As I was preparing my final round of paperwork today, I kept being reminded of my former life as a human resource consultant. I spent a lot of time in those days recruiting, selecting and placing hundreds of folks in positions with companies. More importantly, for every person placed were dozens that were not. Why?? Well there's all sorts of reasons and I really don't want to rehash too much of the past... but one reason is not taking the application seriously.
Now I admit that I was a tough critic, especially when getting a ton of applications for one position that needed to be filled asap. I've permanently "filed" plenty of incomplete, sloppy and grammatically-challenged first impressions. Now I do NOT want that to happen to me, especially when a few shows make up most of my revenue for the year. So when I complete an art show application, I put myself in the position of the selection committee faced with hundreds of applications for one 10'x10' piece of pavement.
So my advice... take time and care when preparing your applications. Supply all information requested, print clearly, organize your paperwork and remember that you only have one shot at making the first impression! And if that doesn't motivate you, think about the non-refundable application fee... that always makes me want to give them my best!!
A few more tips:
- make a file for each show to house info supplied and received.
- have a ready-made, short blurb about yourself and your work.
- send materials directly from the post office to avoid exposure to weather.
- pay careful attention to requirements and deadlines.
- pray!
Good luck everyone and come back to hear my thoughts on jury images!
