Website Design & Development
Content Strategy
E-Commerce Design

We helped Artisphere generate more than $50,000 in contributions by building the platform for their first ever virtual festival.

Artisphere 2020

”When we decided to host a Virtual Experience in October of 2020, Engenius was with us every step of the way. In the midst of a tough year for our festival artists, they helped us provide an aesthetic and engaging platform for artists to sell their work and to reach a broader audience. Engenius' organization, tenacity, and willingness to create a custom auction site pushed us all to learn new ways to move forward in an ever-present digital space.

At a Glance

  • Our work allowed Artisphere to hold their first-ever virtual festival when it mattered most—during a pandemic.
  • We built a state-of-the-art online marketplace that allowed 70+ artists to sell and auction their work online.
  • Artisphere was able to generate more than $50,000 in contributions as a result of the virtual festival.

Background

Artisphere, a nationally recognized Fine Arts festival in Greenville, SC, has been an Engenius client since 2014. Engenius designed the last two iterations of the main Artisphere website. Although the site’s design has evolved over the years, the organization’s goal has always been to effectively showcase the artists on display at the annual festival that has historically taken place each May.

When COVID forced Artisphere to cancel their 2020 in-person festival, Artisphere consulted Engenius to build an online platform that was more interactive than anything they’d ever tried before.

Objectives

Engenius was tasked with creating a platform that would essentially take the place of the 2020 in-person festival to provide artist relief, patron engagement, and sponsor recognition. The finished product needed to:

  • showcase participating artists and their work in an engaging, interactive way
  • allow artists to sell and/or auction off their work online
  • allow Artisphere to recognize and thank their sponsors

Solution

We created an online marketplace that allowed each participating artist to list up to 5 works of art. Each product (work of art) was uniquely priced by its creator. Artists were able to set their desired “buy it now” price and minimum bid threshold. Patrons could bid on art, purchase art, and donate to Artisphere directly from the bidding platform.

The marketplace featured more than 300 unique works of art from 70+ participating festival artists. During the virtual festival, there were 500 bidders in the auction and 75% of artists featured in the market sold their work, resulting in $50,000 in sales, stipends, and contributions for the weekend.

The virtual festival was not only a success for artists and patrons, but for sponsors. We helped provide a platform for supporters like TD Bank, Artisphere’s longtime presenting sponsor, to gain exposure online despite the cancellation of the in-person festival.

More Case StudiesView Website