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ARTFEST INTERNATIONAL, INC.
OTCBB: ARTS
Artfest Expo Center
13342 Midway Road, Suite 250
Dallas, TX 75244
Phone: 877-278-6672 ~ Fax: 866-534-2847
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April 20, 2010 Dear Shareholders, I am very pleased to be able to communicate directly with our loyal shareholders and discuss our financial accomplishments for 2009, now that our audited Financials have been filed with the SEC. I would also like to give you an overview of what we have accomplished during the first quarter of 2010. Artfest International, Inc. was created to connect the passions of galleries, artists, investors, decorators, designers, subscribers, and private collectors on a global scale. Through its 52,000-square-foot Expo Center in Dallas, Texas, MyArtfest.com (social networking and e-commerce venue), MyArtfest Services (marketing services), and Art Channel, Inc. (a television network venue for art programming and marketing), Artfest is poised to serve as the leader in the art and home decor industries. Our mission is to increase our subscribers’ sales by providing top-quality marketing tools, items-of-value and relationships that expand their customer base and physical reach. The various corporations that we have set up under the public company, Artfest International, Inc., all have a specific role to play with the overall goal to work together to boost sales of our art works and collectibles. Artfest Direct is the latest component corporation that we have setup. Its purpose is to enable consumers, through its Website (www.artfestdirect.com), to purchase fine sports art as well as sports memorabilia and collectibles directly from their favorite teams, players, and athletes. The Company announced that Time Warner Cable will be the distribution outlet of Artfest International's "Artfest Direct" program to 550,000 Time Warner Cable customers. Artfest has an "On-Demand" distribution agreement with Time Warner, Inc., the second largest cable operator in the country, which will give Artfest International its base for the development of the Art Channel "On-Demand" program. Artfest International is launching this program through its call center, online, and directly through the Company's partnership agreements with major stadiums, as well as the hundreds of other professional and NCAA division I college sports teams across the country. Earlier this year, Artfest Direct opened a call center based on the direct marketing performance of companies including Herbalife, Mary Kay, Avon, and Tupperware Inc. Artfest Direct expects to increase its call center to over 20,000 members based on the expected revenue generated from the Artfestdirect.com program. Each member that signs up essentially creates their own business. They receive a replicated Website, and when customers go to their site, they see the full inventory of products being offered. If they purchase a product, the item ordered is paid for, packaged, and shipped by Artfest Direct. The dealer gets the credit for the sale and earns commission. Artfest International, which currently owns 100% of Artfest Direct, recently announced that it will be providing a dividend to Artfest International shareholders of record as of April 15th, 2010, where they will receive 1 share of Artfest Direct for every 1,000 shares of ARTS that they own. FINRA has approved the new cussip number and Artfest will be registering Artfest Direct shares with SEC. This is another way to provide additional shareholders’ value to our investors. Artfest and its TA will distribute the dividend to the shareholders as of record date April 15th, 2010. The certificate holders will receive the additional certificates for Artfest Direct, while the CEDE and Company and other accounts will get the shares via DRS. We expect that all of the shares will be approved by SEC and issued no later than May 15th, 2010. The second quarter dividend will be announced with the 1st quarter financial filings. Art Channel, Inc. was setup to “change the way the world buys and collects art”. Works of art have typically been sold through “Brick and Mortar” Galleries that were often not accessible to most consumers. Through its Website, www.artchannelgalleries.com, Art Channel, Inc. pursues its mission of making art and collectibles available to everyone. Art Channel Galleries is home to some of the finest artists in the world today, and we are honored by their participation in our Art program. It is through these artists that a substantial inventory of works are produced (and re-produced) for sale to members of Artfest Direct. Art Channel TV provides a Television Channel/Web portal designed to provide an avenue for art programming, retail sales, and marketing opportunities for art, music and collectibles. By going to www.artchannel.tv you can view video presentations on various artists, information on various terms used in the art world, and other educational information on the art and artist. This Website is expected to provide web access episodes of programming that Artfest Direct produces for its Time Warner cable slot. This will include the first Art Reality Show "Brave Art" to be distributed through Time Warner Cable. "Brave Art" will feature 8 top artists painting live in a party setting, each vying for a position on the Artfest Artist roster. Guests of the event will choose the winner, and the winner is awarded with prizes and an Artfest Artist contract. The final piece of the puzzle is Artfest’s subsidiary Charity Sports Distributor (CSD). This company is key to attaining and marketing Sports Memorabilia. It now has consummate agreements with dozens of colleges and professional sport teams to become the official distributor of their sports memorabilia. The Company’s goals are to sign an additional 50 teams in 2010 and to become the industry leader in the multi-billion dollar sports memorabilia industry. CSD has a considerable advantage over its competitors through the use of its proprietary authentication technology, many sports organizations look to partner with us to stem the memorabilia fraud problem. Sports memorabilia will also be made available to Artfest Direct. Through these strategic acquisitions and the formation of these subsidiaries, the Company has grown its assets to nearly $6 Million and has bettered positioned itself to break out of its development stage in a substantial manner. From 2008 to 2009, we have increased revenues by 1650% to $2,740,878. We now have all the pieces in place to create extraordinary growth over the next several years. Artfest expects that it will complete several more acquisitions in 2010 with a goal of adding an additional $10 million in assets for the Corporation. As CEO, I want to reinforce that I have prioritized two key initiatives for Artfest. Number one is to continue with our plans to grow revenues through marketing and selling limited edition, signed and numbered fine art and collectibles to collectors, dealers, artists, decorators, designers, private collectors and investors. Secondly, and just as important, is to continue with our aggressive merger and acquisition campaign to expand our current portfolio. If we are successful in achieving these goals, I, as CEO of Artfest International, believe that our revenues will grow significantly, and this growth will be favorably reflected in our earnings and share price. In closing, I want to thank each of you for your patience and continued support of Artfest International. I encourage you to contact our investment relations group regarding any questions you might have about the Company and where you can sign up to have press releases emailed directly to you right after they are released to the wire service. Also, please be a regular visitor to our Websites at www.artfestinternational.com, www.artchannel.tv, www.artchannelgalleries.com, and www.artfestdirect.com to read any news or information on events that we are releasing on a regular basis. Regards, Edward Vakser, CEO
Artfest International, Inc.
Safe Harbor Statement:
The information posted in this release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these statements by use of the words "may," "will," "should," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "continue," "estimate," "project," "intend," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, general economic and business conditions, effects of continued geopolitical unrest and regional conflicts, competition, changes in technology and methods of marketing, delays in completing various engineering and manufacturing programs, changes in customer order patterns, changes in product mix, continued success in technological advances and delivering technological innovations, shortages in components, production delays due to performance quality issues with outsourced components, and various other factors beyond the Company's control.
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