondack North Country Crafts click on Stories About You
- Adirondack North Country Crafts: resources and product for the region's artisans and retailers; links and/or info about regional show listings, regional support organizations with galleries and workshop facilities; marketing tools and advice from across the nation; and links to many producers and retailers of the region.
-And last but not least, info about and applications for ANCA's craft marketing programs,
- Links to partners adirondackcraft.com and adirondackwood.com.
Other programs and partnerships are always being explored.
Inquiries about sponsorships of these programs are welcome.
Contact Nadia Korths, Craft Programs Coordinator/ANCA, korths@northnet.org or 518.891.1632.
ANCA offers other regional economic development program specialists:
-Wood Products Industry Specialist Carl Golas, 315.376.7695. adirondackwood.com -Grazing Technician Martha Pickard, 518.891.6200. anca-pickard@northnet.org
-Scenic Byways Coordinator Sharon O'Brien, 518.891.6200. anca-obrien@northnet.org
-Community Development Specialist Jim Ellis, 518.359.2580. Jeep74@northnet.org
-Executive Director Terry Martino, 518.891.6200. anca-martino@northnet.org
Visit Adirondack North Country Association to find out more about the programs these specialists are providing.
The Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) is a not-for-profit private corporation that strengthens the economy and quality of life in the 14 counties of Northern New York through informed, open debate and advocacy on economic issues critical to the region; and through region-wide action on projects in agriculture, business and community development, forestry, human services, the arts and tourism.
This newsletter is being received by 577 (19 more than for the last issue) producers, retailers and support organizations.
Regional crafts newsletter issues are archived at Adirondack North Country Crafts, click on Stories about You
Korths look forward to receiving your news: publicity, awards, expansions, changes, and more.
Questions and industry leads are welcome. Materials may be reproduced without permission, as long as credit is given. The views reflected in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect those of the staff or board members of ANCA.
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korths@northnet.org