by Richard Myrick for Mobile-Cuisine

If your books tell you that you need to lower your food costs, reducing your protein serving portions can be a great cost cutting measure. The key is remembering to cut portion sizes strategically so as not to look like you’re "being stingy" with your customers.

As you've probably noticed, tons of artists have flocked to live streaming in the last few months, and for good reason. It’s one of the most effective and reliable ways to maintain a sense of community with your fans and give them the opportunity to support you. 

What should musicians stream?

Live performances are the most obvious and are usually a safe bet for a stream, but this is a great time to get creative and experiment with different formats or topics. There are so many interesting and fun ways to engage with your fans and make them excited to tune in.

image courtesy: bandzoogle

Songwriting sessions, home studio tours, masterclasses, Q&As — if you’re comfortable sharing it, give it a shot! You never know what might resonate with someone watching. You can even mix and match — maybe play a couple songs, and then pause to have a casual chat with the audience for a few minutes as you read through the comments section to shout people out and answer questions. 

Ready to increase your online art sales? Present your work beautifully by sharing the impact and scale of artwork with potential collectors through the use of in situ images.

Offering room views enhances the shopping experience, and increases customer confidence. Creating these images doesn’t require Photoshop or even a high level of technical ability. Check out the tools below and start showcasing your own art in virtual rooms!

ArtPlacer

This site offers a paid service that ranges from $11 – $59 per month, and serves a variety of clients, including artists, galleries and art consultants. Place your artwork in an uploaded image of a collector’s wall to give them a preview. Or, design and create an entire exhibition of work on a virtual gallery wall or exhibition booth.

ArtRooms

This option is a smartphone app that superimposes your work on a selection of interiors. Room settings are updated frequently, and different colored walls are available. Select frames to suggest hanging options, and easily share your images. ArtRooms has a high customer satisfaction rating. Try it for the first month at $3.99, then pay a monthly fee of $7.99.

Make lemonade or…

If you’re long-time Festivalnet.com member Bill Coleman, turn the World’s Biggest Bubble Toy into a Giant, Fun, Handwashing Station!

For over fifteen years, folks at festivals, fairs and special events from Anchorage to Las Vegas, Aberdeen to Austin have enjoyed the World's Biggest Bubble Toy®. It’s fourteen feet high and solar powered! 

“Really added to the party atmosphere!” --Arc Charities
“Absolutely fabulous!” --Beaux Art Festival
“The bubbles made people laugh 100 yards away!” --Dubuque County Fair

But, then Covid-19 hit. Bill says, “When the pandemic started, I thought I should point out that the Bubble Tower fights the bug with a special blend of Dawn dish soap, is great fun and can deliver a safe hand washing message as well as give sponsor's an opportunity to ‘be the good guys’ in the fight to weather the pandemic storm.” 

Bill will be setting up four of his Giant, Fun, Handwashing Stations next month at Bennett Days in Colorado!

Keep spreading the smiles, suds and safety, Bill!

As you read this next bit take a moment to give your awareness to your breath. Breath has given you the opportunity to be here now. Breath is the gift that is granted us as living spirits. How wonderful is that?

Something so simple as breath is taken for granted until that moment when we experience breath's importance to our life and longevity.

As humans, manifested on earth in the cosmic form of a mammal, our breath connects us to the furthest reaches of the universe and down into the deepest depths of atomic particles.

Being an ever curious and adventurous spirit eager to explore and learn, my body and mind have traveled the path of an athlete, both recreational and competitive, a musician of wind and drum instruments, a facilitator of clients in personal training-massage-meditation-hypnotherapy-sound healing, and journeyed through Western medicine and Eastern esoteric philosophies. What will be brought to you in the words that follow is my small strand of experiences and knowledge gathered from my journeys that threads through the tapestry of this wonderful woven globe that we live in.

Shall we begin the journey together?

“Breath springs from self” – Chandogya Upanishad 7.26.1

Our body is the magical universal instrument and we enjoy that beauty in voice, instrument, and movement. Let us look at five basic benefits of breath.

1: HEALTH

“When movement of Breath is internal, one will see the world in themself” – unknown Vedic

Each time we inhale with the exchange of exhale, we are rebuilding our nervous system and the entire molecular structure of the body. Your cells are recalibrating as you read this now. So how can you ever be the same person? It is impossible.

The center for breath management expands from the medulla oblongata, a section of the brainstem, and controls the rhythm of our breath. This is done involuntarily. When voluntary rhythmic breath is applied in practice the patterns of the brainstem start to shift and affect the central nervous system, Increasing oxygen and ph in the blood stream.

This exploration of our breath can remove "Dis-Ease" in connective tissues, healing tissue issues in body and brain. (The Mind in a different topic and in not being covered in this article.)

Story time: This young man had traveled to Australia. He was a sickly character, hunched over, pressure in his eyes and incredibly low in vitality. A local of the area introduced this sickly young man to the digeridoo. (Circular Breathing though a termite-carved hollow stick). After a few months of practicing the digeridoo, the young man had changed from a sickly young man to a healthy young man and over the few years he was unrecognizable to his past community. Confidence, health, and clarity now radiated from the young man. The Sick man had transformed into a man of Vitality. - Seattle resident

2: RELAXATION

“Breathe easy; have trust and be free form fear.” – Unknown Vedic Sage

Tension derives from the pressure of thought affecting our nervous system and is created in us when we respond to fear and react with a fight or flight response from our reptilian brain stem.

With redirecting the focus to the breath, one can move from the experience of fear in the body into a place of peace, decreasing pain and suffering and increasing clarity of choice for action or stillness.

Story time:  "I was so afraid to leave my house to even go get the mail. I heard that rebirthing breath work could fix that. After the first session I was able to open the door to my home and not feel fear streaming in my head. After the 10th session I was getting the mail with just a distant whisper of fear in my head. It took a bit of time, yet now I can barely remember what I was even afraid of. Crazy." – Young Woman testimony

3: CONFIDENCE

“Breathing is an action of self who is seated in midst of the breath… those who observe the breath movements regain awareness of SELF which they had lost… reviving original consciousness” – Vedic Hindu text

With a steady mind and lowered heart rate we can make decisions with unwavering confidence.

We trust those that are calm and have clear speech. We can develop this through the study of breath, focus, and the movement between actions and stillness.

How does your breath and heart rate change with different interactions of the day, week, month, year?

The practice of breath awareness exposes the conscious self-awareness of WHO AM I? That question is answered with the focused awareness of our flow of breath while engaged with life.

Story time: "Cliff jumping into clear blue water from 30 feet sounds exhilarating. For me it was! How many things could go wrong? Yet the freedom of flight and weightlessness had pulled my curiosity to the platform. After seven minutes of trying to NOT jump, I finally jumped, and it was great. What switched was trusting that I could do it. After 30 years of competitive swimming as a platform diver, it was crazy that I had created fear. Simply crazy! I was so glad that I jumped another 5 times." – 52-year-old woman

4: DISCIPLINE

“…self-discipline is the ability to guide yourself to do what you want to do whether you feel like it or not…” – Ila Barlean

In a culture of should and should not, our breath can become ridiculously small and stifled. Yet with a small shift of mind and will that breath can expand and deepen, allowing our original self to fulfill those dreams and desires we have been holding back from completing. With a little bit of redirecting of our thoughts, our breath will then soon follow.

One can feel a sense of ‘courage’ sweep over the entire body and a flow and ease with the completion of dreams and desires.... be it this article, be it the cake in the oven, be it traveling around the world.

Story Time: "My child was labeled ADD, Learning Disabled and a disruption to the class. I heard that martial arts might be good for him, so I enrolled my son in our local Kung Fu classes. Within a few weeks my child was able to finish a task that he was given. He stood with more confidence. Still full of all that energy, yet clear in his direction." – Mother with frustrated son

5: The FEEL GOOD RESPONSE

As a facilitator I call this exercise “dumping out the trash”. It’s a different feeling from sex or eating something super delicious.

With each breathing practice style there is this build up towards a place like a crossroad in the nervous system. A point where we get to decide

1- Do I continue?

2- Do I stop here?

Either is fine. Yet in the years of working with clients, athletes, myself, family, and friends, it has been discovered that those that choose to “continue" develop all that has been mentioned in this article. Health improves, confidence excels, the ability to relax becomes natural, and discipline is a no brainer.

When we release tension at a tissue level, a set of endorphins are released, and the brain sets off a ton of ATP that has us feeling great.

“The womb breath” – Taoism Chapter

Belly breathing is the simplest and basic way to remember how our breath was when we were in the womb. Scientists have attached ultra-sound to the belly of a pregnant woman and recorded the rhythm of the breath the baby makes in the womb. It turns out to be remarkably similar to the brain wave rhythm and blood flow through the central nervous system.

When this rhythm is remembered – feeling good is your birthright.

In the second part of this article I will share with you my 7 favorite practices of breath.

Article composed by Ila Barlean (B.S.; LMP; Hp) founder of Tao Energy Movement and We Drum Project. She is a student and facilitator of self-care and healing. From a professional athlete to massage, sound healing, hypnotherapy, meditation, and yoga, Ila’s vast knowledge and experiences spends the global family weaving the threads of tribal to science in our fabric of this short time on planet earth.

References:

http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_3_No_15_August_2013/18.pdf
https://www.breatheology.com/mammalian-dive-response/
https://breathmeditation.org/the-hindu-tradition-of-breath-meditation

• Art in the Park will be running at 50% capacity.
• The gate attendance will be limited and a wait may occur.
• We will be posting live on Facebook: Loveland Art in the Park.
• Proper Face Covering will be mandatory at all times
• 6 ft social distancing at all times, small family groups are allowed.
• We encourage frequent hand sanitizing
• ASK to touch merchandise. Vendor will assist you.
• There will be mandatory contract tracing at the gate. This is your name and phone number to be submitted to the Larimer County Health Department if there is a outbreak of the virus.

• Growers of produce
• Specialty Foods (honey, salsa & chili, bread, chili roasters, dips & sauces, jams & jellies etc.)
• Coffees & Specialty Drinks
• Crafts and Artisan made goods :(jewelry, apparel, sculpture, crochet, leather work etc.)
• Bath, Body, and Spirit (bath bombs, CBD, lotions, candles, supplements, etc.)

COVID-19 Safety Enhancements for Event Reopening

Due to the pandemic, Splash Festivals, Inc. is following the CDC Festival guidelines as well as The Event Safety Alliance Reopening Guide published by the ESA (Event Safety Alliance) for all of the festivals we produce. Our goal is to provide a safe and enjoyable shopping experience while helping artists, one of the most economically affected groups by COVID-19. Your cooperation and support will help to ensure outdoor events can be held safely as we move forward. Therefore, we’ve implemented the following practices:

• Hand sanitizers are being added to Festival sites
• All exhibitors, staff, volunteers and food service workers are required to wear face masks and/or face shields. All attendees will be required to wear masks and/or face shields, as social distancing of six feet may not always be possible
• Where available, dining tables will have increased spacing and cleaning
• Where available, hospitality areas will have increased spacing and cleaning and be limited to food products which are either bottled or prepackaged in a Department of Agriculture certified facility
• Portable toilets and restrooms will have increased cleaning
• Volunteers, exhibitors and vendors will be checked in contactless
• Festivals with tight footprints are being moved to parks which will allow increased spacing of tents and proper social distancing
• Where children’s areas exist, increased spacing will be implemented. Children’s vendors will be required to practice required sanitary and spacing measures
• Artist Market vendors will be on-line for pre-Festival browsing
• Where available, performance stage microphones will be covered with disposable windshields during performances. Microphones will be disinfected between acts
• Signs will be posted to remind attendees of the need to wear masks, proper social distancing and hand sanitizing or hand washing
• Pets will not be allowed within the Festival areas
• A sanitation monitor has been added to Festival Committee
• We will be updating this list as rules change for Public Gatherings

URBAN ARTIST MARKET SAFETY PROTOCOL

The Urban Artist Market has implemented several procedural changes to ensure safety of our exhibitors and attendees.

1. We’ve relocated the show to the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas because the Grand Ballroom offers more floor space.
2. More space means extra wide aisles and the ability to create a one-way traffic flow through the show room floor; with only one entrance and one exit.
3. We’re selling tickets online before the event in 2-hour slots to ensure a limited amount of traffic on the show floor at any given time. We have calculated the amount of people permitted in the Grand Ballroom to ensure 6 foot distancing recommendations and will monitor entrance in any given time slot. However, walk-in tickets will be sold when admission quotas have not been exceeded.
4. The Urban Artist Market has expanded their open hours to spread out traffic evenly over the 2-day event.
5. Our exhibitors will wear masks throughout the event whenever anyone is near their booth footprint. All attendees will be required to wear masks upon entering the hall.
6. Disposable masks will be available at the entrance for attendees who have not brought their own mask.
7. Hand sanitizer stations will be positioned at the entrance and throughout the show floor.
8. The Irving Convention Center provides detailed Safety and Sanitation protocols in alignment with public health authorities, medical and industry experts. For detailed information, click here https://www.irvingconventioncenter.com/about/safety-sanitation/
9. The Urban Artist Market will not be passing appetizers or drinks during the July event, however, the Irving Convention Center will be providing a snack stand with glass barriers in the main lobby that adheres to safety standards.
10. On Saturday, July 18, the show will open 10-12 noon to provide early shopping access for immune compromised and our community 65 years of age and up. Masks will be required on all exhibitors and attendees in that time slot.
11. Shoppers will be encouraged to limit touch to art that they are purchasing. Exhibitors will promote “touch-free” shopping with signage in their booth.

• Social distancing measures were designed into the event’s new outside format.
• Each artist’s booth is 10 feet apart from the next, and they will have ample room to exit the booth from one side when needed.
• Aisles between booths are more than 30 feet wide, and markers will be out to direct two-way directional pedestrian traffic.
• Guests and artists are required to wear face masks when a 6 foot distance cannot be maintained, and each booth will have sanitization products, both for guest use and to disinfect any object that may be handled by visitors.

These past few months have brought an unprecedented challenge to maintain the constantly changing event information on FestivalNet. Promoters are in a very difficult position to make decisions far enough in advance to coordinate vendors and venues while trying to make a profit without endangering the public. Decisions can and often do, change overnight.

We are having to go back and double check the current 2020 events, which has put us behind on updating last year's event listings on our site. We are hopeful that we will be able to get more events updated as states are opening up and we are finding future 2020 and 2021 dates on the events websites.

We have always taken pride in keeping our listings as up-to-date and correct as possible so that we can help you all plan your schedule for the year. We are confident that we provide the most consolidated up to date event information on the web. Despite the obvious financial impact we have undergone, we have increased our staff in an attempt to continue to bring our members the most current event information possible. We apologize if some event listings have not been up to the standards that you have come to expect.

Please know that we will continue to work diligently to update listings and remove the ones that we know are not taking place. Thank you for your patience and understanding during this difficult time.

In 2020, it's not 'art fair as usual' for the Sawdust Summer Art Festival in Laguna Beach who has  responded to our current social landscape by downsizing this year. State and county health guidelines have helped morph the Sawdust Art Festival into an ongoing weekend Outdoor Marketplace instead of its traditional summer festival.

"Our first priority is the health and wellbeing of our artists, staff, and patrons. Knowing that even a modified version of our annual festival would not meet reopening criteria, our board of directors quickly pivoted in a different direction", stated Monica Prado, President of the Sawdust Board of the Directors.





Under an outdoor eucalyptus grove, artists will uniquely configure their space to allow for social distancing; more than 100 Sawdust artists will rotate through over the course of the summer.
Sawdust has taken all the necessary steps to keep everyone safe.

"Art is essential. Artists are Innovators. Over the past months we have focused our passion and creativity on finding a way to open a safe and meaningful show for our artists, community and guests. This year, Sawdust Art Festival is proud to present a smaller more personal Weekend Outdoor Marketplace, giving patrons the feeling of safety while whisking them into a world filled with art. Art allows us to be at peace, to enjoy the present, and to respond to the beauty in front of us. Smaller, but more personal." - Event Website


Bravo Sawdust! Way to stay current and take swift action to keep your event alive this year. 



When and Where

Sawdust Festival Presents an Outdoor Marketplace 

935 Laguna Canyon Road
Laguna Beach,
CA 92651

Weekends, July 17 - September 6, 2020

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 10am to 6pm

sawdustartfestival.org


 

Got the COVID-crazy Craft Fair Vendor Blues? Stay Busy! Here are some tips on using this downtime to drum up business, expand your reach, and help keep your business going.

#2 Do the Social Media Thing! Many Craft Fairs might be closed this summer, but the internet is open 24/7. If you want your craft business to survive during social distancing, participating in social media as a business is simply unavoidable. There’s no way around it. People are on social media more often than individual websites or even reading their email. You want to be where the people are. Using hashtags to let folks find what you do, using strong photography and helpful descriptions, and offering sales and discounts are ways to bring in business. There are endless resources online with guidance for being effective in social media. Invest in yourself by learning and putting what you learn into action! Here’s an article about using Instagram for your Business. Don’t stop there, look and see what other craft fair vendors are doing to drum up business with social media. 

Thanks for reading and wishing you all the best!

The Toronto Outdoor Art Fair (TOAF) has been happening every second weekend in July since 1961, rain or shine, in the heart of downtown Toronto. Social Distancing wasn't going to prevent Canada's leading contemporary outdoor art fair from supporting their artists and art lovers that would otherwise flock to Toronto. All over the world, people can virtually attend 10 days of Art, Awards, and other virtual events at TOAF's First Online Art Fair, July 2–12.

But this article isn't about their online art fair alone. TOAF created a dual-initiative response to COVID, a meaningful and impacting gesture to not only realistically support their 300+ participating artists but also spread the joy of art to the healthcare workers in their city.





"In this time of crisis, we felt that a gift of art could bring real joy and excitement to members of our community who are keeping us safe and allowing us to continue doing our work. Gifts of Heart is a way for our many devoted Fair-goers and art lovers to join us in doing something truly special for our artists, while honouring those frontline essential workers to whom we owe so much. So far we have had a wonderful reaction to the Gifts of Heart Program and raised $10,000 in the first week - that’s 40 gift cards for frontline workers already," Anahita Azrahimi, Executive & Creative Director, TOAF.

100% of the money raised goes directly to the artists while frontline healthcare workers will be able enjoy a 'gift card' to spend at the Online Art Fair! It's a beautiful win-win to help artists while showing the endearing love and appreciation we all feel for healthcare workers during this pandemic.

If TOAF reaches their goal to raise $100,000, they will be able to offer gifts to 400 frontline workers. This will also provide an income of $100,000 for their participating artists. The healthcare workers gifted will be able to shop for artwork at the online fair through the TOAF website.

"There will be a wonderful selection of paintings, photography, drawing, jewelery, ceramics, and so much more around the $250 price range for them to choose from," Azrahimi explains.

These days, we look for the helpers, the heroes and the initiatives which bring joy and positivity to those who need it most. We hope when we look back at this era in our lives, these are the stories we remember. To date, there is one month left to help TOAF reach their goal. If you are able, we invite you to donate.