Rene Trim's Arts & Crafts: Wanted: Artisans!

Melting snow and milder temperatures are not the only signs that spring is on its way; there is a lot of activity in the arts and crafts world as well. The earliest of the spring shows have already come and gone and there are a lot more planned for the coming months, which means that event organizers are looking for artists, artisans and crafters to fill their venues. Here’s a small selection of events that are currently looking for vendors, as well as the links to their online application forms or email addresses:

 * 
Capital Pop-Up!  (April 18 - 10 am to 3 pm - Bronson Centre). Email:
[
 capitalpopup@gmail.com
](mailto:capitalpopup@gmail.com)
(hurry! deadline is March 15)

 * 
Hintonburg Fabric Flea Market (May 2 - 10 am to 3 pm - Hintonburg Community Centre). Sell your fabric, books and everything else sewing-related! Email:
[
 fabricfleamarket@hotmail.com
](mailto:fabricfleamarket@hotmail.com)

 * 
[
 Home Heart and Handmade
](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pk00T2c6DeX8m5zupHRp0QIwYd9VKn_zwUpsqpfaMow/viewform)
(June 13 - 10 am to 4 pm - Carleton U. Field House).

 * 
[
 ManMade by Handmade Harvest
](http://handmadeharvest.com/manmade/)
(June 14 - 10 am to 3 pm - Mill Street Brewpub). Male vendors only at this first ManMade event by Handmade Harvest!

Someone else who would love to hear from artisans (as well artists, musicians, designers, chefs and other creative local folk) is host/producer Derick Fage of Rogers Channel 22’s lifestyle show “Daytime”. Airing live every  weekday, the show covers a wide range of community-related topics such as food, cooking, home, decorating, shopping, fashion, entertainment, health & fitness….and arts and crafts! Aside from living his passion of live theatre, Ottawa native Derick has been hosting “Daytime” since 2004, tacking on the role of producer in 2014. Yours truly had the privilege of appearing on Daytime - and thus meeting Derick - for the first time back in 2005 when I was invited to the studio to have a chat about lawn care (gardening is still a passion!). A first-timer on TV - and English not being my first language - it will come as no surprise that when I took my seat in the “green room”, I was shaking like a leaf, barely capable of stringing two sentences together.

Enter Derick, self-proclaimed child at heart and curious about everything his guests bring to the show. I am still not exactly sure how he did it but during the 5-minute “meet & greet” he patiently explained what I could expect and cracked me up a couple of times, thus putting me completely at ease. In fact, two weeks later I felt comfortable enough to go back to the Rogers studio for an hour-long live taping of “Talk Ottawa” - as the only guest!

In recent years, I have returned to “Daytime” several times - together with some of the OVCC Guild members - as part of our promotional campaign for upcoming events, and the experience has always been a fun and pleasant one. I hope the following shameless plug slips by OttawaStart’s editors unnoticed but mark your calendars, folks: our next appearance on “Daytime” will be on April 16, as we are gearing up for “Vibrant!”, our  April 25/26 event.

“Daytime” is all about local and Derick thrives on conveying what’s happening in Ottawa to viewers in a fun and informative manner. If you are an artisan (or artist, musician, designer, chef or any other kind of creative folk), Derick would love to have you as his guest on the show. Local TV is one of the best ways to promote yourself and your work to an audience close to home so take him up on his offer and get in touch. It works for us and I promise you it will work for you too!

You can reach Derick via Daytime’s webpage .

Well, I am supposed to keep this column within 300 to 400 words but as I am already well over 600 (and consequently, will receive a slap on the wrist from the big shots at OttawaStart), I might as well go to town by adding one last “goodie”. Here is the link to a list of 300+ “awesome free things” for starters and slightly more established web entrepreneurs: anything from free website templates to free design resources, free stock photography and much more .

There, that should keep you busy until my next column; until then, have a creative week, folks!