I spent my day today divided between two different applications for artists. These are never the same twice and I think these two represent the far ends of the spectrum.
Application One: The high tech one is administered by “Juried Arts Services”. Portfolios to create, images to upload (and resize), fees to pay via paypal, membership numbers required, then more info to enter to apply to the specific show. I helped walk two artists through the process and have done phone consults with several more. It’s not hard, just complicated with a lot of steps. Since it’s due tomorrow, I expect I know what my phone will be ringing about tomorrow.
Application Two: Nothing can be submitted online, you have to mail it in. We think. The instructions are a little vague. Requires images of your booth, rather than images of your work. (Really?) We think it is due tomorrow, but not sure if that’s a postmark deadline or a delivery deadline or even a deadline at all, since another part of the site has another due date if you don’t want to be in the printed “program”. (There is an alternate application for people who have been vendors before, it is much simpler.) Several questions on the application we aren’t sure how to answer because we aren’t sure what they mean.
The thing these applications have in common is that they are going to prevent artists from participating in the event. The first is so complicated that several artists have thrown up their hands and said “I give up!”. It took us 2 hours to get one application done. The second is so vague, that although we would love to follow the rules, we aren’t sure exactly what the rules are and we are afraid to be disqualified because we missed something. They both seem to have built in bias – only the tech savvy can participate in the first, only those “in the know” can figure out the second. An interesting dilemma. I am glad I could assist with the tech savvy need.