An open letter from Denver artists:

We want to make the public aware of an ongoing fraudulent scheme recently executed in Denver and has been repeated across the country. This scam had financial, mental and emotional damage caused to a group of artists, musicians, and music producers at the June 10th Denver Art Fusion Festival run by We + You.

Our intention with this campaign is with multiple intentions: to recoup our losses, to raise awareness that we may prevent this from happening to other artists in and outside of Colorado, and to stop this company actively defrauding independent [broke] artists.

TL/DR:

Scammers from Florida held an event that was never actually going to happen and we are out thousands. There are more people that will be victimized as they have more events planned in and outside of Colorado. We are raising funds and raising awareness because we big mad.

This is not a story of a failed event — this is a scam, one which they have done in other states and one they intend to keep doing.

The #facts:

Targeted artists paid $155 to be part of the show — strategically via Venmo, which kept artists from requesting refunds from their credit cards/banks (context - most shows in Denver are around $40-$50 to have a booth)
The organizers directly and via their eventbrite/social media pages, promised a blockbuster of a show produced by a team associated with Art Basel, arguably the biggest art show in the country
- Most artists purchased new or expanded displays and worked on new pieces in preparation, adding to injury and loss
Aggressive tactics were used with artists targeted on Instagram, sold the dream then told they had less than 24 hours to get the 'last spot' - as early as 3 months before the show, while others booked their spots the day before the show
We+You promised hundreds would be in attendance — there was not one attendee there that wasn't associated with an artist personally (friends, family)
The ArtFusion Eventbrite promised an immersive experience that was “the most anticipated art festival of the year” with workshops, performances, Q&A with artists, activities, food, drink... None of this was ever intended, as they did not bother to show up to their own party

Communication:

Once an artist paid, communication dropped, with us receiving less than 5 messages from the organizing company, all mass in format
- A person [we won't dox] was named to us as our point person via mass instagram message sent approximately 14 hours pre-event, with no description or detail, just that they would be there and to seek them out
- All artists received a message via Instagram the day of the event that the doors time was moved back by an hour … due to “unforeseen circumstances”
- Consistent with the lack of correspondence leading up to it, no response was provided when asked about the delay
- Once the event was past, organizers received a deluge of complaints and actively blocked any artist who voiced concern or requested refunds
- Their moratorium on communication was lifted when one artist requested to stop installed payments on AfterPay where they took the time to block the dispute

The day of:

The location turned out to be in a nondescript building in a suburban area, with nothing identifiable to anyone who did happen upon it by fate there was an event taking place
The event organizers did not attend the event.
They hired someone off TaskRabbit the day before the event as the POC, the pour soul mentioned above
- The individual wasn't given any information, was visibly confused
- They didn’t know any event details or of the promised active festival expected
- They did not have a list of participating artists
- They weren't provided any event signage or banners, set up for decor or installations, staging for the performances and Q&A, guide for workshops all advertised
- They were not even given a staff or event brand shirt - petty, but added to the chaos and confusion
There were no check in lists, no layout planned with a key for artist set up, just folding tables stacked against a wall
We were told to “find an empty spot and claim it.”
- This led to land grabs and uneven spacing, as well as the risk for non-paying vendors to show up
The hired point-of-contact left quickly after arriving, leaving us to fend for ourselves
The building, a sports center, had zero signage (have we mentioned no signs? not even scrap paper with scribble) announcing the event or where in the building it was, no direction for the artists, in or outside of the building
There was zero foot traffic to this event location, a large sports warehouse with a Crossfit gym, a soccer field and sports center, all were actively open during the event
The only people in the venue other than us artists were there to workout
The building was a typical indoor arena, which had the scent associated with a gym, fluorescent lighting, no sound system, or blocked area for this 'art show of the year'
They made promises of an experiential can't-miss event, that there would be food trucks, installations, workshops, immersive experiences, drinks - festival vibes
Instead, there were power bars and energy drinks with 2 beer taps behind the gym's check in counter which wasn't manned most of the event - not that it mattered at this point

The aftermath:

It’s clear now we missed red flags, a learning lesson one artist has articulated beautifully for others to heed as a warning
- Both Instagram accounts (@artfusiondenver and @weplusyou.miami) are full of bots:
  - Every post gets 500 likes immediately
  - Zero engagement on posts
  - Almost nothing but bots following their accounts
- They’ve disabled comments on their latest posts because of people complaining
  - They’re still using our images to keep promoting — even after some of us explicitly asked them to remove our liking
  - They've blocked all artists who've asked for a refund or voiced their displeasure - going as far to research and block profiles that are not representing our art business
    - They've gone as far as deleting from their timeline any posts that included one of the leading organizers of the protest, Melody Gambino (@binoberryart) after offering a refund and free spot in August because she insisted all artists be given the same make good
  - They say they’ve been successfully running events for artists in Miami, which we now know to be false but respect their wish to remain anonymous
  - They have planned shows in Denver and Las Vegas that we know of, possibly more
  - We have heard from multiple artists that have booked these future shows who found our posts on IG under #ArtFusionDenver
  - They've been ignored and blocked by the organizers already when asking for refunds or to cancel

Clearly, we were scammed.

Many of the artists were part of the LGBTQ community (during Pride?!), as well as people disabled and people of color - these are groups historically at an economic disadvantage already.

As the colloquial “starving artists,” this is financially devastating and an insult to our craft. Beyond the registration, we invested time and money into our displays and inventory, we passed opportunities to be a part of established and real markets that were also happening that day.

We want to do something about it. We hope you do too.

In an effort to reimburse our community, we've set this up so the public is able to contribute to help make us whole. It's your choice, but if you can, we hope you will help.

An outline of these events with pictures and a link to this fundraiser has been sent to local journalists so they might write about the events and facts. We want to spread the word about We+You and ArtFusion (also known as ArtBox), so they don't keep doing this to other artists.

We love you Denver.

Beautifully and Individually Yours,

Independent Local Artists of the Denver Metro Area

P.S. fans of Joanne the Scammer are not included in our ongoing effort to #StopScammingArtists - get out of our house, honestly, truly

Denver CON-ArtFusion

By Independent Local Artists of Denver

Denver CON-ArtFusion

Support Denver Artists and Talent Scammed by ArtFusion