Please read the following information carefully. Many things have changed this year including requiring online application through ZAPP, accepting digital images, and accepting credit card payments along with checks for jury fees and booth fees. Despite these changes, we have not raised any of our fees and our event coordinators remain the same.
Charleston Crafts, Inc., proudly presents the Piccolo Spoleto Crafts Fairs for 2009. This marks the actual 30th year that this award-winning event has been a part of the Festival. We continue the tradition of offering fine crafts to Festival visitors in a historic outdoor venue. The events showcase the fine craftsmanship and quality being produced regionally and throughout the nation. In addition to the display and sale of crafts, artist media demonstrations are featured.
Piccolo Spoleto, produced by the City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs and the College of Charleston School of the Arts, is the official outreach festival of Spoleto Festival U.S.A. The craft events are two of the several hundred visual and performing arts events available to more than 250,000 people during the seventeen day festival. Events begin on May 22 and conclude June 13.
Location: Wragg Square is located one block from the historic Charleston Visitor Center in the midst of the redeveloped Marion Square area. The site offers a secure location on a route well-traveled by foot and vehicle. Adult admission will be charged. Patron attendance is expected to be 7000 each weekend. Four hotels with more than 600 guest rooms surround the area. There are a variety of restaurants, galleries, entertainment venues and other unique small businesses in downtown, historic Charleston. Two-dimensional visual artists from South Carolina will also be exhibiting their work across the street in Marion Square and should contact the Office of Cultural Affairs at 843-724-7305 for exhibit information. Local artisans also set up at the Farmer’s Market held in Marion Square. Concessions should also contact the Office of Cultural Affairs for information.
Event Schedules:
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Application Schedule:
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Event Promotion: National, regional, and local press information has already begun to go out. Regional gallery owners, interior designers and local arts patrons and groups will receive complimentary admission and notification of the events. A quality rack card will be placed at all visitor information points/centers in South Carolina and Charleston as well as sent to artists for distribution to their customers in the area. If you desire a large quantity of rack card invitation postcards to mail out, please let us know when you apply. Note: Images selected for event promotion are chosen from those submitted for jury.
Awards: A total of approximately $4 - 5,000 in merit and purchase awards will be distributed during the two weekend events. Show judges will be on site on Friday afternoon to select award winners.
Producers: Charleston Crafts, Inc., was formed in 1989 to provide local crafts artists a permanent gallery location, peer support, and to present craft art to the community. Exhibiting members manage the organization and the Gallery. Any net proceeds from these events are used to support these activities and future shows.
Rules:
1. All entries must be made online through ZAPP. Only digital images uploaded through ZAPP can be considered for jury.
Note: Many commercial services offer help converting your slides and setting up a ZAPP account. You can find a list of them on the ZAPP website or by searching online. Since this is the first year we have had this requirement, we have made arrangements with a local business to provide assistance for a small fee to those who need help converting their slides and/or setting up accounts on ZAPP. If you need assistance, please inquire before January 3, 2009.
2. Each artist must apply individually with one applicant/media per entry form. A “team” of two people producing a SINGLE body of work must enter as one applicant; both artists must sign the application.
3. No more than two media categories will be permitted per booth. If applying in two media, the artist is required to submit two applications, two jury fees, and two full sets of images, and ONE booth fee.
4. Earrings, holiday ornaments and similar small gift items must be a logical extension of a body of work and MUST be included in images for jury review. Jewelry may not constitute more than 10% of a booth unless a second application for jewelry has been submitted.
5. Any artist participating in these events must be present for the entire event and remain open during scheduled hours of event operation. Failure to maintain your booth presence throughout the event will result in suspension from future events. Assistants/helpers are not a substitute for artist presence. Unsupervised pets and children are not allowed in the event area or in artist booths.
6. Each artist agrees to exhibit at no other event in the tri-county area during participation in these events. You may not exhibit at other craft events or art shows in the area. Gallery and retail shop showings are permitted.
7. Works exhibited must reflect the caliber presented in the juried images. Artists not in compliance will be suspended from further participation and may be required to leave the event.
8. All fees must be paid in full by established event deadlines. Wait list artists invited to participate will be expected to pay fees upon acceptance of invitation to exhibit.
Acceptable to Show: Original works in printmaking, photography, clay, glass, fiber, metal, basketry, leather, jewelry, wood, musical instruments, heritage and folk craft, and mixed media. Each participating artist is required to be the one who conceived and executed the finished work exhibited.
Unacceptable to Show: Fine art paintings or drawings in any medium, hobby crafts, shell crafts, country crafts, decoupage, decal crafts, works made from commercial molds, kits or patterns, dried floral arrangements, mass-produced items, work using materials from endangered species, commercial re-sales. Salespersons or agents hired to operate the booth are not allowed; the artist must be selling their own work in the booth.
Eligibility: Any crafts artist, age 18 or older, may submit an application with images and fee(s) to be juried for acceptance. Artists may elect to jury for either or both events. Acceptance to one event does not guarantee acceptance to both events.
Exhibiting Members of Charleston Crafts (current and paid as of Feb. 1, 2009) are automatically eligible for both events and may forgo the jury process in their approved media. An application, and show fee(s) must still be submitted.
Screening Procedure: Each set of five artist images-four of recent work and 1 booth image-are viewed and scored by 5 jurors. Jurors are professional artists/gallery owners/curators/and arts educators. Quotas exist for each media to present balanced shows and are filled with top-scoring applicants in each category. Your images should reflect a cohesive body of your best work that you plan to exhibit. A booth image is required. Please submit quality images of work produced within the last 2 years. We cannot accept slides or photographs for jury.
Booths: Booths should meet the appearance depicted in the booth image submitted for jurying. All displays must present a professional appearance, with appropriate covering of all display to the ground. A 10’ x 10’ space is allotted to each artist although there may be some irregularities due to landscape elements. Up to 90 booths will be available each weekend. ELECTRICITY is NOT available. Generators are allowed only if they do not disrupt the adjacent booth(s) or the show. Smoking is allowed in open walkways only, not in the artist booths or in the storage areas behind and between booths. This is a public park setting and open container laws apply.
Security: Security will be provided both day and night; however, participating artists assume all responsibility for works displayed and their equipment.
Fees: $25 non-refundable jury fee per media. Booth fees are $195.00 per weekend or $390 for both weekends. Double booths are $390 per weekend. Exhibiting members of Charleston Crafts pay $150 per weekend or $300 for both weekends and are excused from jurying. There is a $25 fee assessed for bad checks and chargebacks.
Contact: piccolo@charlestoncrafts.org (preferred) Web: www.charlestoncrafts.org Mail: Charleston Crafts, Inc., PO Box 22152, Charleston, SC 29413-2152 Phone: Piccolo Coordinator at Charleston Crafts 843 723-2938 (leave message) Please leave information concerning your request and the best method and time to respond to your inquiry. We will respond as soon as possible
Application process:
You may apply to one or both weekend events. Apply only once even if you are applying to both events. We require 1 application, 1 set of images and 1 jury fee per media .
Create a free artist account on ZAPP (if you do not already have one) and upload your images. The ZAPP website provides step-by-step information about how to format your images and how to apply to a show.
Complete our online application form and pay the $25 jury fee. We accept Mastercard and Visa through ZAPP’s Paypal. You may also pay by check. Make checks payable to Charleston Crafts and send them to Charleston Crafts, Inc., PO Box 22152, Charleston, SC 29413-2152 Include the name(s) of the artist(s) on the check.
Artists are encouraged to fill out their artist statement and image descriptions through ZAPP and to answer the question about materials and processes on our application as completely as possible. This information will be made available to the artist selection jurors. We reserve the right to change the medium selected by the artists to correspond with our categories.
Artist selection is made based on jury scores and media quotas exist to provide a balanced show with a variety of media for each show. It is possible to be selected for one weekend and not the other. We maintain wait lists of qualified artists and fill vacancies up to a few days before the show starts. If selected for a waitlist, you may choose not to be further considered.
Artist notifications will be made online via ZAPP by March 2. Booths must be purchased and payments made by April 1. Artists who cancel in writing before April 1 are eligible for a refund of booth fees. No refunds for cancellations after April 1. Note: There is a $10 processing fee withheld for refund of fees.
Visit our website www.charlestoncrafts.org/piccolocrafts for site maps, information about hotels, and updates for participating artists.