I received a number of communiques from a show I applied to. Most of them were very confusing. I HAD applied, sent my jury fee, uploaded my images, etc. way before the deadline.
And yet, almost every day got reminders to pay, to apply, to send fees, to post images... I double checked my application over and over.
Reminders about deadlines, about jury dates, etc. Choking my inbox.
Finally - I got a LONG letter that [by the time I finished reading 4 paragraphs] sounded pretty much like a rejection letter. But - the wording was so obtuse, I wasn't even sure?! I'm pretty smart, but I really couldn't tell for sure.
Within those paragraphs were statements like - too many applications of the same images, the same techniques, the same mediums...they could only take the best of the best.
Well - actually, I developed a unique medium and technique...so there couldn't have been duplicates. Needless to say, I was a little confused and miffed.
I wrote back to ask for clarification and noted that no one is doing exactly what I am doing so not sure about duplications of images, technique or medium.
I am sure that was the kiss of death for the future...but why not just say NO in a concise manner...?!
Replies
Dear Promoter,
Don't kill me with a spoon, just stick the knife in.
~a rusty knife...
Winter Park had the best solution, yet. The congratulations was in the title of the email. There was no need to even open the email to know whether you got in or not. Btw, if they don't give you the congrats in the first 10 words, 99% of the time you didn't get in.
Hi Sandhi,
I must say that I have not received a letter like this before! It sounds like they really didn't have it together! Are you SURE you may want to do this in the future? Also this "not invited" crap is a glorified REJECTED & we all know that. This year I asked 2 promoters WHY I got rejected & one was actually "laughable" & made NO sense AT ALL~ on the answer I received. It is best to just get a short not invited OR rejected instead of asking why, because it just proved to me of the jurors total ignorance!~Will I apply again to this promoter~NO WAY when they hire "jurors" so closed minded. It's a shame that just because there are "jurors" on Zapp or wherever, I guess it really doesn't make them qualified experts, as they seemed to be years ago. I like the shows that give the jurors background as I feel if we are paying to have our work juried, we should very definitely have a right to know something about the jurors qualifications. I'm sure there are "some" qualified jurors out there, but Retired Art teachers, ect. would be qualified in my mind as just one example. I have heard on this site about so many people upset as they were "not invited"~especially in my jewelry media, it is OVERLY OBVIOUS that the ARTISTS need more Promoters & more shows, because there are WAY more Artists than shows out there~we ALL know that! I wouldn't even mind doing a "jewelry show" & I bet others wouldn't either. It wouldn't hurt to have a painters show too, or even all pottery. My Artist friends~why don't you check around with your friends in business, or perhaps yourselves if you are not wanting to do shows anymore~or only a few & put on your OWN show?! WE NEED MORE SHOWS & MORE NEW PROMOTERS~we need to give ALL Artists a chance to sell their wares! Some will say that it will become over-saturated...not really when you have DIFFERENT Artists & even Newbies~people customers haven't ever seen before. Shows can even have a "Theme" to them which would set them apart...just an idea. I put a show on at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds "Back to the fifties" in one of their buildings, & was quite good (years ago). It was the 1st Art Show at the same time & place as the Back to the Fifties Antique Car show. The ONLY reason I did it was because I was "talked into it" by an antique car vendor who was a good friend of mine & he thought I would do a good job, & it was, so if I can do it, so can a lot of other Artists! The only thing is, being an Artist, it's hard to do both, unless you only want to do a few shows...I choose to put ALL my energy into creating my Art & doing shows, but even tho it WAS a lot of work, I did enjoy it. Come on ARTISTS~think about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
. . .and then there is the opposite - shows that can't even be bothered to send you a rejection e-mail because of course we have nothing better to do than repeatedly check ZAPP.
Yes, we all know how "difficult" your job is. We all know how many amazing apps you received. We all know how sorry/happy you are to reject/accept us. We all know you have a certain number of spaces. OK. SO we can leave that out. As a rejection I prefer: "Dear Pat. Thanks for applying. You weren't chosen this year, but please try again next year." Sweet and to the point. Don't make me read 4 paragraphs searching for the key words: congratulations or unfortunately. Nobody reads the rest of it. See how I helped here? You're welcome.
You should state the name of the show to help many others become aware of their tackiness and it just might help them understand what we view thy way the come across.
I may be stupid but what show was this?
The Triple X Marketplace, you say? I'll not even make one joke about that name, but it's a funny name for an art show, certainly.
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next