Uploading to Online Juried Shows

[Dinah]

None of us takes lightly the responsibilities of approaching a juried show. We peruse the classifieds in CM and other house organs for potters, decide what might work for our style,check on the juror(s) style, download the Call the Artists and read through it many times in order to take on board the exhibition committee's wishes. Then we photograph our work, or have someone do it for us whom we pay, making certain it's got the correct pixels etc., record the data for height, length, width, work out descriptions of body, firing times. Oh yes, we make sure we're in sufficient funds to actually enter the show. We set the work aside consigning it to <not for sale for the duration of the jurying process>. We finally surround ourselves with all the relevant pieces of information and set to carefully following the guidelines for uploading images. Whew. We receive a message <Your application is successful. Thankyou.> Huge relief. Well, dear reader, it can go wildly wrong. My first indication that something was not right, was when I received an email saying that my check had arrived (snail mail) but my images were nowhere to be found. They were "terribly sorry", but perhaps next year I might consider this show again. My check was returned.

 

Yesterday evening I checked my email last thing before turning in, and there was an URGENT message to please resubmit (upload through the provided link) images for a show, as everything had been lost. I took the time to do so. Frankly, I'm going to follow my own advice whenever I can, send images snail-mail on a CD-ROM. But what do we do about these failures when no such alternatives were offered. How have others coped with these disappointments?

[Mark C.]

quote name='Dinah' date='18 February 2012 - 08:37 PM' timestamp='1329615458' post='13758']

None of us takes lightly the responsibilities of approaching a juried show. We peruse the classifieds in CM and other house organs for potters, decide what might work for our style,check on the juror(s) style, download the Call the Artists and read through it many times in order to take on board the exhibition committee's wishes. Then we photograph our work, or have someone do it for us whom we pay, making certain it's got the correct pixels etc., record the data for height, length, width, work out descriptions of body, firing times. Oh yes, we make sure we're in sufficient funds to actually enter the show. We set the work aside consigning it to <not for sale for the duration of the jurying process>. We finally surround ourselves with all the relevant pieces of information and set to carefully following the guidelines for uploading images. Whew. We receive a message <Your application is successful. Thankyou.> Huge relief. Well, dear reader, it can go wildly wrong. My first indication that something was not right, was when I received an email saying that my check had arrived (snail mail) but my images were nowhere to be found. They were "terribly sorry", but perhaps next year I might consider this show again. My check was returned.

 

Yesterday evening I checked my email last thing before turning in, and there was an URGENT message to please resubmit (upload through the provided link) images for a show, as everything had been lost. I took the time to do so. Frankly, I'm going to follow my own advice whenever I can, send images snail-mail on a CD-ROM. But what do we do about these failures when no such alternatives were offered. How have others coped with these disappointments?

 

 

I'm assuming this was not a Zapp Application but was provided by the show.

I will not go into a rant on Zapp Apps but I should

On thing I have always tried to do is apply very early to shows like this that I know are not going to be easy-that means any type of electronic downloads (other than Zapp as they usually work)

I have one right now run by different students every year-I know it will not be smooth so I'll send a few check up e=mails hoping for a response.

They will not take a CD or snail mail so we are all stuck with the outcome-so a few follow up calls will be in order as well.

When they lose your application e-mail or CD or snail mail-which I have all happen all you can do is plead your case which usually gets you nowhere to on the wait list.

This year was my 1st application in over 35 years that the deadline got away from me-I had wrist surgery( 3 bones removed and was stoned on vicodin for 3 weeks) somehow I missed the deadline during this time which I noticed a few days off the drugs.I know the promoter and told her my facts and accepted the rules and she had me mail the app in with no guaranty of the application committee will even open it.

So after over 20 years of doing this show I'm in limbo land

Dealing with these ups and downs is part of shows-I've had so many rejections that those do not phase me at all.Now I do not seem to apply to only a very few new shows -so my rejections are very small now-at one time years ago I felt the ratio was apply for 20 to get 10 now its apply for what I want and if the answer is no I'm stoked as I have more time. I'm hardened old timer now

I know this from both sides as I'm vice president on a board of our local art fair which I've done for 35 years now-

I am old enough to know s--t happens and we always look at every case on its merits

I'm not ever dealing with jury issues other than making sure imports are not getting in.

My experience is disappointments are just part of this fair business and learned to accept this fact.

Remember if it was easy everybody would be doing it.

Mark

[GEP]

Dinah, that sounds so frustrating. Especially that they asked you to re-upload your photos AFTER they returned your check. So disorganized! I don't know, is the technology to blame, or just the people running this jury? I have mixed feelings about online applications too. On one hand, it does save time and paperwork (I totally don't miss the days when we had to write our name, title of work, medium, and dimensions onto a slide frame, with no labels, then repeat for every slide and every application) But on the other hand, it does create potential for errors when the operators of the technology don't know what their doing.

 

Last year, two of othe a festivals I did had their own online application website. One of them charged my credit card for the $500 booth fee twice! Thankfully, they worked quickly to correct that, then they sent a notice to all the exhibitors "please don't use our website to pay your booth fee. Send us a check instead." This year that same show is using Zapplication instead of doing it themselves. The other show's application website didn't cause any problems for me, but this year that show is switching to Zapplication too. Maybe they are also realizing that running their own application process online is harder than it first looked.

 

I personally like using Zapplication and Juried Art Services, again I'm glad not to deal with slides anymore. But I agree with Mark it's a good idea to apply early in case their are any technical problems, hopefully you have time to work them out. (That reminds me, several applications on my list due at the end of Feb, I should get on it).

 

Mea

[Dinah]

Dinah, that sounds so frustrating. Especially that they asked you to re-upload your photos AFTER they returned your check. So disorganized! I don't know, is the technology to blame, or just the people running this jury? I have mixed feelings about online applications too. On one hand, it does save time and paperwork (I totally don't miss the days when we had to write our name, title of work, medium, and dimensions onto a slide frame, with no labels, then repeat for every slide and every application) But on the other hand, it does create potential for errors when the operators of the technology don't know what their doing.

 

Last year, two of othe a festivals I did had their own online application website. One of them charged my credit card for the $500 booth fee twice! Thankfully, they worked quickly to correct that, then they sent a notice to all the exhibitors "please don't use our website to pay your booth fee. Send us a check instead." This year that same show is using Zapplication instead of doing it themselves. The other show's application website didn't cause any problems for me, but this year that show is switching to Zapplication too. Maybe they are also realizing that running their own application process online is harder than it first looked.

 

I personally like using Zapplication and Juried Art Services, again I'm glad not to deal with slides anymore. But I agree with Mark it's a good idea to apply early in case their are any technical problems, hopefully you have time to work them out. (That reminds me, several applications on my list due at the end of Feb, I should get on it).

 

Mea

 

 

 

Well, to be fair about the show where the slides were lost after receiving notification that uploading was successful (I think printing a screen shot hereinafter would be a good thing to do, folks) and they received the check and subsequently returned it -- I wasn't asked to resubmit slides. I did politely angle for that resolution in a we're all in this together gesture by attaching images to one of my ultra polite replies. No luck. Boo sucks to them.

 

I always mark the calendar with notification dates of shows I enter. I keep copies of bumph in a file folder. I don't enter many juried shows to be sure, but when things "go south" it stings a bit, because I carefully build my resume with entries to carefully juried shows. Sometimes it's politic to enter local shows, but not the County or State Fair.... Some contacts need that sort of feedback for sales. Fact. Marketing. I sent a query the day after the notification date. I didn't want to seem pushy, as I've had notification dates pushed up because of illness amongst the jurors. But golly it's maddening. Thanks for comments from you both. Balm on the sting.

 

I also recall the days when one had to cram information on the surface card of a slide. Thank heaven we've moved beyond it, but the boffins who are running these cloud capture sites, are certainly not the people who are making the pots and relying on a smooth operation to further careers. They need a good kicking, and some sort of penalty attached to their fees. Only provable if I've got that screen shot: Uploading successful, thankyou....

 

Poor Mark, twacked out on Vicodin. You were a lucky guy to get a second chance.

[neilestrick]

I'm all for paperless systems. The only time I use paper in my shop any more is if someone needs a receipt. I pay all my bills online, and do almost all my billing via email. I like ZAPP. It's easy, and much faster than dealing with paper applications. I haven't had any slides disappear, but I always keep digital copies of all of my receipts just in case there's ever a problem. I've entered a couple of shows that use EntryThingy, and I must say that it is not as easy to use as ZAPP, but it does work.

 

I personally think its silly for shows to still ask for images on CD. It's more work for them and for the artists. As someone who shoots slides for potters, I was amazed at how long it took for juried shows to start accepting digital images instead of slides. It became increasingly difficult and costly for me to get slides developed, yet they still wanted them. I was still making slides as recently as 4 years ago, when my only option for developing was to ship the film to the developer. Artists are slow to accept technology.

 

I've entered a few shows this year where I mailed a paper application but sent the slides via email. I think it's a nice system for small shows that want to do everything in-house, and don't want to pay ZAPP.

[Marcia Selsor]

I'm all for paperless systems. The only time I use paper in my shop any more is if someone needs a receipt. I pay all my bills online, and do almost all my billing via email. I like ZAPP. It's easy, and much faster than dealing with paper applications. I haven't had any slides disappear, but I always keep digital copies of all of my receipts just in case there's ever a problem. I've entered a couple of shows that use EntryThingy, and I must say that it is not as easy to use as ZAPP, but it does work.

 

I personally think its silly for shows to still ask for images on CD. It's more work for them and for the artists. As someone who shoots slides for potters, I was amazed at how long it took for juried shows to start accepting digital images instead of slides. It became increasingly difficult and costly for me to get slides developed, yet they still wanted them. I was still making slides as recently as 4 years ago, when my only option for developing was to ship the film to the developer. Artists are slow to accept technology.

 

I've entered a few shows this year where I mailed a paper application but sent the slides via email. I think it's a nice system for small shows that want to do everything in-house, and don't want to pay ZAPP.

 

[Marcia Selsor]

I have not had success with ZAPP but I like Slide room. I have used it as an applicant and a juror. The jurying process with two other jurors was really easy.

Marcia

[Mark C.]

My answer to Zapp talk is a another thread topic I started fresh in the business section.

Mark