Art Fair Guide
All plans
A fair is really several events wearing one name: the VIP preview, the public days, the talks, the satellite events around them. ARTSVP runs the public, VIP, exhibitor, and front-of-house sides of all of it in one system — and the structure you choose before building anything decides how smoothly fair week goes. Events, tickets, booking links, and check-in work on every plan; collections, portals, custom fields, and automations are Expert features.
Pick the structure first
| Fair format | Recommended setup |
|---|---|
| One opening period | One Single Slot event with ticket types for each access tier. |
| Several public days | One Daily Slots event when capacity and tickets work the same each day. |
| Different programmes or rules per day | Separate events, grouped in a collection Expert. |
| Timed entry | One Custom Slots event with capacity per slot. |
| Multi-day access | A Multiple Entry ticket, so the same ticket can be scanned again. |
| Exhibitor guest allocations | A portal group Expert with one portal per exhibitor. |
The trade is a real one. Separate events give you independent capacity, settings, emails, and guest lists; a single multi-day event gives guests one booking flow and your team one event to operate. Choose based on which boundary matters more.
A practical build order
- Create the public days, VIP previews, and associated events.
- Set dates, slot capacity, ticket types, and entry rules.
- Group separate events in a collection when guests need one programme page. A collection groups events without sharing their capacity or tickets — each event is still edited on its own.
- Create invitation and booking-link routes for each audience.
- Add exhibitor portals and allocations once the event structure is stable. Activating a portal uses 150 credits, so build and review the portal list before sending claim links.
- Test a booking and a scan before publishing links widely.
Tip: Name tickets for what front-of-house staff need to recognise — “VIP Preview”, “Weekend Pass” — rather than internal campaign names.
Keep reading: VIP previews and public days · Tickets, passes, and access · Exhibitors and allocations · Running your fair