Here's another Art of the Call video podcast where we ask directors, artists and curators to talk about the call for entry process.



Here's what Charlette talked about:

Follow the rules

From my standpoint I'm most concerned about the eligibility requirements and specifications needed to enter the show

All artists have to pay special attention to how you get into a show and it has to do with how you crop your image, how you size it and what DPI the image is shot at

Some organizations are really specific in wanting 300 dpi images others can be 72 dpi but you better follow the criteria or you're out.

Getting the word out
We use our database with a membership database and then we have a broader database from artists who entered our open calls from artists who are members around the community

And then we also send out to other arts organizations within the area to let them know of our call - if it is an open call so we get fairly broad base of potential artists

Types of calls

Most of the organizations have an open show which means open - any anybody can join and it's any subject

Sometimes the venue will say we don't want nude, so they have that in the conditions of participation

The other shows that aren't juried are themes that we invent, make up in our own minds

So we've had "animal show", we had "faces and figures" we had "anything goes", we've had "unfiltered" The next one to open up the year will be "Carnaval" - so we've made up these things

It's just the managers get together and we try to plan out the year and figure out what themes of the shows might be and get down to it so that we have it figured out several months in advance

Entry Fees, funding and costs

That more difficult - we have entry fees associated with each show, so for instance our open exhibits is $25 for one painting, another five dollars for a second painting if you're nonmember - there's another five dollars attached to those things

In the unjuried shows we have a $25 fee for three pieces

We try to keep our costs at a minimum in terms of some publication materials we need, labels etc...

Here at this gallery we have security and HVAC to pay for, reception costs, things like that - there are costs associated with every show: approximately $1000 and that's the bare minimum so if there's a juror there's another fee on top of that

We do have some funding sources through For Culture and through the Bellevue arts commission - many of the art organizations get money from For Culture - that is a grants organization that funds some of the programs and activities of arts organizations

The prospectus

There's a lot. There are hanging criteria with how your image needs to be presented in terms of hardware on the back, finished edges, whatever - no sawtooth hangers and things of that nature

In this gallery we like it if you have not shown your piece in over a year - if you have in this gallery for past year we don't want to see it this year until a year passes

Make it very clear and simple and have two or three people read it and say does it make sense to you

I've written so many prospectuses now that I can almost do it in my sleep

I run it past graphic designers whose job it is to make things clear to their clients and so if you get it past them generally you've got a good prospectus because their job is to make sure people understand what their presenting

Advertising, social media

We have a couple people who intermittently advertise to social media, Facebook being one

I'm not very versed in that but I have people who can do that

We also have a number of media that we can send our blurbs for each show, they are free

Some of the newspapers will run a small blurb about your show - also free

Of course you can always pay for ads in Art Access which is an arts brochure that comes out four times a year and you pay for a certain number of lines

Here at the Seattle design center we have most of the art galleries that have formed together called Art at SDC and we share common reception times and events so that we can share in the expenses of overtime security and HVAC and advertising so we combine our resources and have a more coordinated effort that maybe 5 to 7 showrooms will be open at any given time, that gives a better shopping experience for whoever comes in

Jurors

I canvas my friends in the organization who have been around longer than I have in the art field in this community and get names and then go from there - just start calling and seeing who's available and willing

Usually it's somebody that has a long-standing art career in the community or the surrounding area in Washington state

We don't have the funds to go out of state and pay all the resources in terms of air flight and hotel reservations and things like that that other organizations have so we try to get mostly local and there are several out there - we're not wanting

A lot of people who enter shows paint for the juror - and the juror might be a well-known landscape painter - but that's not what jurors necessarily look at - what they want is a well-rounded show - they don't want just landscapes - they want abstract they want figurative they want all kinds of art to make a well-rounded show - so to paint for the juror I think is not a good idea

Awards

For our open show we have standard awards that we give each year: first, second and third like $600 for first, $400 for second and $300 for third

We have other lesser awards: honorable mentions and awards from companies like Daniel F Smith that deal with art supplies - so they may give awards: a $50 gift certificate to their store, $25 off of a lecture or class - some will give actual paints, sets of this and that

Some people enter the show because of the awards - if they don't have a substantial award they may not enter

I knew a person who entered only if they had a potential even getting the award - now that's a big if because if you have 300 entries into your show and there are only five or 10 awards it's not likely you're going to win, it's a lotto kind of thing - so you're always hoping

It's very nice to get any award because you can put that on your resume. I figure it's a plus, it's a feather in your cap

You call the award winners to make sure that they know they're getting an award maybe they'll make the extra effort to come to the awards ceremony

You have award ribbons you have award plaques that are placed next to the award-winning piece and then we have award certificates all these things have to be done for the artist and we have to make sure our treasurer gets the checks written and get them all in one envelope etc etc.

Shipping

Northwest Watercolor Society has people who enter their shows send all of their paintings - if they're from afar - through the Phoenix Art Restoration Company here in Shoreline in Seattle

It all goes to one place, they coordinate it, they bring it on one day to the show so it's no fuss

The insurance is all taken care of, the artist has to pay to send it to Phoenix, they also have to have a ready made pay slip to send back

We had seven out of country entries for the Northwest Watercolor Society last year and they had shipped from India, China and all over and back - it's not a small thing: they receive them, unpack them, bring them to the venue where the art is going to be exhibited and pick them up and ship them back

It costs $40 for the artist to do which isn't too bad