AHHHH…the number of times I hear people say, “It must be wonderful doing something you love to make money”….and yes, it is. But let’s face it folks. It is HARD WORK. Really hard work.
Sooooooo…….you’ve got your slides done! (you think)…..and some digital photos. Well, think about this! This month, I got an application that stated “Photos MUST be JPEG Format at 100 dpi in order to be included in the jury process. Pictures submitted in any other form or format will not be accepted.” This made me think a lot! I don’t know how to do this! I know that I have a computer – limited brain, and I accept that. I had no program to do this! The digitals I had from one photographer were 96 dpi, the ones I had from the second photographer were 300 dpi. Neither qualify. So I sent the photos to my DH’s computer, and he had a program that would resize the dpis’. So, it makes me wonder. Is this an effort for the show promoter to weed out potential applicants? This is a February show. The show is just plain “GOOD”. It’s very small, and there is mucho competition to get in this show. I made sure my photos were 100 dpi, and emailed them to the promoter, then today I mailed in the application and a check for jury fees….
That leads us to “jury fees”. Jury fees are a big thing. First off, the competition to get a spot in shows these days is substantial. Especially for jewelry artists. We know that. I try to think I’m “different” than people who don’t make their own beads, but not so. And there are lots of folks who still do not consider polymer clay an ‘art form’. (shame on them!) Jury fees can run you from $5.00 to $45.00. And I have shows at both ends of the extremes. If you want to get into 8 shows, you’d better jury for 16 or more. And STILL your chances of making 8 are small unless you are an extremely well known artist. Let’s say the average jury fee is $20.00 ~ $20.00 x 16 entry forms = $320.00 just for letting someone ELSE decide whether you are ‘good enough’ to be in their show. And these fees are non-refundable. I have been crushed and heartbroken. But you kind of get used to it. This year I applied for 5 shows and got into all 5. That is kind of a miracle in itself. But it is not something to get over confident about, because these shows can ‘rotate you out’, or put you on a waiting list in the blink of an eye! I was very worried this year until I heard on all my shows, because I had not applied to ‘enough’ to feel very confident!
OK, I’m getting long winded here. More to talk about next time in “Anatomy of an Art Fair/ Craft Show Part 4!