Well folks, it has come to this - info forwarded from "a friend", or possibly "a friend of Disney"... or in other words "The Festival of the Masters."
It seems this is a first come, first served situation with lots of protocol, including:
- exhibit spaces will be assigned on a first come, first serve basis and cannot be purchased until all other aspects of the registration have been completed.
- Registration will begin on August 28, 2013 at 12:00pm EST
- Step 1: Fill out the Personal information for registration
- Step 2: Fill in exhibitor information for PR purposes
- Step 3: Select and Pay for your Exhibit Space: Here you will be able to select an exhibit from our map to purchase. I have attached a simple PDF of the map so you can become familiar with it prior to registering.
- On this current map, the boxes outlined in green numbered 1 - 153 will be the spaces you can choose from. During registration, you will see three colors on the map:
- Green Exhibits: Green means the exhibit space is available for purchase. If you click on it you will see the cost of the exhibit space. Once you choose an exhibit space you will have 10 minutes to complete the process and pay for the exhibit space through PayPal. If you do not complete payment within 10 minutes the exhibit space will then become available for someone else to purchase.Orange Exhibits: Orange mean that another artist has already selected that exhibit space and is currently within the 10 minute purchase window. You can choose to wait and see if the space becomes available or you will need to choose another green exhibit space.Grey Exhibit: Grey means that the space has already been purchased by another artist and is no longer available. If you are interested you can still click on that exhibit and it will tell you what Medium/Category is in that space.
- Once you complete all three steps and payment through PayPal you will be brought back to a confirmation screen that will recap everything you entered. You cannot go back into the registration to change anything so please make sure everything is accurate!!
- Registrations and payments must be completed by September 18, 2013 or you forfeit your place in this year’s show. Any artist that has not completed this process prior to this date will be replaced with an artist from the waitlist!!
Here's the kicker:
If you happen to encounter any problems during the registration process please email us at wdwfestivalofthemasters@disney.com. Due to demand, the Hotline will not be monitored at this time, so please do not call - we will respond to emails in the order in which they are received.
Replies
Heh, first come first served ;-) That's not the first time that approach was used. It was worse than that in the early days. This is a story related to me by a guy who has passed on a good ten years or so back. The name of the show is left out to protect the guilty, and the time was 1970, +/- a couple of years.
A very large and successful long running show started out that way years ago, except it was even worse. A friend of mine, Chris Dennison, now passed on, was involved in hippy crafts back in the late 60's and early 70's with Karma Records when they were the "Walmart" for the counterculture crowd. Chris became the main buyer for the chain early on. He would have a space selling bongs, pipes, beads, incense, T shirts, and so on. Some of the gadgets he sold were these hash pipes made of brass Swagelock tubing connectors. They would hire speed freaks to do bead stringing for bracelets and necklaces. I think you get the idea ;-)
I remember him telling me it was a first come, first served free for all. The cars and trucks would line up on the street and everyone was given a marker, which I believe was a brick or a 2x4 section with a flag on it. The vehicles would be released and everyone would zoom for their preferred location and throw the claim marker on the spot they wanted. A few times people on the sidewalks and grass were hit by the markers as they were thrown from the cars, and some disputes broke out over spots with fist fights taking place. The whole thing sounded reminiscent of the Oklahoma Land Rush. That process only lasted a few years or so, and tighter controls were instituted. Sometimes the old days weren't the good old days.
Love these old art fair stories. As I read I was thinking "reminiscent of the Oklahoma Land Rush" -- but the people were in VW buses and pick up trucks and the scene had a golden haze to it.
It isn't quite as obvious at shows these days, but it definitely is still there wherever old craftsmen gather.
It seems that someone sold them a bill of goods..."Why should you do all that work? Let us set up the online system for you and the artists will do the show layout for themselves."
Oops!
I know you've been involved with running some shows, Joan. Don't you agree with me that how a show is laid out is important from the perspective of doing everything you can to help the artists succeed?
Here's the latest info from them in response to an artist's inquiry:
They are not the brightest bulbs on the planet.
After over 30 years of running this show, they could make things go smoothly. Why did they wait til the last minute and then make everybody hurry--or jump to the Mouse's whip.
I am in, but I think their process really sucks. It is unprofessional and diminishes the whole process of being a juried artist. My God! How hard do you have to make it to buy a booth.
Furthermore, no cheese for the festival committee--let them eat HardTack.
I can't even understand it, Nels. One of the most important things a show director does is lay out the show: balancing the media, making sure friends are next to each other, putting the most eye-catching booths in great spots, making sure the "quiet" art has a good spot, making sure the glass artists have the right light, putting the handicapped near the volunteers and bathrooms, their parking areas, (my favorite is matchmaking), etc. Honestly, this just means to me that they don't care what the show looks like or making an effort to insure artists have a good show.
they should stop letting the cartoon characters run the art show...
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next