SANTA FE, N.M., July 18, 2023 (Newswire.com)
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The International Folk Art Market (IFAM) welcomed 168 artists from 52 countries, including 39 first-time participants and the first-ever Native Hawaiian to be represented. With roughly 18,000 guests in attendance, the four-day event generated an estimated $3.37 million in art sales – setting a new all-time sales record. Average artist sales totaled approximately $21,339 per booth, breaking another organizational record. A total of 29,989 pieces of art were sold. Approximately 80% of guests were first-time attendees. 

For the first time in the organization’s 19-year history, the International Folk Art Market was held in Railyard Park – a location that is undeniably central to so much of downtown Santa Fe. As an organization prioritizing accessibility and sustainability, IFAM was proud to hear about the many ways guests traveled to Market “lightly,” utilizing public transportation, the Rail Runner, the Santa Fe Rail-Trail, and public walkways. The feedback on the Market’s new location continues to be overwhelmingly positive from artists, guests, and volunteers, all underscoring the spaciousness and ease of mobility. Utilizing their new location, this year’s Market offered partnered special events including a Haunted Yōkai Train Ride with Sky Railway, performances from SUPER VERZA, Grupo Fantasma, and Vivalda Ndula at the Railyard Water Tower, and a special Night Market after-party at Optunia Cafe. Beginning Thursday, July 6, and running through Sunday, July 9, the Market schedule included over 20 performances and artist demonstrations, and six lectures as part of the IFAM Lecture Series: Identity is Handmade. 

International Folk Art Market CEO, Melissa Mann, after an incredibly successful 2023 market with record sales numbers, has decided to move on from the organization. Melissa has been instrumental in leading the International Folk Art Market through COVID and the market’s move from Museum Hill to its new location at the Santa Fe Railyard Park. The IFAM board thanks Melissa for her years of dedication to the organization and wishes her the very best in her next endeavor. Joni Parman is now interim CEO and the board of directors will conduct an executive search in the next few months. 

Initially founded in 2004, the International Folk Art Market is gearing up for their 20th anniversary next year. IFAM will celebrate the handmade, perseverance of cultural heritage, and the organization’s longevity, July 11-14, 2024.

About:
The International Folk Art Market Santa Fe is a 501(c)(3) with the mission to create economic opportunities for and with folk artists worldwide who celebrate and preserve folk art traditions. The International Folk Art Market envisions a world that values the dignity and humanity of the handmade, honors timeless cultural traditions, and supports the work of folk artists serving as entrepreneurs and catalysts for positive social change.

Source: International Folk Art Market

Whether atop a 40-foot lift truck in the center of Paris, in a small house on a far-flung island, or perched beside a Serengeti watering hole, photographer Stephen Wilkes certainly has patience on his side. Sitting in one spot for hours on end, he sets up his camera to capture a single scene over the course of a full day or more, tracking the dramatic movement of weather and the sun over expansive landscapes. Day to Night, a new book published by Taschen, highlights 60 of the artist’s most compelling images, from U.S. National Parks to iconic international landmarks to remote wilderness brimming with wildlife.

Wilkes carefully selects his location and takes more than 1,500 exposures from a fixed angle to follow the gradual changes in light and the bustling activity of humans and animals. To get the scene of visitors at the Grand Canyon just right, for example, he slept in a watchtower during a 36-hour shoot. “There was, of course, no artificial light, so I had to wait for the moon to light the canyon. I had only one hour of exposure to get this right,” he says. When he returns to the studio, he painstakingly filters all of the images into a single composition, producing pieces akin to distilled timelapses.

Day to Night will be released next month and features panoramas taken between 2009 and 2022, many with hidden stories that Wilkes describes throughout. You can pre-order a copy on Bookshop, and see more of his work on his website.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article From Dawn to Dusk and Back Again, Stephen Wilkes Pursues Natural Drama in Remarkably Detailed Panoramas appeared first on Colossal.

Prominent life and health insurance agency embarks on a new chapter of growth by utilizing Integrity’s vast insurtech resources to provide the highest quality service to their clients

DALLAS, July 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Integrity Marketing Group, LLC (“Integrity”), a leading distributor of life and health insurance, and provider of wealth management and retirement planning solutions, today announced it has partnered with River City Senior Benefits, a leading independent marketing organization (“IMO”) headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and led by Philip Edwards, President. Financial details of the partnership were not disclosed.

After years spent working as an agent and gaining insurance experience and expertise, Edwards launched River City Senior Benefits in 2000. The agency helps seniors across the Southeast navigate the complexities of Medicare to find the right Medicare Advantage and supplemental plans for their needs. River City Senior Benefits has sustained remarkable annual growth by maintaining its commitment to improving the lives of every client served. The company also provides life insurance and annuity products to its network of agents.

“Much like Integrity, we’ve always set ourselves apart by our focus on ethics and customer service,” said Philip Edwards, President of River City Senior Benefits. “The sincere and honest service we provide aligns perfectly with Integrity’s core values and will continue to define us as an Integrity partner. Integrity has invested in building the most state-of-the-art technology on the market for agents. The support infrastructure and training resources will help us become more efficient when serving our clients, as well as create opportunities for expansion. In addition, I’m excited to collaborate with other industry leaders and implement the growth strategies they’ve experienced success with. We can all learn from and help each other and in turn, serve more Americans together. We feel confident this partnership will help us provide the best products for our clients and the strongest future for our agents.”

“Philip has been a leader in this industry for decades — he leads by example with a deep commitment to advocating for the clients he serves,” explained Bryan W. Adams, Co-Founder and CEO of Integrity. “We are thrilled to add not only an outstanding company, but also Philip’s talented team of agents, who are equally committed to their clients and community. By partnering with Integrity, River City Senior Benefits gains access to a wealth of products, technology and support systems that will help them make even greater strides in the industry. The River City Senior Benefits team can leverage the full power of Integrity’s exclusive partner resources to enhance their service and continue to fulfill their goals. Together, we will deliver on our commitment to help more Americans prepare for the good days ahead.”

Integrity’s full-stack insurtech platform creates efficiencies for agents, which opens pivotal opportunities for production increases. The proprietary platform includes solutions such as instantaneous online quoting and enrollment, meaningful data and analytics, customer relationship management software and ongoing product development. River City Senior Benefits’ corporate infrastructure can be streamlined through Integrity’s centralized support systems, reducing valuable administrative time.

Also available exclusively to Integrity partners is the opportunity to collaborate with other industry leaders and legends through Integrity’s rapidly-growing partner network. This team is continuously collaborating to craft more holistic solutions to protect the life, health and wealth of American families. Their advancements in financial and insurance processes are defining best practices and creating more holistic solutions that enable Americans to plan for the good days ahead.

For more information about River City Senior Benefits’ decision to become an Integrity partner, view a video at www.integritymarketing.com/RiverCity.

About Integrity

Integrity, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, is a leading distributor of life and health insurance, and provider of innovative solutions for wealth management and retirement planning. Through its partner network of over 500,000 agents and advisors, Integrity helps millions of Americans protect their life, health and wealth with a commitment to meet them wherever they are — in person, over the phone and online. Integrity’s cutting-edge technology helps streamline the insurance and financial planning experience for all stakeholders. In addition, Integrity develops products with carrier partners and markets them through its nationwide distribution network. In 2022, Integrity helped carriers place over $22 billion in new sales and oversaw more than $40 billion of assets under management and advisement through its RIA and broker-dealer platforms. For more information, visit www.integritymarketing.com.

About River City Senior Benefits

River City Senior Benefits is an independent insurance agency focused on the senior market and headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The company is known for providing sincere and honest service to seniors. It offers customized solutions built around Medicare Advantage and Medicare supplement plans, final expense and annuity products. Since its founding in 2000, River City Senior Benefits has earned the trust of families throughout the Southeast, serving the states of Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. For more information, visit www.seniorbenefitsolutionsinc.com.

SOURCE Integrity Marketing Group, LLC

Women and Minority-Led Business Grew Tenfold in the Last Three Years

NEW YORK, July 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Stagwell (NASDAQ: STGW), the challenger network built to transform marketing, has acquired Tinsel Experiential Design (Tinsel), a marketing and design studio focused on immersive customer experiences and experiential engagement. Tinsel joins Stagwell’s Constellation Network of agencies, complementing TEAM Enterprises with creative resources and integrated production capabilities to take on larger-scope projects.

“One of the main reasons we looked at Tinsel to begin with was the culture of humanity, collaboration, and creativity that shapes and guides the organization on a daily basis, making space for big ideas that have earned the agency a reputation for cutting-edge, avant garde design and creative concepts,” said Justin Lewis, chair, Constellation Network. “This approach combined with their expertise in the physical part of brand building were the perfect blend for Constellation and the Stagwell network.”

Tinsel, whose clients include Sony Music Entertainment, GitHub, Pfizer, and Uber, also brings environmental design, 3D renderings, and conference and corporate events experience, with special expertise in the B2B technology space.

“As the champions of experiential marketing within Stagwell, it’s exciting to see Tinsel join the mix. The story of the three female founders – a unique blend of backgrounds, pure tenacity, and a touch of grace – is inspiring,” said Dan Gregory, CEO, TEAM Enterprises. “Tinsel’s distinct style and knack for creative problem-solving, especially in the B2B space, has us amped for the network. With Tinsel, Stagwell is all-in on expanding experiential offerings to clients.”

“This milestone is a testament to the team’s consistent high caliber of work, and we’re excited to expand our service offerings even further, being able to continue delivering for our current client base and opening up more integrated marketing opportunities,” said Adette C. Contreras, co-founder and CEO, Tinsel. “Having started at big agencies, this is a full-circle moment. We’re grateful to find ourselves among a network of disruptors that share our entrepreneurial spirit and core values.”

Stagwell has made thoughtful investments in response to the resurgence of experiential and immersive experiences, such as the development and growth of ARound, its shared augmented reality platform for large-scale venues, and Sport Beach, the first-ever hub at Cannes Lions dedicated to the cultural power of sport.

Tinsel will retain its brand, and its founders – Adette C. Contreras, Liz Castelli, and Erica Taylor Haskins – will remain in leadership roles. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

About Tinsel
Tinsel started in 2011 in Brooklyn, founded by Partners Liz Castelli, Adette C. Contreras, and Erica Taylor Haskins. Since then, it’s grown to a multimillion-dollar company. With avant-garde aesthetics and the unmistakable personal touch of a boutique shop, Tinsel has established itself as an authority in a new breed of experiential design agency. 

The Tinsel co-founders have participated in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program, Harvard’s Leading High Growth Businesses, Berkeley Haas EMBA Program, The Women Presidents’ Organization, and The Jackie Robinson Foundation. They have been honored as BizBash Top Event Professionals in the U.S. and as one of Harper’s Bazaar Top Event Designers in the world.  

About Constellation Network
Constellation is a formation of best-in-class agencies within Stagwell (NASDAQ: STGW) across marketing services from data, insights, creativity, technology, and experiential that deploys itself to seize clients’ biggest opportunities and solve their toughest business problems at scale. The collective includes: 72andSunny, Brand Citizens, The Harris Poll, Hecho Studios, Instrument, Redscout and TEAM Enterprises.

About Stagwell Inc.
Stagwell (NASDAQ: STGW) is the challenger network built to transform marketing. We deliver scaled creative performance for the world’s most ambitious brands, connecting culture-moving creativity with leading-edge technology to harmonize the art and science of marketing. Led by entrepreneurs, our 13,000+ specialists in 34+ countries are unified under a single purpose: to drive effectiveness and improve business results for their clients. Join us at www.stagwellglobal.com.

Media Contact
Sarah Arvizo
[email protected]

SOURCE Stagwell Inc.

WELLSVILLE — A kaleidoscope of colorful hot air balloons floating in a summer sky over green fields, azure rivers, forests, and past barns is a natural subject for artistic impression whether through the lens of a camera or eye of the painter.

In the early years of the Great Wellsville Balloon Rally, local artist A. Thomas O’Grady, who already had an international reputation for his Americana artworks, was tapped to produce a poster to attract people to the Rally. His first posters were mostly informative, but before long O’Grady couldn’t resist his natural style and began creating posters that doubled as works of art.

To this day many of his posters decorate the walls of Wellsville businesses and homes and beyond.

O’Grady started the tradition of featuring the Balloonmeister’s balloon in his depictions as well as local points of interest, such as the Pink House, depot, library, well-known barns, local wildlife and more. After creating more than three dozen Rally artworks, O’Grady retired.

After that, the rally committee held a series of contests for several years, to attract another artist who could uphold the O’Grady style and popularity. Finally in 2016 an artist came forward — local woman Tracy Hetzel.

Hetzel is a 1987 graduate of Wellsville High. She readily admits that O’Grady was one of her greatest art influencers as she grew up in Wellsville and appreciated the artworks he created for the Rally.

She attended art school at Alfred University before receiving her bachelor’s degree in art history from the University at Buffalo.

She is a well-known illustrator. Her watercolors consist mostly of fashion illustrations and portraits. Her illustrations have been featured in monthly publications; the New York Coffee Festival, Paris Fashion Week, the United Nations, Times Square, and for America’s Promise, Colon and Alma Powell Foundation.

She has written and illustrated a children’s book about her hometown called W(Ella’s)ville. She also makes and sells hand-bound journals and is the Creative Director at Graphic Essentials, a marketing and design firm in Baltimore, Maryland. Links are available on her blog: LongBlueStraw.com.

Tracy currently lives in Baltimore with her husband and their two children. Her parents, Barb and Rich Hetzel still reside in Wellsville. Tracy visits her beloved hometown as often as she can.

In 2017, Hetzel became the official Great Wellsvillle Balloon Rally artist. Following in O’Grady’s footsteps she has created posters for the Rally that depict local points of interest, most often focusing on Main Street landscapes. Her first poster for the Rally was a depiction of the Pink House. Her most recent creation features the entire village.

Hetzel’s posters are available in two sizes, wherever Rally merchandise is sold locally.

Bulbous, biomorphic sculptures in lavender, tangerine, and blush pink rove throughout the airy Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin. The largest solo exhibition to date of Barcelona-born artist Eva Fàbregas, Devouring Lovers brings massive, bulging works to the industrial hall, juxtaposing the cold iron structures with soft, pudgy forms. Inviting in color and grotesque in shape, the organic, monstrous sculptures appear alive, as if they could grow and swallow up the remaining space, viewers and all.

In a recent interview, Fàbregas shares that the interactions between space and the body continually inform her thinking and how she conceptualizes a piece. “It’s about the architecture. It’s about those masses that you put inside the architecture. It’s about the humans moving around the architecture,” she says. “For me, my sculptures are not just themselves, it’s all the things that happen in the same space that affect that installation.”

Devouring Lovers is on view through January 14, 2024. You can find more from Fàbregas on Instagram.

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Hermès, which famously claims it doesn’t do marketing, is conducting a masterclass in understated luxury brand building in Los Angeles this week. Presenting a theatrical production as “a poetic and cinematic performance”, the Parisian luxury giant is applying the same rules to this artistic event that it does to its products — beauty and whimsy backed up by a healthy dose of scarcity.

There were no billboards lining LA streets of the sort that Celine used to promote its rock-n-roll show at the Wiltern Theatre last December. Yet, On the Wings of Hermès — an hour-long theatrical production by the Belgian film director Jaco Van Dormael and his partner, the choreographer Michèle Anne de Mey — appeared to be fully booked before the first showing.

The first sign that this is no typical theatrical performance is the price, which is measured in access, not cash. The roughly 5,000 tickets are free of charge, but can only be obtained by invitation, or by those who knew to go to Hermès.com/Wings. General admission guests were mainly clients who learned about it from the stores they frequent in Los Angeles, or others who learned by word of mouth, the company says.

Hermès is all about the discretely unavailable. The Parisian luxury giant, which reported €11.6 billion in 2022 revenues, up 29 per cent over 2021, keeps consumers hungry by never fully sating their desires. It claims, for instance, that it is unable to increase production of its famous Birkin bags, possibly the most coveted products in its vast lines (and likely to become even more so following the death of the actress that inspired them, Jane Birkin).

Its strategy to sell Birkins famously hangs on a manner of pricing that far exceeds the amount printed on the price tag. Though Hermès routinely denies this is a strategy, its customers are keenly aware that obtaining a rare Birkin often requires that they make a multitude of prior purchases of silk scarves, enamel bangles and other Hermès products.