How Peninsula School of Art increased festival sales with an online gallery

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The Problem

The annual Door County Plein Air Festival (hosted by the Peninsula School of Art) shows nearly 400 artworks from 40+ artists in under a week. The team needed a faster, more engaging way to:

• Collect and display artwork details and images
  
• Create a virtual gallery that updates in real time
  
• Allow patrons to browse and purchase pieces online
  
• Eliminate manual data entry and back-and-forth between tools
  

Their old process relied on paper forms and manual uploads, with no real system to showcase or sell the artwork online.

The Solution

Catherine Hoke, the Peninsula School of Art's Executive Director, used Airtable to collect artwork submissions, then used Softr to build a branded virtual gallery on top of that data in days — no developers needed.

With Softr, the team:

• Collected artwork submissions via Airtable forms
  
• Automatically displayed new artworks in a real-time gallery
  
• Customized an Softr template to match the festival’s brand
  
• Linked the app to a subdomain and launched ahead of the event
  

Artists could see their work live almost instantly, and visitors could browse, filter, and purchase directly from the site.

The Impact

In its first year using Softr, Door County Plein Air Festival saw immediate results:

• 15% increase in art sales
  
• Higher event engagement, especially from remote patrons
  
• Artists praised the submission process for its ease and transparency
  
• Staff saved hours of manual work
  

Encouraged by the success, the organization is now exploring how to use Softr for other art events throughout the year.