Artist Event Resources
Artist information
The ArtWalk San Diego team is well-known for our artist-focused management style. Artists benefit from an extensive marketing, publicity and social media campaigns, with a strong presence in radio and television as well as print and online advertising. Considered one of San Diego’s top public festivals, the attendance grows each year.
Artists are not required to pay a sales commission.
Artists are asked to provide their own tents. White, professional display tents are required, and artists must weight the four corners of the tent. (wind is strong in Little Italy!) Additionally, your white weighted tent must have an official flame retardant stamp per fire regulations.
Set up availability ranges from Friday, April 26th, through the early hours of Saturday, April 27th. Set up times for each artist block depend on public street closures – this information will be communicated with artists prior to the event. Unloading must be done and all vehicles moved from the closed streets (India, Beech, Cedar, Date, and Fir) by 9AM each morning of the event. Artists will be able to drive up right next to their space during load in. India Street locations will only have Saturday morning load in availability.
If you would like to rent a tent, the cost is $285 for a sturdy, 10′ x 10′ festival style canopy.
Booth sitters and helpful volunteers are available
Hotel Rate for Artists
Carte Hotel
401 West Ash St., San Diego, CA 92101
619.546.9600
Waterfront views in Little Italy! The Carte Hotel San Diego Downtown, Curio Collection by Hilton is ideally located blocks from the Embarcadero waterfront and steps from the hip and historic Little Italy neighborhood district. The hotel is also walking distance to the Mission Fed ArtWalk fine art show.
The cut-off date for booking with the special participating fine artist rate was March 17, 2024.
While staying at the Carte Hotel, be sure to stop in to Carruth Cellars Urban Winery, located inside the hotel. Carruth Cellars sources high quality fruit from Sonoma to make award winning wines in San Diego and is not to be missed.
Display Options
Artists must display with their own tent and supply all their hanging and display materials. Rental tents are available for purchase through Zapp. Artists use a variety of materials to hang their artwork from the poles in their tents; zip ties, ropes, thin chains, wires, s-hooks, bungee cords and more. The rental tent poles are 2″ in diameter, and can withstand approximately 75 pounds of weight hanging from them. The rental tents are 10′ above the ground.
Artists can also hang their artwork on fabric covered panels (using velcro or thin hooks), pegboard, wire shelving, grid racks, lattice, easels, painted fencing, professional display racks, etc. They attach their artwork with hooks, clips and velcro.
We recommend Pro Panels which provide the easiest possible installation and in our opinion, the most professional look for your display. Flourish Panels and grid-walls are also popular professional display options.
There is no lighting or electricity in the tents as the festival takes place in the bright, long days of April.
Artist Testimonials
“Thank you and your team for a fantastic ArtWalk. All was great from the entertainment, ads, security, volunteers, fellow artists, food, and my location. I can only imagine how much work it was to pull it off. Great job!”
Dan Crotta
“I was also thrilled with the amount of body traffic that went by my booth and the number of people who stopped to look and buy my art. It was fantastic! You have a returning artist for next year, and I’m really looking forward to it!”
Debby Fleming
“I just wanted to drop you a line to say thanks for a great event last weekend!! I think this was my 4th ArtWalk and it was the best one yet in both sales and fun. I offered to continue my “ArtWalk special pricing” for a limited time following the event and am still getting custom orders from folks who signed up on my email list.
I really appreciate all of the effort that goes in to making this a good experience for artists & attendees alike. The detailed advance communications from Sean, the professionalism of the marketing team promoting the lead up to the event and the assistance from staff & volunteers on site were all awesome.”
Katy Helen Stockinger
“I just wanted you to know how much I loved the ArtWalk experience and found it to be beautifully orchestrated and organized. The volunteers and everyone were just incredible and thoughtful. The Art Walk was a success for me and I sold 6 paintings and 6 or 7 prints. Talked to hundreds of people and passed out a crazy amount of business cards. So, who knows what else may come from it. Crazy, fun, educational and exhausting weekend and well worth it.”
Bruce Swart
“Well, you did it again — a fabulous show helped along by the incredible work you, the staff and the volunteers did putting this shin-dig together. I have to thank you for the great, and I mean great, booth location. I will go online and get my application in for next year in hopes of saving that same spot. Thanking you all so very much for including me in the show. Did I mention how great the booth location was?!”
Cindy Teyro