On May 10th I returned to the Lawrenceville Arts Center for East by South East Festival of the Arts. This three day event was a celebration of Asian American artists with Saturday focused on filmmakers. And well, I won’t sugar coat it, ExSE was my first market flop of 2025.
Our hosts, East by South East, were all very kind and excited to have us vendors there! I really can’t fault them for anything, except that maybe their event didn’t have the attendance necessary to support the amount of vendors. I’d estimate that Saturday’s attendance didn’t break 100. My sister, who’d applied for ExSE Fest’s Sunday slot, said in an email to Sunday vendors our staff claimed to sell about 40 tickets. And 40 would be about what I’d guess we saw on Saturday as well. With 10 total vendors that’d be a ratio of 4 attendees per vendor… Which, funny enough is about the total amount of sales I made! I was just able to cover table costs thirty minutes before closing, and did get a free tank top from the Asians Advancing Justice table.
East by South East was a new event for me so I didn’t go in with any expectations. I’d first heard of it from my sister who was approached at the Spring Chinatown Market by ExSE Fest staff. Apparently, most of the vendors were reached out to this way. Which meant plenty of networking opportunities with fellow local Asian American artists during our down time! From chatting it seemed we were all having a slow night, but I think most of us also came in not knowing what to expect. Later on, we learned from staff that this was the second time they’ve hosted the festival since 2018! And while they’d love to host ExSE Fest more regularly, the next would would probably be in 2-3 years. So that could explain why the number of vendors may have been ambitious.
This was also my first time vending at what was essentially a small film festival. The main events of Saturday included an artists panel and a few film showings within one theater. So I did wonder, what would happen to the crowd when the films were playing? They’d all go into the theater of course! This created a very stop-and-go style of traffic where they’d disappear for about an hour and then for 10 minutes people would empty back into the lobby before disappearing to their seats again. Since they were the same group of people through out the evening, this meant each subsequent time they were less likely to browse and shop. By the final film’s credits the crowd was ready to go home with about an hour still scheduled until the event officially ended. So us vendors were allowed to pack up early, and even invited to take home some of the leftovers from our food vendor.
All-in-all, ExSE Festival was a small event and I’d only recommend it to Asian American vendors with more fine art or bougie merchandise that matches the higher art film vibe. I did get a lot of complements but felt that my more pop art aesthetic was out of place. I’m still glad I went because it was a good learning experience, and there is always inherent risk with going to new events.
It’s unclear when the next ExSE Festival would be, but I believe the same group may also be related to the Asian Night Markets that happen monthly at Pullman Yards? At the very least, it’s linked on their link tree. I’ve been keeping an eye on the Night Market, haven’t applied yet since the table fee is a little high past my comfort. However, from what I can tell ANM is fairly popular with consistent attendance, so maybe I’ll have to take that chance some day.
Perhaps I’ll have more to say if I attend another one of their events! Stay tuned~!
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