Broad Ripple Jury Results
I figure this deserved it's own thread.
I just got my e-mail with my ID number and a link to download the PDF of everyone's jury results by ID number. Here's a link to the PDF:
http://indplsartcenter.org/braf/brafscores2012.pdf
What's interesting as was last year also, is the criticisms of the booth display images. By far, that's what the judges made mention of.
In case you're interested, my ID number is 605993 and I came up second in the photography category. I was wait listed and it appears I was real close to getting accepted.
Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100
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As the Director of the Broad Ripple Art Fair I value transparency and attempt to create as level a playing field as possible for the artist that apply. That is why we have our jury open to the public and post the scores.
Connie is spot on with her comment about jurors not having time to critique each entry. Some years we have very few comments. This year, one or two of our jurors felt compelled to comment on the booth shots. This could be due to the fact that as stated in our rules having no booth shot or your name in the booth causes a two point deduction from the overall score. That being said we have no way to enforce this - it is up to the individual integrity of each juror to do so.
We change our jurors each year to ensure a fresh fair for our audience. Our formula tries to include practicing art fair artists, buyers, board members of the Art Center (The Indianapolis Art Center hosts this event and as a non profit this is our largest fundraiser), and arts professionals. The exact make up varies year to year but this is the basic idea.
Because we change our jurors each year some artists who score well one year may not the next. Aside from the angst this causes the artists it guarantees a fresh and exciting fair for our patrons - and more importantly - those who buy the artists work. This is reflected in our ranking in the AFSB top 100 grossing sales art fairs year after year.
We greatly limit the amount of re-invited artists to give as many artists as possible the chance to jury in. I have eliminated the practice of grandfathering artists. We have seven award winners who are invited back and any artists serving on the panel are also invited. There are three grandfathers that I continue to honor that remain from before my time as director. I also did away with the practice of allowing Art Center faculty a free ride (in the past as many as 40 were invited). So that being said this year 12 artists were "pre-selected" allowing 213 spaces out of 225 to try for.
As a matter of cushion we purposely invite about 10-20 less artists than we have room for to ensure that we do not overbook until we have laid out the booths - and the rest are invited from the wait list at this time.
Our jurors are charged to judge on uniqueness, craftsmanship, and creativity. The booth shot is a tool to show them that the artist is capable of showing on a professional level. As Connie pointed out - this is often an easy way to mark down an artists in a competitive category.
About the category numbers - over the years we have found a balance that seems to work for our artists and patrons alike. We monitor this as best we can and try to keep the levels about the same category to category although due to the jury scores sometimes this number fluctuates a bit. Similarly, if a particular category scores poorly overall we do not necessarily have to include that category. This is an attempt to keep artist selling well.
As you all know this is not a perfect science. But we keep refining and attempting to get it better each year. Your feedback is invaluable to me and my committees. After all, without artists we could not have an art fair.
This is a great post by a major show director who obviously wants to share as much information as he can with artists to make the show better for patrons, and in turn artists.
Patrick does enjoy a great reputation for being an open, fair, and professional director as well. I have had a few email conversations with him over the years and he has always been a unbiased, stand-up kind of show director. The job isn't easy, it's even harder to do it with some transparency and professionalism - but Patrick makes it look easy.
Open disclosure: I am on the waitlist at BRAF, but with Patrick I know being on the waitlist is irrelevant when it comes to sharing views and opinions because I have never seen or heard of him treating any artist unprofessionally.
What's interesting is that there are critiques of the booth for all scores. There's a 5 in there that has a comment about needing a better booth image.
Here's the thing I've been writing about for years. Having a good booth picture has nothing to do with the quality of your art. It's about having a professional display that doesn't distract from the jurors from concentrating on your artwork images. Within the given time that the images are on screen, the less time the jurors look at your booth the more time they can look at your art. Plus, it's far easier to critique the booth picture than what the juror may subjectively feel about the artwork, which is a more personal decision. That's why the written critiques are easier to make about the booth. I didn't notice any "lousy art" but I did notice a lot of "lousy booth" comments.
Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100
Thanks for sharing this, Larry. It mirrors what I have experienced as a juror. The images are moving relatively fast and a juror pretty much has to stop the show to enter comments. Almost all comments are about the booth. Why? Because they really don't have time to discuss the quality of the work, amateurish, sloppy, fabulous, etc. But the booth is a good objective measure that can be critiqued. When I have been with artists doing mock jury with our images they were similarly polite, at least that is how I took it. We are not going to discuss the quality of a peer's work but we surely can help her/him liven up the imagery by a better booth, better lighting, better arrangement, etc.
What is also interesting is this is a pretty big show. How many? and in the photography category only seven people were invited. This makes me think there must be a decent number of invited exhibitors. What is your understanding?
Very interesting. I am just getting started in this game and have not seen one of these ranking sheets before. It is a bit disheartening to see all the comments about booth shots, but that is just because my booth shot sucks eggs. I know it is going to hurt me when it comes time for jurying (is that a word?), but right now it is the only one I have.
Mine sucked with a 2.8. What was irritating is that the other categories seemed to have comments but few were given in photography beyond some comments about dense booths, etc. To be honest, with some of the asides the judges were making, and tone of voice, I had the feeling that the photo category was viewed as a step-child. It's not sour grapes, just picking up on some subtleties. There was a poor choice on one of my slides, and I know that hurt me. At least I know that for future reference. The only consolation is that my scores have climbed in the rankings the last several times I've entered. Maybe I'll make it back in when I'm 70.