A Step-by-Step Guide for Applying to Exhibit at the Fair

Click links on the list below to go directly to each section

• Step 1 - Preliminary Decisions & Choices

• Step 2 - Preparing Your Text Information for Zapplication™

• Step 3 - Preparing Your Images for Zapplication Upload

• Step 4 - Using Zapplication™

• Step 5 - Saving Your Application Information

 

If you have arrived at this page, we can assume that you are either intending to, or are interested in, responding to our call for artists and in participating in the New Mexico Arts & Crafts Fair.  This page offers a detailed roadmap of the NMACF application process.  If you first read over, then follow these steps, the process will be made as easy as possible.

 

If you have any questions along the way, please contact the NMACF office at:

 

info@nmartsandcraftsfair.org

or call 505-884-9043.

 

• The New Mexico Arts & Crafts Fair is a juried exhibit and all artists must apply every year to be considered for the annual show. Please be aware that the fair only accepts artists who are at least 18 years old and who reside in New Mexico.  You will be required to show proof of residence before being allowed to exhibit.

Like a great many other art fairs, festivals and shows, NMACF uses an online application processing service called Zapplication™.  "Zapp™" is a free service, where you will provide your contact information, details requested in our application, and examples (pictures) of your artwork. Zapplication™ will do a technical review of your application to make sure it is complete before submission and they will also collect your Jury Fee.

 

Applications for the June 2012 fair are now available on the Zapplication™ website. You may wish to read/download the Fair Prospectus: [Released by Standards Committee on November 1, 2011] Adobe PDF Format    MS Word DOC Format

NMACF offers a free workshop for those wishing to learn more about the application process through Zapplication™:

December 17, 2011 (Saturday - 10am to 12pm)

Workshop: How to Apply using Zapplication™
Conducted by: Margot Geist
Location: NMACF office...
2501 San Pedro St NE, Suite 110
Albuquerque, NM 87110 / 505-884-9043

Zapplication™ stores your application information, along with that of the other prospective exhibitors, until the published application deadline of January 28, 2012.

This ends the application process itself.  On a schedule set by NMACF, Zapplication™ will transmit all completed applications to NMACF.  Our jury(s) will then convene and begin the hard task of selecting artists and craftspeople to invite to the Fair.  If  you are invited to exhibit at the Fair, you will proceed to the next phase of the process, detailed in our Ready..Set..Go! section.

 

Please Note Some "Fine Print" None of the information or content on this or previous websites is, in any way, intended to supersede the information contained in the official NMACF prospectus, exhibitor contracts, direct mail/email contacts, advisories or other official communications.  NMACF is not responsible for the information, website content or representations offered by Zapplication™, nor for any changes to their terms, policies, performance or website content.  Outcomes from the use, misuse, interpretation or misreading of this website are the sole responsibility of the website visitor.  All website information is subject to change without notice.

Deciding to Apply: The first decision one has to make is whether or not to apply for the Fair.  We encourage you to review this website and any NMACF publications at your disposal.  You may wish to decide whether the Fair is a good "fit" for your art or your practice.  The Fair has guidelines regarding the nature and appropriateness and subject matter.  The Fair is a high-quality event, offering fine arts and crafts, and is not open to sales of commercial or manufactured goods.  Further details are available here.

Scheduling: You may also wish to decide whether the fair fits into your current schedule.  The Fair set-up and exhibition takes place June 21 thru June 24, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Ample time should be allowed for jury image and booth preparations, travel and on site duties.  All artists must be physically present at the fair for the full three-day exhibition schedule.

Selecting Jurying Artwork: Before continuing with the rest of the application process, you must select which of your pieces to use with your application.  You will need 5 representative examples the work will be exhibiting at the fair.  Again, reviewing examples of other work from other artists at other fairs may be useful in making your selections.  However, it is obviously your decision.

This is the only chance you will have to show your artworks to the jurors who select exhibitors for a show. In general, these should be your best pieces and show your quality craftsmanship and design abilities as an artist.  Other considerations may come into play, such as marketability.

Booth Selections:  Before logging onto Zapplication™, you should have put some thought into what kind and size booth you wish to request.  While final decisions and payments are made after acceptance, you will be asked to provide booth information along with other application items.

It cannot be stated often enough...if you have any questions, regarding any aspect of the fair, call the NMACF offices at the number below and get authoritative answers.

Once you have decided to apply, you must open a (free) account with Zapplication™ to apply for the Fair.  It is wise to do so before you engage in the actual application session described in Step 4, below.  Get comfortable with the overall site first.  Then, request to apply to the NMACF event and review the information required for completion.  Do not try to complete the application, at this point, unless you have done so before and are comfortable doing so.  Review the application presented and make a detailed list considering the following:

Make a complete check list of the items (form fields) required to complete the form.  This may include your biography, artistic methods and/or philosophy, descriptions of your work in general, descriptions of individual pieces in you jury images (including media category, dimensions, price, title, brief caption/description of image/methods, etc.), booth request information, other fee-based items, and so on.  This information can vary from event to event, subject to the authority of the Fair Board and Committee, and should be reviewed every year.

Note the text length and character counts for each field on the web-based forms as you will be restricted to "x" number of words or, more likely, "x" number of characters.  Spaces and punctuation will count in your text entry lengths.  Knowing this in advance can allow you to prepare your text entries on a simple text editor (such as MS Notepad) for "cut and paste" into the actual form, or to write them out for transcription into the form.

Note the price and item description information.  If you are pricing an item in a frame or if their are additional features/options which do not appear in your sample image, it may be well to advise the jury of what the price involves.

Note that dimensions requested are normally expressed as WxHxD (Width x Height x Depth) and that two-dimensional works should show a depth of "0".  You should measure your work before logging on to Zapp.

Preparing all this information in advance and having it in front of you when you do the actual on-line application session will be of great value and convenience to you.

Images for Application: If you read the material above, or that published elsewhere by NMACF, you know that you will be required to provide five digital photographic image files of five different representative pieces of your work.  You will need five photos for each category you are applying for

We have several useful tips on improving your images here.

Image Preparation and Specifications: All images must be properly formatted to upload them to Zapplication™ successfully so that the jury can view them to the best advantage.

The following image format guidelines are as described on the Zapplication™ system and will work fine for NMACF.

• Dimensions: Larger than 1400 pixels on the longest side.
  * Note: the ZAPP™ Team recommends sizing all images to 1920 pixels on the longest side to take advantage of the full image quality potential during presentation to juries.

• File Format: Save all images as Baseline Standard JPEG (.jpg). Do not save as a Progressive JPEG.

• File Size: JPEG files must be under 2.0 MB (2 megabytes).

• Color space: Save images in RGB color space, preferably sRGB.

When you have your text materials and upload images prepared, you are ready to log onto your account at Zapplication™ and complete your actual application.  The site has adequate help features and the process should be somewhat painless.  Always remember that you can save your application in mid-process and come back to it later for completion.  One of the most common problems is rejection of an image you may be trying to upload.  The upload software will usually tell you what is wrong with the image so you may repair it and continue.  But, this usually means going offline for the repairs and risking that Zapp's server will "time-out" while you are gone.  So, again, be sure to save your application before leaving the site.

To log-on to Zapplication, click this link:

After you have submitted your application at Zapp™, it will be stored and later submitted to the NMACF jury.

You're almost done with the first phase!