What is the best way to teach a craft or art technique? Is it through a person (class), printed text, diagrams and photos, and videos, or the blend of these now found in online classes? The NAMTA Artists & Art Materials … Read More
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Craftsy.com Coopetition with Creative Retailers and Media
The initial success of Craftsy.com, an e-learning site for creative people, supports the finding that 9% of active artists have taken a paid online art class ( See the 2012 NAMTA Artists & Art Materials Study produced by Hart). A recent Denver … Read More
Are Online Surveys Accurate?
Recent Hart research indicates online surveys mostly give an accurate picture except when the questions are about information use and purchasing habits. If these two topics are of interest to your business then consider doing offline surveys or interviews. Information Use Questions … Read More
Market Research an Essential Tool at Michaels Stores
Michaels Stores, the largest crafts chain in the USA, conducts customer surveys every other month and extensively reviews their customer data according to a 2011 interview with Michaels’s chief marketing officer. If you are a competitor of Michaels you need … Read More
Crafts show visitors decreased by 21 million from 1992 to 2008
The number of U.S. adults who said they had visited a crafts fair or a visual arts festival in the past year decreased from a peak of 75 million in 1992 to 54 million in 2008. This reflects a decrease … Read More
Canadian Arts and Culture Participation Data Sources
Go to Hart’s Industry Information page and click on International Data to see a list of links to good data sources regarding Canadian participation, spending, and employment in the arts and cultural activities. Hart put this together as part of the research for … Read More
U.S. Adult Participation in Creative Activities 1992-2008
More than 33 million adults created a painting, drawing, or sculpture or engaged in printmaking in 2008, according to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts. Participation in these fine arts grew 14% from … Read More
Are Online and Storefront Customers Different?
Artists who shop online are different from those who shop at local art supply stores. A key difference is local shoppers are more people-oriented. Local art supply stores can use this information to compete with online. Storefronts should take advantage of their human … Read More
2012 Artist Survey Drawing Winners
Hart Business Research and NAMTA are pleased to announce the two winners of the Artists & Art Materials 2012 artist survey drawing. Winners received their gift certificates in April 2012, soon after the survey closed. The International Art Materials Association (NAMTA) … Read More
Innovation: Big-Corp Buzzword Versus Small-Business Strategy
What is innovation? It depends upon why the business is using the word. If a business (usually a large publicly-held one) is trying to increase the perceived value of the corporation then “innovation” is often used as a marketing word. If … Read More