3 / 4
Volume 5, Issue 2
Page 3
P
OSITIVE
O
UTLOOK FOR
A
MERICAN
I
NDIAN
A
RT
IN
2016?
The American Indian Art industry is feeling good about the prospects for a successful 2016.
According to the
2016 IACA Survey of the American Indian Art Industry,
2015 was largely a good year for people in
the American Indian art business, with over half of the industry reporting sales increases of 10% or more over
2014. Nearly two thirds of folks in the business believe that they will do as well or better in 2016 than they did
in 2015, a very positive sign for the industry. Over one third expect moderate to significant growth during
2016.
Nevertheless, there appears to be a cloud on the horizon as a quarter of those responding to the survey believe that interest in American
Indian art is on the decline, while only 15 percent feel interest in the art is on the upswing.
What’s hot, and what’s not?
American Indian jewelry is the hottest thing on the market today. Navajo weavings, sculpture and traditional
crafts are on the cold side of sales volume. The hottest sales outlets for American Indian art are merchant websites. The coldest are
eBay
and other auction sales.
The
2016 IACA Survey of the American Indian Art Industry
is the sixth annual survey conducted by IACA. While the response rate was not
robust enough to produce statistically significant results, it still provides anecdotal insights into the American Indian art business today.
The full summary report is available on the IACA website,
www.iaca.com.
IACA M
EMBER
A
WARD
W
INNERS
AT THE
2016 H
EARD
M
USEUM
G
UILD
I
NDIAN
F
AIR
& M
ARKET
Congratulations to IACA Artist members for a great showing
in Phoenix at the 2016 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair &
Market.
Dawn Dark Mountain
(Oneida of Wisconsin)
“Treaty Calico Series Corn”
Judge’s Award: Paintings, Drawings, Graphics,
Photography, Div. D
Mark Fischer
(Oneida Nation of Green Bay)
“Ancient Dignity”
Honorable Mention: Sculpture, Div. B
Cliff Fragua
(Jemez Pueblo)
“Flying With Our Prayers”
Second Place: Sculpture, Div. A
“Rainbow Blessing”
Judge’s Award: Sculpture, Div. A
Shane Hendren
(Navajo)
“Anvil Ring”
Judge’s Award: Jewelry and Lapidary, Div. B
Earl Plummer
(Navajo)
Web Bracelet
Honorable Mention: Jewelry, Div. C
A
DVERTISING AND
P
ROMOTING
IACA
W
HOLESALE
M
ARKETS
At every show, we get a number of people sug-
gesting (some rather strongly) that we advertise
IACA Markets more extensively. Billboards,
radio, TV, social media, and newspaper ads have
all been suggested.
If we were holding a retail market, all these
would make sense, but we are holding a whole-
sale market which targets a very specific audi-
ence –
buyers in the Indian Art Industry with a
valid resale license
.
We need to make every advertising dollar count,
and get our message directly to our target audi-
ence. Unfortunately, were we to advertise on
radio, TV, etc., we would attract the general public. Due to sales tax issues,
we are not able to allow retail sales in a wholesale market, and would have
to turn people away.
So we focus on advertising
that will get directly into
the hands of the wholesale
buyer. You can help this
effort by posting the Mar-
kets on your social media,
sending emails, making
phone calls, and requesting
postcards from IACA to
send to your buyers.