The Understanding of Art Sale, Art Worth, Community Support, and Networks among the Players of Arts Markets

Abstract

This yearlong study examined art sale, art worth, community support, and network issues among visual artists, art buyers, and art organizers in the arts markets of Baton Rouge, Louisiana – a district which also includes East Baton Rouge, Denham Springs, and Livingston parishes. As a mixed media artist, I had a participant observer role and communicated with the artists, art buyers, and art organizers. Also, I conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with twelve art organizers, fourteen artists, and eleven art buyers about their experiences at the Arts Market, and about art sales, art worth, art’s impact on community support, and networking processes. This paper successfully evaluated each player’s perspective about the core issues at the arts market. I found the worth of art, the evaluation of ‘What is art?' question, economic and networking contributions of the arts market were still core topics among the major players at arts market. Both event’s time and weather had a deep influence on these issues. However, there was no consensus for each player’s perspectives. Through a qualitative analysis based in grounded theory, I found that participants' perspective about supporting community via art generally differentiate according to participants' age, experience, role at the arts market, the reason for attendance, and residency. Moreover, I found art directors and experienced artists developed mechanisms to stimulate young artists’ future market attendance. 

Keywords: Arts Market, art sale, art worth, community support, network.