What's the deal with allowing artists to apply 20 times with the same profile at the St Louis Art Fair? Does that mean 20 different sets of work with 20 different booth shots? Does it mean you can apply 20 times with the same booth shot, or work? It sounds like you are selling lottery tickets. I think that is a bad idea that other shows will pick up on. I just want to apply once and have an equal shot at getting in. Please explain. You know how much I like your show.
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There are a few questions on the application for St. Louis that some might feel are suspicious. In another thread on AFI, an artist wonders about grandfathering and prequalifying artists by how an artist answers certain questions in an application. HERE'S THE LINK TO THAT DISCUSSION
Two questions in the St. Louis application are those type of questions, and I wonder if Cindy would explain why St. Louis Art Fair asks them? They are as follows:
Have you applied to the Saint Louis Art Fair before?
A Yes or No answer is required.
Have you ever participated as an exhibitor in the Saint Louis Art Fair before?
A Yes or No answer is required.
I also want to thank Cindy for her forthright comments here and for inviting anyone who needs clarification about Saint Louis Art Fair to call her directly on the telephone.
We ask thequestions so I can report to the board on who we are receiving applications from. The jurors do not see any of this information. Once again, our jurors only jury once. The jurors change yearly. I have attached for you who is jurying, and our jurors procedures.
I have to agree with Cindy on this. I too ask the question for An Occasion for the Arts. This question does not make it to the jury process and has no bearing on the selection results. It is asked for administrative and statistical reasons. There is no ulterior motive. My board looks for several reports from me: artists by location, by category, new and returning artists, etc. etc.
Also for me, when greeting artists at the show, it is helpful to know when an artist is new or has participated in the show for many years.
I talked to Cindy today. It was just as I expected. Some people apply to the same show with different work. If you get in with one type of work and get rejected by the other style, you can only display what got in. That is one of the reasons why she asks your price range. You can't apply with high end work and show up with low end. They are really strict about that. The committee checks. Only a few people have ever applied more than 2 times to the show and as expected most of them if not all got rejected having wasted their money. It's only a small percentage that apply more than once. You may piss off the judges if they recognize that you sent in more than one application.
In 2014 we had 23 people who applied more than once, one person 4 times (in different media categories), 4 people 3 times (2 with different media categories, and 2 with complete different bodies of work in the same media category). That leaves 18 individuals that applied twice, roughly half of those had completely different bodies of work in the same medium, and the rest applied in 2 different mediums. Some of the people who applied in 2 mediums did so on on my recommendation and encouragement, as I thought they belonged in a different medium, and SLAF (Saint Louis art Fair) paid that application fee.
Our prospectus states (if you read it): Artists may apply in multiple categories. Each medium is evaluated separately. If you apply in more than one category, only the booth slide may be repeated. Artists may display work only in the media categories in which they are accepted. For example: If you are planning on showing any type of jewelry you must be accepted in the jewelry category.
Once again, if you want to talk about anything regarding the Saint Louis art Fair, please pick up the phone and call. My office number is: 314-863-4485, my cell phone = 314-614-7152.
That sounds pretty reasonable to me, Cindy; thanks for the info and my apologies if my contribution sounded harsh (I do tend to state things strongly, an unflattering way to introduce myself). I'm surprised at how lightly the option was utilized after all.
Joseph,
Thank you for the apology~Feel free if there is ever a question regarding the Saint Louis Art Fair to call and ask questions.
Cindy
What if she didn't give you 12 booths in a consecutive line and they were randomly disbursed throughout the show. I'm going to do interval training at the gym tonight to prepare just in case.
I imagine at that point they'd ensure 1 artist gets 1 spot after a round of high fives for the extra $480 in jury fees and give the nod to the highest ranked of the 13 applications (in the case of a tie, who cares- he still gets in). They'd still extend invites to the highest ranked 145 unique artists and chant the First Rule of Fight Club ("you don't talk about Fight Club"); I'm sure they don't brag about their sweet new cash machine.
Again, for transparency of doing business I'd like to know how many applications vs how many artists applied in ZAPP. Then I could decide whether it's too diluted for my tastes. I guess in the bigger picture it's on par with other festivals requiring pre-payment of the booth fee at application. What really makes me nervous as a newbie is the clause that burdens artists with splitting potential litigation costs if the organizers get sued (again, off topic). That rubs me much worse than this.
Don't jump to conclusions. The reason why I posted this here is because I have a good relationship with Cindy and will ask the right questions. I am not really bothered by this. I'm just worried about me getting into St Louis. I don't believe people are going to send in more than one or two applications. In clay, for instance, I can see someone applying with clay sculpture and the also applying with thrown pots. If someone gets rejected with one set of pieces, they probably will get rejected with a second set because the quality level and style are the same. I'll post what I find out.
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