I have been thinking of some features that Zap might incorporate into the show listings. Some of these might not prove popular with every event or promoter, however they do merit some thought. I' m looking for opinions on these thoughts.
Along with all the usual event app info etc, I would find it useful in making choices on entries if the following info was available:
Total openings at show, total number of re invites, remaining openings, now for the fun part, openings available by category and number of apps to date. Wow would these be mind blowing! One other thing would be to note in the show info if they provide artist parking and also parking for large rigs & RV's at the show site. This would eliminate some phone calls to the event directors to ask about the parking. Anything to make planning easier. Thanks for reading!
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Hi Larry,
It was the Krasl show in St Joe, MI
What show?
Larry Berman
Sometimes when you ask, things do happen. Received an email from a show and attached to it was a spreadsheet outlining total openings, re invites, remaining spaces and a breakdown of the open spots by catagory along with how many were in each catagory last year, application totals by catagory and target totals by catagory for the coming year. Wow! a wealth of information.
Maybe this is a topic for a separate thread, but I'd like to see Prior Year Results: Median sales
(as opposed to "average sales"). Average sales can be skewed favorably by a few artists who have home-run shows.
There is a link called "jury details" which is supposed to give you more of the type of information you're asking about. But most shows ignore it when they upload their information to the ZAPP site. The jury details link is under the show logo where you start your application.
I've consulted with ZAPP and asked that adding the information be mandatory for shows that want to use the system.
But consider that shows will not list information that will cause them to get fewer applications.
Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100
You know, a lot of this information is published by the show themselves, but doesn't always make it to the ZAPP info. Click on the show logo on ZAPP, and take a look at the show's site. It never hurts to make contact with a show director if you have questions, either. Some are very helpful (Leah Alters at Columbus, to name one, although she's left), some never return phone calls.
While I agree that it would be great if ZAPP would standardize the show info requirements so that shows would list what we, the artists, would like to know, some shows just aren't that organized. Many times they don't know how many openings there will be in a given year, as they balance the show based on the quality of the work, not the number of artists in each medium.
Number of apps to date -- is that a useful figure? Personally, if the show is good for me, I don't really care how many apps there are. I'm going to be in, or I'm going to be out. I know the competition is stiff for the shows I apply to, and I'm thankful when I get into a Main St. Fort Worth (once), or a St. Louis (not yet). I will keep trying, regardless of how many people are competing with me for those spots. Experience tells us that the high end shows have plenty more apps than they can accept. The ratio of artists applying to artists being accepted may be as high as 10:1 for shows like Cherry Creek or St. Louis.
You can find historical data for revenue, number of artists per category and other useful hard figures on Greg Lawler's Art Fair Sourcebook -- the subscription is very useful for benchmarking shows against each other and to find out the types of information you're seeking. Sure, it would be great to get it for free, but in this instance, it's all in one place, and it includes shows that don't list on ZAPP.
Jim