Today we’d like to introduce you to Sandi Cottrell.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Sandi. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’ve been planning events professionally since the age of 19 when I began working in destination management throughout Southern California, producing events of all types and for corporations primarily. In the late 90s, having felt like there was nothing new to explore in corporate events.
I began consulting with other firms and primarily specializing in marketing strategies. During this time, the previous owner of the April ArtWalk in Little Italy was looking for someone to take it over and run with it. In 2004, we took over this already well-established event.
We took over a single event in Little Italy which is now a 34-year tradition in April, and then created 2 more high-quality art festivals. ArtWalk @ Liberty Station, in August, is now in its 12th year, and ArtWalk Carlsbad makes its debut this September.
These public festival attract thousands of attendees to browse for fine art offered by hundreds of artists. The festivals also feature live music, dance, spoken word, and more.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
There is nothing easy about producing such large-scale events. We work with hundreds of visual artists, and it is our objective to deliver the art-buying crowds they need to be successful. We’ve also worked hard to keep the costs affordable for the artists. Many festivals charge a much higher fee.
Marketing the festivals to attract the attendees who will purchase art has been a challenge, and a skill we have learned over the years. We have a very limited advertising budget…but we’ve learned to create partnerships with publications, broadcast outlets, online blogs, and this helps us to stretch our marketing dollars.
We work closely with our publicists at Olive Creative Solutions as well. The type of news coverage their team secures for our events really helps to get the word out.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with ArtWalk San Diego – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Our festivals are well known by attendees and artists as being extremely well-run with the same attention to detail that our team gives to a corporate client. We are attentive to artists, musicians, sponsors, as well as vendors to do everything we can to create a pleasant and festive environment.
There are many things that make me extremely proud of these events. We have kept our primary sponsors in many cases, for a decade or more. The sponsors feel that there is a great ROI through the large audiences we turn out for them, so they continue to support our festivals.
I’m also proud of the reputation we have with the artists. They consistently tell us we run the best festivals that they attend, and they tell us how much they appreciate the personal attention they receive from our team. Our Artist Relations Manager, Sean Christensen, is simply superb at working with their special requests and makes each one of them feel like part of the family.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
This year, we are introducing ArtWalk Carlsbad. This is an event we’ve been thinking about for years, and the timing is right. The North County community is welcoming this festival in September and we are looking forward to seeing it come to fruition.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2210 Columbia St. San Diego, CA 92101
- Website: www.artwalksandiego.org
- Phone: 619.615.1090
- Email: scottrell@artwalksandiego.org
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/artwalksd
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/artwalksd
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/artwalksd
- Other: www.youtube.com/artwalksd
Image Credit:
Paul Nestor
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