ArtPrize Blog
January 28th, 2010
If you were a part of registering for ArtPrize 2009 and part of the “matching” process between artists and venues (think matchmaker.com, but with artists looking for space to exhibit), you’ll notice a few changes this year. Based on feedback from artists and venues regarding the 2009 event, we’ve changed registration and matching for 2010.
In 2009, artists and venues registered simultaneously. During registration, we even opened up matching. This created some confusion and angst. Many artists wanted to base their work on a specific space, but new venues were signing up all the time. Venues wanted to know all of the artists registered before planning their show, but artists were securing venues as new ones signed up each day. Urgency for artists and venues to rush through planning was part of the first year experiment. However, it doesn’t need to be part of the future.
In 2010, venue registration, artist registration and matching will be broken out into separate time periods.
Venue Registration for 2010
Open: Monday, March 15 (Noon EDT)
Close: Thursday April 15, 2010 (5:00PM EDT)
Artist Registration for 2010
Open: Monday, April 19 (Noon EDT)
Close: Thursday, May 27 (5:00PM EDT)
Artist/Venue Matching Period for 2010
Open: Tuesday, June 1 (Noon EDT)
Close: Thursday, July 1 (5:00PM EDT)
We’ll start with venues. So, when artists register, they can plan their work around a known quantity of spaces available. Then artists will register. Venues can use this time to see who is joining and start planning a show. After artist registration ends, matching begins. Venues and artists will have had time to develop a “game plan” during the registration process, and many will probably have already begun talks informally. So, during the month of June, negotiations over the Hosting Agreement can take place and artists can formally secure venues. By the close of Matching July 1, there’s plenty of time to work on the logistics of staging an exhibition.
ArtPrize 2010, the event, happens September 22 – October 10
Download ArtPrize 2010 Official Rules
October 8th, 2009
We brought in Nicole Caruth, frequent contributor to the Art21 blog, to come, observe and respond to ArtPrize. While here, she interviewed four guests from the art world to give their thoughts and help shape the conversation around ArtPrize. Her own thoughts she collected in her “Eyes on the Prize” series.
See excerpts of Nicole’s interviews with:
Peter Murray, Founding Director of Yorkshire Sculpture Park
West Bretton, Wakefield (UK)
Adam D. Weinberg, Director, Whitney Museum of American Art
New York, NY (USA)
Michael M. Kaiser, President, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, D.C. (USA)
Mary Jane Jacob, Professor and Executive Director of Exhibitions and Exhibition Studies
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, IL (USA)
Read Nicole’s observations in her “Eyes on the Prize” series: Read More »
October 7th, 2009
It was going to be at Rosa Parks Circle, but due to the weather we moved the ArtPrize Winners Announcement & Celebration indoors, to the Steelcase Ballroom at DeVos Place, 303 Monroe Ave. NW. It is free and open to everyone.
Doors open at 6PM, tomorrow. There is no charge to attend. Starting at 7PM, enjoy performances by Bollywood Dance Troupe, blue13, Chicago’s Bucket Boys, New Century Shadow Dancers and – at 8:20 – hear the announcement of the winner of ArtPrize 2009. Celebrate afterward with blue13.
Food is available for purchase and a cash bar.
UPDATE: We initially reported $5 for a calzone and soda, but the price for the general public is $6.50. Volunteers, wear your red Ask Me shirt and pick up a meal ticket from Kathy, so you can eat free.
Sponsored by Meijer, Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation, Rick and Melissa DeVos, Daniel and Pamella DeVos, Douglas and Maria DeVos, Richard and Helen DeVos, VanderWeide Family
Who are the winners?
The winner of the $250,000 art prize is the artist with the most votes. Cast your vote by 11:59PM tonight.
August 12th, 2009
In the ramp up for ArtPrize, Grand Rapids Fire and Police will answer questions at a workshop called “L.O.C.A.L.”–Licensing, Operation, Capacity, Alcohol and Liability. (How do they always get their acronyms to spell something?)
This event is open to the public. It is not an ArtPrize event, but the local authorities hope that venues and others planning events around ArtPrize will come and have all of their questions answered.
The seminar is being held Tuesday, August 18, from 9:00am-noon at the Calvin College Gezon Auditorium, 3201 Burton SE, Grand Rapids, MI.
Seating is limited to 300 people, you must register by RSVP. Email LOCAL@grcity.us or call (616) 456-3900 for more information.
Download the announcement
August 1st, 2009
There are two weeks left for registered artists to secure a venue. Midnight, August 15 is the deadline.
Now that registration is over, venues can only secure a registered artist. There are two weeks for venues and registered artists to negotiate and sign a Hosting Agreement. However, signing the Hosting Agreement is NOT the final step. ArtPrize still needs to know you reached an agreement.
Know the Final Step!
How ArtPrize knows an artist and venue have completed the Hosting Agreement:
1. Artist/Venue sign the Hosting Agreement
2. Venue clicks “Secure artist” on artprize.org
3. Artist clicks “Secure venue” on artprize.org
FINISHED
July 30th, 2009
Tomorrow, July 31 at midnight is the deadline for Artists and Venues to complete registration, including payment.
After tomorrow there are two weeks for venues to secure registered artists. Deadline: August 15. (What happens to artists that don’t finish registration? See the bottom of this post.)
ARTISTS
Complete registration by paying your registration fee and uploading a proposed work on the website. (The work itself does not need to be complete until the event starts.) Finish registration here.
VENUES
Keep in mind, that after the registration fee is paid, a venue still has to be physically inspected and approved. Any venue that registers in the next 24 hours should plan on securing a very manageable number of artists. The time to send and receive Hosting Agreements after being approved will be very short. Be sure you know the Final Step (see below). Register here.
Know the Final Step!
You have two weeks (until August 15) to complete Hosting Agreements. Having a Hosting Agreement signed by both artist and venue is NOT the final step. ArtPrize still needs to know you reached an agreement. How you let us know is:
1. Artist/Venue sign the Hosting Agreement
2. Venue clicks “Secure artist” on artprize.org
3. Artist clicks “Secure venue” on artprize.org
FINISHED
What happens to all artists that have not finished registration?
Artists who began the registration process, but did not pay the fee by July 31, will still keep their online account. However, they will not be able to edit that account, nor secure a venue. Artists that have completed their profile and paid by July 31 can still edit their profile while they search for a venue. Artists that secure a venue by August 15 can continue to tweak their profile, while those that do not have a venue cannot.
When registration opens for ArtPrize 2010, those artist accounts that have been on “lockdown” because they either never finished 2009 registration, or never secured a venue, will be open to edit again.
July 22nd, 2009
Considering over 50 artists have secured venues in the two days since we hit 200, the following message is clearly not for everyone. For a few venues and artists out there who do not know…
THE FINAL STEP
Artists & Venues have until midnight, August 15, to complete the offline/online process of securing space
OFFLINE
Artist & Venue complete and sign a Hosting Agreement
ONLINE
Venue clicks “Secure artist” on artprize.org
Artist clicks “Secure venue” on artprize.org
FINISHED
Artist will appear on the artist list as “Connected”
July 20th, 2009
May 29, the ability for artists and venues to match went live.
June 4, just under a week later, the first three artists secured a venue.
June 12, a little over a week later, 10 artists had secured venues.
July 9, four weeks later, we hit the 100 artists mark.
Today, eleven days since the 100 artists mark, we hit the 200 artists mark.
The trickle has become a bonafide flow and guess what? Artists are looking for a place to stay. Will you open your house to an out-of-town artist?
Host an out-of-town artist
You can volunteer to become a House Host for an artist. Open up your home for as little as a weekend or four weeks. “Four weeks?” you ask. Yes, a handful of artists will be building and installing work here in Grand Rapids well before the start of ArtPrize on September 23. Check out the sign up form and decide. (Artists will not be able to see your name and address when browsing through the list of homes.)
Volunteer to help at the event
You can, of course, volunteer to help at the event itself. Just fill out the form here. Our coordinator, Kathy Wildt, is looking for about 1,000 volunteers (Whew!). She’s looking to fill two hour shifts with friendly faces and you will get a T-shirt.
July 20th, 2009
Many artists are in The Waiting Game, wondering when and if they’ll hear back from a venue. So, the question on most of their minds is, “What are venues doing right now?”
I’ve been asking the same thing, in more precise questions, to venues over the last week. In short, many of them are inundated with requests. More than a few report they spend 10-20 hours a week working on ArtPrize. A good portion are just getting ramped up and feel overwhelmed by the amount of artist requests, much less the prospect of diving into over 1,600 artists available on the website. We have volunteers waiting in the wings to help them if they need it. Read More »
July 14th, 2009
Tomorrow at noon, Mark Rumsey will join us for an artist chat on Facebook (view video of his work, One Thousand Arms). He’s currently Artist in Residence at Frans Masereel Centrum, the Flemish Center for Graphic Arts in Belgium. He began the Free Radical series in January 2003 here in Grand Rapids, MI to put art from emerging artists in underutilized, non-traditional spaces, a legacy ArtPrize hopes to build upon. (See Mark talk about Free Radical)
Excerpt from Mark Rumsey’s artprize.org page:
I perceive myself as an artist participating in the continuous construction of culture. By my nature I am a maker, I build, I manipulate, I create – the making process is what appeals to me. I align my making processes with conscious intent, trying to make things for a reason. This process leads me to making many different things, each mode a response to a certain set of circumstances. In every process the intent to affect change exists. In every process I am aware of my intentions. In every process I am open as the creative process suggests new paths. In the end, what I make is a manifestation of my creativity, intuition and will. As an artist I have positioned myself as a rebel, an agent of change. I have approached art making in terms of creating objects, images, and spaces that are that are confrontational, manipulative. My goal is to create situations that encourage viewers/participants to pose question about our social, political, and spiritual understanding of existence.
Mark Rumsey is a Grand Rapids based artist and you can learn more at his website, markrumsey.com.
Ask your questions now under the Facebook Discussion.
