Come to Tucson!

I was recently forwarded a PDF sent out by a retail company, Avila Retail, in Phoenix. The PDF is an invitation to Arizona artists to sign up for an appointment and meet with the retailer's representative in Phoenix. The idea here is that artists can show their work and, maybe, their work will be accepted into one of the retail stores in the Phoenix area.  

Here is my response to the retailer. I'll let you know if one of them will agree to come to Tucson.

Hello,
My name is C.J. Shane and I'm an artist (cjshane.com) and editor/publisher of an online arts journal in southern Arizona, Sonoran Arts Network (sonoranartsnetwork.net)

This email to you is in response to your email and pdf regarding your invitation to attend a vendor day in Phoenix which was kindly forwarded to me.

I'd like to recommend that an Avila Retail representative travel to Tucson and meet with Tucson artists. It would be easy to put out the word here, find a venue to hold a meeting and invite artists.

Tucson metro area is over 1 million, and we have an especially large population of very excellent artists and fine arts craftspeople here. If you require individual artists to go to Phoenix, you are immediately limiting the number of artists who can be considered - that, despite the fact that you claim to be "Local First Arizona," not Local First Phoenix.

Second, requiring multiple individual artists to drive two hours (in July!!) means way more CO2 dumped into the Arizona atmosphere, not to mention the safety hazard of  having all those extra cars and people on the highway. Doesn't it make more sense to you to send one person here to Tucson rather than require dozens of us to go to you?

I'll be happy to promote your event in Sonoran Arts Network if you hold it in Tucson. By the way, Tucson is now the only U.S. city designated by UNESCO as a world gastronomy center. What that means for your representative is that s/he can get a really great lunch here. 

Looking forward to hearing good news from you,

C.J. Shane