5 Questions Every Artist Should Ask Before Entering a Juried Exhibition
Kesha,
Forgive me if you covered this on your blog already, but I would LOVE to hear your opinion on exhibition submission fees since you are kicking butt on telling the straight story on many aspects of the art world. I understand many galleries, etc. need to be creative about covering administrative costs and building a revenue stream in this economy, but $65+ submission fees seem unreasonable and I imagine might exclude a large number of talented, but cash-poor potential applicants. Are these fees reasonable? What assurance is there that a fair review process is in place?
-A.F.
I’ve written about juried art exhibitions before, but I’m more than happy to do it again. And I’m not gonna pull any punches here. Unless you’re just starting out as an artist and are in desperate need of a few extra lines on your resume, I don't think juried art exhibitions with entry fees are worth your time or money. The inside scoop is that these shows are basically fundraisers for the organization. Let me do some art math for you:
$65 entry fee x 350 artist applicants - postage for 325 rejections letters = a ton of money in the bank.
To answer my friend's questions:
Are these fees reasonable? Maybe. It takes a lot of time and a whole lot of energy to thoughtfully review the applications and to look at thousands of artworks. The question is how much time and how much do they really need to charge artists in order to cover their expenses and make a small profit? The average juried show entry fee is around $35-$45 these days. Anything above $50 and I start to see red flags.
What assurance is there that a fair review process is in place? To be brief: None. The review process for exhibitions is rarely transparent. There is no assurance that every judge carefully reviewed every applicant's work. At some point you are putting your trust in the organization based solely on their name and reputation.
Please be clear. I’m not demonizing art centers or galleries that charge entry fees for juried exhibitions. These organizations have enough problems to contend with without me beating up on them. And as a gallery director I understand that organizing and producing an exhibition, even a small one, is incredibly time consuming and involves plenty of expenses. That said, I want artists to be well informed and clear about their own expectations before they sign that entry fee check.
A few questions to ask before mailing that submission packet:
1. How reputable is the venue? Is it a large art center or gallery or is it some tiny community center in the middle of nowhere? Do they have a high quality website? Is their social media presence good enough that you trust them to use it to promote the exhibition?
2. Who is the juror? Do you value or trust this person’s opinion? Or perhaps there is someone on the judging panel that you'd like to get your work in front of? Is the juror an up and coming independent curator or an established curator from a well-respected art museum? Or is your work going to be judged by an anonymous panel picked by the organization, or a group of local artist?
3. How much is it going to cost me to be in this exhibition? Remember, you will have to pay for framing, insurance, and round trip shipping, plus the entry fee. Will it still be worth it if that final tally comes to around $200? In some cases, if the exhibition offers you the chance to show your work in a venue you're excited about, and would be happy to see on your resume, the answer may be yes.
4. Do I trust this organization to handle my artwork properly? I cannot tell you how many horror stories I’ve heard of work being returned to the artist with severe damages. What is the venue’s insurance policy? How will you handle it if your artwork comes back damaged?
5. What exactly do you want to get out of this exhibition? I saved the most important question for last. Early on in your career juried exhibitions are a great way to get into the habit of showing and talking about your work in public. But at every stage of your career, it pays to stop and ask yourself what exactly you’ll be getting out of showing your work in certain venues. Will you be introduced to a new group of possible collectors? How will you follow up and build relationships after the exhibition? Will being in this juried exhibition get you any closer to where you want to be career-wise?
An art exhibition should be mutually beneficial to the venue, the artists involved , and of course the audience. If any of these three players is slighted, then something isn’t working. All five of the above questions are designed to get you thinking not only about which exhibitions are worth getting your work into, but also what path you ultimately see for your art.
Did you find the info in this post helpful? Awesome. Hit the retweet button and share it with someone else who could use it.
Image by Boaz Yiftach at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
$65 entry fee x 350 artist applicants - postage for 325 rejections letters = a ton of money in the bank.
To answer my friend's questions:
Are these fees reasonable? Maybe. It takes a lot of time and a whole lot of energy to thoughtfully review the applications and to look at thousands of artworks. The question is how much time and how much do they really need to charge artists in order to cover their expenses and make a small profit? The average juried show entry fee is around $35-$45 these days. Anything above $50 and I start to see red flags.
What assurance is there that a fair review process is in place? To be brief: None. The review process for exhibitions is rarely transparent. There is no assurance that every judge carefully reviewed every applicant's work. At some point you are putting your trust in the organization based solely on their name and reputation.
Please be clear. I’m not demonizing art centers or galleries that charge entry fees for juried exhibitions. These organizations have enough problems to contend with without me beating up on them. And as a gallery director I understand that organizing and producing an exhibition, even a small one, is incredibly time consuming and involves plenty of expenses. That said, I want artists to be well informed and clear about their own expectations before they sign that entry fee check.
A few questions to ask before mailing that submission packet:
1. How reputable is the venue? Is it a large art center or gallery or is it some tiny community center in the middle of nowhere? Do they have a high quality website? Is their social media presence good enough that you trust them to use it to promote the exhibition?
2. Who is the juror? Do you value or trust this person’s opinion? Or perhaps there is someone on the judging panel that you'd like to get your work in front of? Is the juror an up and coming independent curator or an established curator from a well-respected art museum? Or is your work going to be judged by an anonymous panel picked by the organization, or a group of local artist?
3. How much is it going to cost me to be in this exhibition? Remember, you will have to pay for framing, insurance, and round trip shipping, plus the entry fee. Will it still be worth it if that final tally comes to around $200? In some cases, if the exhibition offers you the chance to show your work in a venue you're excited about, and would be happy to see on your resume, the answer may be yes.
4. Do I trust this organization to handle my artwork properly? I cannot tell you how many horror stories I’ve heard of work being returned to the artist with severe damages. What is the venue’s insurance policy? How will you handle it if your artwork comes back damaged?
5. What exactly do you want to get out of this exhibition? I saved the most important question for last. Early on in your career juried exhibitions are a great way to get into the habit of showing and talking about your work in public. But at every stage of your career, it pays to stop and ask yourself what exactly you’ll be getting out of showing your work in certain venues. Will you be introduced to a new group of possible collectors? How will you follow up and build relationships after the exhibition? Will being in this juried exhibition get you any closer to where you want to be career-wise?
An art exhibition should be mutually beneficial to the venue, the artists involved , and of course the audience. If any of these three players is slighted, then something isn’t working. All five of the above questions are designed to get you thinking not only about which exhibitions are worth getting your work into, but also what path you ultimately see for your art.
Did you find the info in this post helpful? Awesome. Hit the retweet button and share it with someone else who could use it.
Image by Boaz Yiftach at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Excellent post, Kesha, and so important. There's one more possible cost to the venue, but which still leaves the organization in a pretty good position money wise, and that is awards.
ReplyDeleteYou don't know these days how many artists are going to submit to a show with publicity on the internet. There could be way more than 325.
I have a couple of horror stories about jurying, having seen it from the inside. Suffice it to say that it can be a crap shoot.
Very helpful bit of clarity and quite timely personally as I am just looking at which shows/prizes/group exhibitions I might enter next year with the aim of reaching more people and perhaps scoring a bit of cash.
ReplyDeleteI've often wondered about this. And yet there is an expectation that you should be doing these things to 'get in there' and forge your art career. I came round to thinking it's about putting yourself on the (art) map and using the money I would have used to enter the competition to go toward organising my own group show and share that cost with other fellow artists. And this is what i've done!
ReplyDeleteHave just signed up for your cookie jar goodness :)
Amelia.x
I have been thinking about the purpose of juried and open call shows. I have shown in many of them and spent a lot of money on them. I am thinking of getting my work out there without participating in these type of shows. I haven't sold anything all year.
ReplyDelete