Pier 5 Condo

It’s not that easy to get into a juried craft show. In some of the larger and most popular ones, thousands apply but only a few hundred are accepted. Still, that does not mean that you shouldn’t get disheartened. If you have belief in your skills, and you hone your craft as often as you can, I have no doubt that you’ll eventually get yourself featured in a juried show. Who knows? Maybe you can even win in your respective category.

Until then, however, do not be adamant against joining non-juried shows. They may not draw as much attention, but all you need to join would be a ready set of crafted works and time to call them up and have a booth reserved. Then that’s that! You’re all set to take on all comers.

But keep in mind that not all non-juried shows are worth your time and effort to attend. Do your background checks and see if you can find reviews or feedbacks regarding that event in the past couple of years. If a fellow craftsperson says it’s a bad place to display your goods, look into it a bit more carefully. You want to be cautious, but not so much as to pass up some good opportunities, as well.

One event that you should enter with great caution is the untried and craft shows that are only in their first year. In general, the event organizers are going to by tackling many issues for the first time, and they won’t be able to deal with them as adequately as their more experienced counterparts. In a nutshell, you’ll be their guinea pig if you go to these untested shows. I do not recommend it.

So there: Even if you have great confidence in your talents, it is a good idea to have a portfolio built up first. Once you have an impressive collection of photos of your works and a decent resume of your past fair histories, then you can go play with the big fish. So start building up that portfolio!