“Why didn’t the jury pick me?” (Some thoughts on this probing question.)

There are, of course, many reasons why we don’t get selected by the juries of arts festivals. Many of these are subjective (not what the jury was looking for, it was before lunch and they were hungry, it was after lunch and they were sleepy, yours was the last images to be judged, etc, etc.). These reasons are not ones that you can have a lot of control over and are at the mercy of ‘luck of the draw’. But, there are two areas that I noticed last year that caused otherwise good artists to be rejected. The first is the booth slide (or image, in this digital age). Many artists will hire a professional photographer to shoot their work (because they are not very talented with a camera themselves) and then they will take that lack of talent with the camera and photograph their booth! So the jury sees these wonderful images of the work and then are dismayed when they get to the booth. In major shows your booth can account for 30% of your score (even though it is only 20% of your images). Shows that have a reputation for the fine arts and fine crafts also want to see fine booths. When you are displaying your work with other artists, the public sees the show as a single experience and if there are booths that look amateurish then the whole show begins to look that way to the spectators. This is why the jurors will put such a high value on how you are presenting your work because it will reflect strongly on the show as a whole.

The second, and more subtle, thing that I saw was the sharpness of the digital images. I’m not sure the jurors were consciously aware of the way that some images were ’soft’ to the focus but as a photographer I did see it. It may seem minor but when your score hangs in the balance, every edge you have may help. I am not going into a long dissertation on how to sharpen digital images but will merely say that ALL digital images need a little sharpening (maybe a little more than a little). Do some research on the image software that you are using and learn a bit about sharpening or find a 13 year old computer whiz and have them do it!
I hope this info is useful but remember that the sharpest images, with the best booth shot that is of art that the jury is not looking for, still won’t get in. (No one said life is fair…..)

How the jury works

Based on a recent conversation with an artist who was concerned that somehow my personal tastes in art would influence how the artists would be picked for the show, let me clarify my position. First of all, I am NOT on the jury and my juries are picked, not because they have the same tastes in art as I do but rather for their expertise in the arts. When the jury process takes place, they are instructed by me to pick the best of every style in every genre, and not to be picking what they personally like. We cannot show the public the diversity of the arts in Colorado if all of the artists were what I would buy or what the jury would buy for our personal collections. Quite frankly, that could be a bit boring (especially if it were only my tastes in art). Personally I have always enjoyed the festivals around the country that covered such a broad spectrum of work in each of the categories that I found myself anxious to see the next booth (and the next, etc) because of the inspiration that kind of diversity breeds in all of us. It saddens me when I hear that artists feel they need to alter their style or creativity in order to try to get into a major show since they feel that the show is looking for a certain type of art. I feel strongly that the shows should not be dictating (either directly or indirectly) the creativity of the artists, but rather the creativity of the artists should dictate the style of the show.

10th Anniversary Show is in the works.

After a very successful festival in 2007, we are hard at work on the 10th Anniversary show in 2008. We had great crowds and great artists this past Memorial weekend and the sales showed it. With over a half million dollars in sales the show has rebounded strongly from a few years of weak sales. Now the bar is set high for 2008 to really celebrate the artists of Colorado. The updated information is now on the website – http://www.DowntownDenverArtsFestival.com and the applications are available on http://www.Zapplication.org . Anyone interested in helping with the 2008 event should email or call us – 303-330-8237.

Now it is getting exciting!

As the show is getting closer, all of the aspects are starting to gel. We now have the 4-color multi page program that will be delivered to 200,000 Denver Post customers, in select markets, on Sunday May 20. There will also be print ads for the Post and the Rocky Mountain News. Radio spots will start soon, the signage is going up around the Pavilions and the United Artist Theaters have an ad running before the movies starting May 4. There are many other promos that will be done as the show gets closer.
We have 125 artists in the show and their work can be viewed on the website, along with their booth numbers and a map of the festival -
http://www.DowntownDenverArtsFestival.com .
This year’s event will be one of the best since the show’s inception thanks to the quality of the artists who applied to the show. Thanks for the support.

Everything is coming together.

With just under 50 days to go until the festival, things are really starting to gel. The artists have been selected and booth assignments are being worked on, we just signed with Qwest last week as a sponsor, the artists’ work is posted on the website ( http://www.DowntownDenverArtsFestival.com ) and we should have a major radio sponsor in the next couple of days. We had our first PR with an article in the Denver Post Business Section ( http://www.denverpost.com/ci_5510149?source=rss ) on Sunday March 25. I have received a lot of calls stemming from that article and it has helped with getting the word out about the show. We have signed a contract with our Non-Profit partners – Colorado Alliance for Arts Education and Young Audiences of Colorado. These two organizations have recently merged and will be using the Festival as their venue to announce their new name. They will be supplying the volunteers that we need to run the show and in turn they will run our beverage booths and will benefit from the profits and tips received. We are very excited to have partnered with a Non-profit that is focused on the Arts education of every Colorado child.
Things are really getting exciting now so stay tuned and I will try my best to update this soon.

What does “Colorado Only” mean?

I think it is important for every artist to consider what it takes to make the Downtown Denver Arts Festival a Colorado only show. As we come up on the deadline for applications (February 28), I want to say the quality of the artists is exciting and the number of artists applying is encouraging.

One question that keeps coming up from the artists is am I going to keep the festival ‘Colorado Only’? This is a decision that is not left up to me alone. Early on I said to all of you (in this Blog) that this is your show, not mine, so your support and involvement in all aspects of the show will make it the show we all want. What I find interesting is artists who are concerned about the show staying ‘Colorado Only’ but at the same time are taking a ‘wait and see’ attitude before applying. As a fellow artist I certainly understand taking that stance when a show has a change of management or has some other changes happen (change of dates, venue, etc.). But with a show that depends solely on the support of local artisans, ‘wait and see’ does not work.

Let’s look at the numbers. A national show will draw anywhere from 500 to 1200 applications (larger shows will draw over 2,000). The Downtown Denver Arts Festival can expect, on the high side, 300 applications. More realistically, that number is closer to 200. Now, imagine that 2/3 of the artists who would apply say, ‘I’ll wait a year and see how it goes’. Now the show has only 66 applications for a show that has 135 booth spaces. I know a lot of us aren’t great in math but even I know this would not work. At this point, let me be clear that the number of applications has been good. I am simply asking that all artists who want this show to succeed in the future as Colorado only, step up and apply. This is not up to a few to make the show succeed. And I alone cannot make the decision as to how this show will look in the future. We have a great show that has a great history of success. I am working diligently every day to make the show grow and become the show many of us knew it could be.
To be open to all of you about my involvement as director, I took this job with no guarantee of a paycheck. There will be no salary for me if the show does not succeed financially, so I am not asking you to do anything more that I haven’t asked of myself and that is to support the show. For those quick with a calculator and think that the show is making a lot of money off of booth fees, the facts are the show needs about twice what comes in from booth fees to run at the level we want it to run, so the booth fees are not a lot of money.

I want to thank all of you for reading all of this (I thought I could do this with less words!) and also know that I am very excited about the quantity and quality of the artists that I am seeing apply this year. I just feel strongly that all artists need to support the future of this show and not wait to see what happens. What will happen is the show will end up being open to National artists and many Colorado artists will blame some individual for this decision.

So to answer my opening question, Colorado Only means only Colorado Artists can make this show succeed.

The show is moving forward

Just wanted to let all of you know that behind the scenes the show is coming together. There are a lot of details that need to be done for the show to be a success and we are getting them done. The Pavilions continue to be a great supporter of the show and are working hard to make sure the show is a success. Applications from the artists are steadily coming in and the quality has been quite impressive. If you haven’t applied yet, I would not wait until the last minute if you want to request a specific area for your booth.

Applications are online now.

It has been a very busy month (and I’m not just talking about shoveling snow!). The application to the Arts Festival is now available online at www.Zapplication.org. The deadline for applications is February 28. Why get your application in early? Because the priority for booth requests and corner booths is based on when the application was received. Also, if there is any problems with your app or images, I am able to notify you and allow you to make changes. If you wait until the last minute, I won’t be able to do that. Already I have had several artists that needed changes made. Behind the scenes we are working on all of the aspects of the show that will help make it very successful for everyone. More details as those are confirmed. Stay tuned and stay warm……

Great Support for the Show

I want to thank all of you who have posted such positive comments for the future of the DDAF. In addition to the comments here, I have received many personally. The theme from all is a desire to build this show to the level we all knew it could be. I will do my best to achieve that goal.
I am working on the application process right now. The show will be on Zapplication around the first of the year.
Many of you asked what help you could offer to the show. The first part of that answer is to encourage artists to apply this year so we can elevate the quality of the art at the show. Secondly, I will need a staff of volunteers to help with different aspects of the show so if you know people that would love to donate some time and energy to the arts, please have them contact me. There will be a variety of positions available so I like to talk with people first to see what their interests are to allow them to work with projects they are passionate about.
Thanks again for the resounding “YES!” that so many of you have given for the future of this show.

If you want something done right, do it yourself…

Hi, My name is Jim DeLutes and this is my very first blog. I’m sure as time goes on and my knowledge of how this all works, this will have a lot more bells and whistles (maybe even some pictures!) Anyway, with that illustrious introduction, here we go….

After a bumpy road for the last few years for the Downtown Denver Arts Festival (formerly the Colorado Arts Festival), I felt it was time to step up and do something about the course this show was on. I have felt for many years that this show could be one of the best in Colorado and was disappointed with how it had turned out in recent years. This year when I heard that the show was without a director, I decided to put my time and energy where my mouth was and take the helm. I have been pleased with my meetings with the Pavilions (where the show is held) and the vision they have for the show.

What I want to do with this blog is keep people informed as this show starts to come together. Also, I would love to share ideas with the Colorado Artists who have participated in the past or would like to participate. Most of us know all of the things that went right and wrong with the show in the past, so I would ask you to give your most positive visions of how this show could be. We will have a website for the show up soon, so stay tuned…..