Hi,
Until Sunday morning, I was the banjo player/ singer at the
First Sunday Art Walk. I’ve been coming every month for the last couple of
years. I was classified as a non-profit vendor and was brought in by your
previous market director. I thought it was fun. I enjoyed talking to the
customers and playing for the kids when the parents would stop to listen. The
tips were all right. On the average, about 50 of your customers thought enough
of my performance to provide tips per each Sunday. A lot of the time it was
more.
Since the beginning of the year my scheduled performance
sites have become problematic. I was supposed to move to a different location
after the first two hours. At the first location, another non-profit vendor
near me was very aggressive in soliciting funds and made it impossible to get
tips. I addressed this with Allison and I moved up across Ola Visa to perform
near the intersection. The second site where I was supposed to perform never
really existed, so I had to make do with what space I could find.
There began to be a problem with one vendor wanting me not
to be near them, so I complied. A couple of times I had to return back down to
the corner at Ola Visa and Del Mar because I couldn’t find another location. I
asked Allison to just give me the spot on that corner permanently, which she
would not do. She rented it to a commercial vendor instead. With the reopening of
the shop on that corner, I was forced to move up the sidewalk so as to not
block the doorway to the new shop. Immediately, the vendor that took my spot
complained to Allison and I was asked to move. Allison wasn’t sure where I was
supposed to move to. I was told I was not a paying Vendor so I was expected to
make do.
Over the last year, my endeavors in performing have been
gaining some success. I’ve performed at The San Diego County Fair and The Iris
Festival in Porterville and The Malibu Art Festival to name a few. My YouTube
Channel has topped 12,000 views and I have a new CD in the works. I am
professionally hired and make standard performance fees a lot of the time now.
To drive an hour and a half to your venue for no money other
than tips and to have no reasonable place to set up my chair, has turned this
into a very negative thing. At one point, Allison was even questioning my
playlist, even though she has never been around to notice what I play for four
hours. I have watched as she has spoken badly of a couple of the paying vendors
which I considered my friends to other Vendors. I wouldn’t be surprised if she speaks badly of
me as well. She appears to be incapable of planning my performance space ahead
of time or correcting my contact information in her mailing list.
Given the circumstances, I’m requesting a refund of the
$50.00 I was asked to pay last year for membership in your organization. I’ve
received little benefit. I don’t really expect your organization to refund me,
but I will include my address here. I
probably would have continued to come, but it has really become a very unpleasant
thing.
Dan McNay
7750 Isis Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90045
310-337-7229
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