Working with artists is a little bit like herding cats.
Or so said Wendy Rosen of her job as chief executive officer and founder of The Rosen Group, a national organization that offers a range of services and resources for craftsmen, artists, retailers and consumers in the art industry.
“You have to have a sensitivity to people who have creative minds because you are dealing with a whole lot of right-brain people,” she said. “These are independent business people that are entrepreneurial in their nature.”
The Baltimore-based company works to meet the needs of more than 2,000 exhibiting artists, 5,000 galleries and shops, and 25,000 readers of their two magazines. They provide seminars for craftspeople and also lobby in Congress on the art industry?s behalf.
Rosen?s company also puts on the semiannual Buyers Market of American Craft trade show in Philadelphia, meant to bring craft artists together with buyers.
Hilary Hachey, a Baltimore jeweler, bought booth space at the show for the last few years and has learned many lessons along the way.
“At the beginning, I tried to make things that I thought people wanted to buy, but they want to buy what is unique to me,” said Hachey. “That is what people who are going to buy this sort of merchandise are looking for.”
“The Rosen Group helps artists market their work which helps us as buyers tremendously,” said Carol Breining, owner of Mud and Metal Gallery. “I find a lot of work [at the Buyers Market] from young artists and I value that show a lot.”
When Rosen first founded the company in 1981, she explained to people that she did “art economic development.”
“Art is just another word for small business and job creation,” Rosen said. “With small businesses, we are talking about long-term investment into the community.”
The Rosen Group does roughly $6 million in business per year and has 35 full-time staff members and is hoping to hire more. The Buyers Market in February of this year will mark the company?s 25th anniversary.
Rosen is both a cat-herder and a cat herself.
She is the daughter of artistic parents and she claims to have tried her hand at a number of different crafts, including furniture-making, which she says “is like putting together a puzzle.”
Contact the firm
The Rosen Group
3000 Chestnut Ave. No. 300
Baltimore
Phone: 410-889-2933
Web site: www.americancraft.com
