Every year, hundreds of artists apply to a variety of craft shows and art festivals. Just about any show or festival that's worth attending choose the artists that exhibit at their show by using the jury system. A panel of one to five people review artist applications and slides to determine who is chosen to exhibit at a festival. Jurors review images of an artist's work, information from the application and any other material to help them make their decision. This process helps to ensure the the quality of an art festival or craft show. Unfortunately, it can also make for a minor headache for artists, one that grows with the number of shows that they do throughout the year.
As one might expect, not all applications on the same. All the applications require the same basic information of course, your name, the name of your company if you have one, what kind of medium you work in, address, phone and the like. But once you get beyond the basics, all bets are off. Some applications require an artist to list all the states in which they had a current sales tax id number. Some applications require artists to list details about their public liability insurance policy (a type of insurance that covers injuries, and accidents that may occur in a booth during a festival). Some shows won't even consider artists that don't have liability insurance. Other organizations may require an artist statement describing your creative process in addition to the application. Some organizations may also want an artist statement...but in 25, 35, 50 words or less. Some organizations require artists to submit a resume of show they have participated in in the past. Other shows forbid the submission of any artist statements, marketing materials, or resumes of any kind. And don't forget the self-addressed stamped envelope, so the organization can mail out the artist's rejection letter for free. Or an organization could just want two 37 cent stamps, never mind the envelope. Oops, it's 2006...make that two 39 cent stamps, never mind the envelope.
And then there's the slides....
Any artist who exhibits as shows has an entire slide library that's dedicated to applying to art festivals. This library typically doesn't come cheap. These days having a professional photographer take images of an artist's artwork is not an option, it's pretty much a requirement. A set of master slides of 4 different pieces of art can easily set one back at least $200 more if it involves groups of artwork or a model. Once the master slides are done, an artist must get duplicates made so they can send them out with their applications. The more shows an artists does, the more duplicates they'll need to have made because once the slides go out, it will be at least two to four months before they're seen again...if ever. I typically have at least 8 to 12 duplicates made out of each of my master slides, maybe more if I use a particular image for PR purposes. At about $2 to $2.50 a pop...well, lets just say that my local photofinisher knows me on a first name basis.
Typically, most organizations will also want a slide of an artist's booth, fully stocked and set up. This is somewhat of a problem if this is an artist's first show. In addition, some organizations require that there is no identifying information in the booth that indicate what artist's booth they are looking at. That's somewhat of a problem for me since I have large pictures of my jewelry as a part of my display and a big sign with my logo and business name promenently displayed in my own booth. Fortunately, professional photography for show booth images are not as critical...at least not yet...and artists can take those images themselves. At the first show of the year, I usually take photos of my booth in preparation for next year, remembering to make 8 to 10 duplicates of those slides as well.
Once all the slides and the requisite duplicates are assembled...the real work begins...
to be continued....
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