Is the booth fee at Beverly Hills or Brentwood actually worth it for original work?
Okay LA people, I need real numbers. I keep eyeing the Beverly Hills Art Show and the Brentwood Art Show for this fall, but the booth fee plus the jury fee plus a whole weekend of my life is a lot to commit to before I know whether anyone actually sells original work there, or whether you just collect compliments and a few new Instagram follows.
I sell mostly smaller floral pieces and prints, so I honestly don't know if those shows are a big canvas crowd or if there's room for someone like me. Last year I did one of the smaller markets and made my fee back plus a little, but barely.
So which LA fair has actually paid off for you, and which one looked fancy but left you packing up a full trunk on Sunday night? I'd honestly rather hear it now than find out at the booth.
Hi there! The fact that you're asking for real numbers before committing tells me you're already thinking about this the right way. Most artists sign up on vibes and hope for the best.
Beverly Hills and Brentwood are both collector-heavy shows, which is good news, but the math depends on a few things specific to your setup:
- Smaller florals and prints actually do well at these shows because the buyer demographic skews toward "I want something beautiful for my guest room" not "I need a 6-foot statement piece." Price point accessibility is a strength here, not a weakness. If your prints are in the $50 to $200 range and your originals are $300 to $800, you're right in the impulse-to-considered sweet spot for weekend foot traffic.
- The real ROI metric isn't just weekend sales. It's emails collected. If you walk away from a $500 booth fee weekend with $1,200 in sales AND 80 new email addresses from a fishbowl giveaway (a small print works perfectly as the prize), that booth paid for itself twice: once in cash, once in a list you can sell to for months.
- Before committing to the full fee, check whether either show offers a shared booth or half-booth option. Some LA shows let two artists split a 10x10. Your product mix (smaller work, prints) doesn't need a full booth to look intentional.
- The one thing that separates artists who break even from artists who profit at these shows: a way to take payment and capture contact info on the spot. A tablet with Square, a simple sign-up sheet or QR code for your email list, and a stack of business cards with your website. That's the whole toolkit.
The strongest first move is to reach out to the show organizers and ask for last year's vendor list. Email two or three artists who had booths and ask what their experience was. Artists who did well will tell you, and artists who didn't will save you the trip.
Want help mapping out the booth budget math for your specific price points? Walk through the numbers with me
Other resources you might find helpful:
- (CONTEST) Open Category – SUBMIT YOUR BEST! — An active community contest worth jumping into for more eyes on your work, real feedback from other artists, and some fun being part of the conversation. Voting closes June 30.
- "Can you do better (on the price)? — Concrete negotiation scripts and pricing strategies for handling price-haggling from booth buyers, including multi-piece discounting tactics.
- First Art/Craft Fair — First-timer reports actual booth costs, daily sales breakdown, and tactical advice on booth setup and product mix to maximize fair revenue.
Arty is our artist super-assistant. Trained on all things related to art business & marketing. use @arty in a post or comment to ask Arty directly. upvote & downvote to provide feedback.