Discover Gather Give Contemporary Arts Fair

Open to the public Nov 15th to 16th 2025 at Stratford-upon-Avon Town Hall CV37 6EF

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Tag Archive: #Cafdgg

1. #Cafdgg applications open January 1st 2023

   December 23, 2022 12:21 pm Leave a Comment

   After the busy month of November where I curate and run our Arts Fair Discover:Gather:Give, I need a month to reflect, clam down and review how the event went for me, the artists and the supporters.

   All our artists are asked to review the arts fair as to how it was for them and what I can do better to make the event as stressless as possible for both artists and visitors alike. Most artisits reply and their responses are vital as I cannot experience the event as they do and also how they viewed the organisation and social media support.

   All of the responses give me ideas and I am thankful for them. This year’s issue is so simple but I have never thought about it before – sending a receipt for payment for the exhibition space as soon as exhibitors pay, so simple, tax changing!

   So a big thank you to each exhibitor who has replied, all data is gratefully recieved!

   The applications are open from 1st January to 1st March closing at noon.

   Please email me at Judith@discovergathergive.co.uk for more information about exhibiting with us at our fab arts event.

    

2. Thank you one and all of another fantastic #Cafdgg 2022

   November 28, 2022 10:41 pm Leave a Comment

   Every year in the lead up to #Cafdgg I worry about how I can make it the best for our wonderful exhibitors and visitors, and this year was no exception.

   The visitors came in their droves, the artworks left the building with happy buyers and I felt I chatted all weekend with brand new visitors from afar, welcoming back locals, our glorious stalwarts plus inquisitive new visitors wanting to see what it was all about from our social media posts and local radio interviews.

   There was a gentle hum throughout the weekend as visitors met exhibitors talking about how their work was developing, taking commissions in time for Christmas, how they made their art work and sliding pieces of work away after a knowing present buying secretive nod.

   I was pleased to read in the exhibitor reviews about the number of visitors who took up places at workshops being held in 2023 as presents for themselves or others.

   The Golden Cup Cafe and the exhibition of Temple Goodies was busy all weekend, with some visitors not quite believing in the golden tea sets and teapots until they walked into the Ballroom ante-room upstairs and were hit by the glimmering display. I cannot begin to tell you how many visitors comment that the tea and coffee tastes better out of china cups and I felt more photos were taken of the cafe than last year!

   In the exhibitor reviews after #Cafdgg it came up about the warm and friendly atmosphere of the event and how enjoyable was to meet other exhibitors, both new and returning artists. For me this was the most important report as I feel it is my job to make the experience of exhibitors as stress free as possible, so they can concentrate on sharing their work, networking and hopefully making new artistic friends.

   The Private View was a hoot, and I especially enjoyed seeing the exhibitors chatting together before we opened the event to our invited guests. We were so busy the bar ran out of glasses so had to do a major washing halfway through the evening. I felt it set us all up for a relaxed weekend.

   I cannot put on this event without the unfailing help of my family, friends and helpers – thank you once again and are you ready for next year?

3. Contemporary Arts Fair Discover:Gather:Give #Cafdgg 2021

   November 20, 2021 10:25 am Leave a Comment

   After our contemporary arts event Discover Gather Give I put aside a few weeks for reflections, review and assessment, listening to the comments made by visitors, artists and volunteers and how I felt the event went.

   It was the first actual live event after my husband had died last year during the Covid lockdown and he was an incredible support both mentally and physically in putting the event together. I really was not sure how I was going to feel about doing the event without him, however I cannot shout loudly enough my thanks for the support both expected and unexpected from family, friends and our marvellous exhibitors; I am truly grateful and touched by your kindness.

   It was a grand weekend, with our exhibitors really pulling out all the stops to make the event visually sumptuous, elegant and a joy for visitors to buy at every exhibition space.

   The Private View had a solid number of visitors enjoying the WILD EVE  https://www.wild-eve.com/drink-the-wild  long drink with the best sourdough bakery in the area making our delicious food https://www.morbakery.co.uk  and even though it was Bonfire Night near two hundred people joined us over our very jolly evening with a number of sales taking place.

   Over the weekend there was a constant flow of visitors milling around. I was at the door hand sanitising visitors as they entered and chatted to many as they left the beautiful town hall with bags and packages of all sizes commenting ‘I’m so glad you are back’, ‘I’ve been waiting to buy from Claire Henley’ and ‘We love coming to see the artists as they are a really good standard of work’, ‘It is great to see so many quality artists together’, plus many more positive comments and welcome back’s!

   I realised that our visitors had really missed our high quality live event as there is nothing like talking to an artist who shares their enthusiasm and passion for their artwork, to talk through commissioning a piece of work from them or buying a card to remind themselves about the artist – thank you for your support of our event and especially of our inspiring artists.

    

   I will be putting on our next #Cafdgg over the weekend of November 18th to 20th 2022 at the Town Hall, so do pop it in your diary now

    

    

4. #Cafdgg On Line!

   September 16, 2020 11:49 am Leave a Comment

   Over the last few weeks I have been thinking about #Cafdgg 2020 in relation to COVID and how much enjoyment the Arts Fair gave to both the artists and our visitors, and I realised that I couldn’t just pass it off for a whole year, so I have gone on line with our Arts Fair -whop whop!

   During the weekend of October 31st to 2nd November I will be putting on a virtual Arts Fair Gallery for you to explore alongside videos made by the artists.

   I’ll keep you posted as it all comes together….