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Emerging Artist Program

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The Raymond James Gasparilla Festival of the Arts is proud to showcase the work of emerging artists, representing a diversity of styles and media, as part of our annual event. The purpose of the Emerging Artist Program is to recognize and showcase the artwork of up and coming artists who wish to establish themselves in a professional visual arts career.

A limited number of emerging artists will be selected to show in the Festival from the field of applicants through a jury process. Once selected, these artists are invited to participate in the Festival at no cost. They will also be provided with the use of an individual display tent and receive a $250 expense allowance.

Although these emerging artists do not compete with the other artists in the Festival for prize money, their artwork will be reviewed by the Festival juror and will be eligible for the $1,000 SkyPoint/Intown Group Emerging Artist Award.

Qualifications

Applicants to the Emerging Artist Program should not have an established record as a professional artist showing their work in museums, art centers, major galleries or juried outdoor art exhibitions. In addition, applicants must not have more than 25% of their total annual income derived from the sale of their artwork and must not be licensed professionally as a visual artist. Emerging artists must abide by the same Festival rules governing other Festival artists.

The deadline for applying for the Emerging Artist program is December 15, 2008. The Emerging Artist application must be accompanied by the artist’s resume and three color slides of their artwork.

Application and Release Agreement

Please read the application instructions below before sending. An application in PDF format can be downloaded for submission. Adobe Acrobat Reader version 5 or higher is required to view and print the application. This program is available for you to download at the Adobe Web site.

Download the Emerging Artist application.

Mail application, resume and slides to:
Gasparilla Festival of the Arts, Inc.
Attn. Emerging Artist Program
PO Box 10591
Tampa, FL 33679-0591

Application Instructions

  • Fill out the entire application and sign the Release Agreement; verifying that you qualify for the Emerging Artist Program. Applications must be postmarked by December 15, 2008. Notifications will be sent in January 2009 .
  • Each artist must submit three slides or digital images.
    • The artwork shown on three slides/digital images must have been produced since 2006.
    • The three slides/images must also represent the type of work that will be displayed in the booth.
    • Only work of the quality and type illustrated in the artist’s slides/images may be exhibited.
    • The GFA rules committee may eject an artist exhibiting work not represented in his or her slides.
  • Slides must be plastic- or paper mounted 35mm (2”x2”) and must fit into a Carousel 140 tray. Print the artist’s name, art medium and creation date clearly on the slide mount and mark the top and front of each slide. Indicate the size of the artwork. Slides should be labeled and secured in a slide sleeve before mailing.
  • Digital images should adhere to the following criteria, and may be submitted on cd-rom, dvd-rom or floppy disk:
    • Dimensions: 1920 pixels horizontal /1920 pixels vertical.
    • File Format: Baseline JPG (do not use progressive JPG format).
    • Compression : The image file size must be less than 1.8 MBs. To determine your file size please view the properties of your image file size while it is closed.
  • Applications must include a legal-size return envelope addressed to the artist with sufficient postage for returning slides.
  • Any on-site work must have written approval from the Festival Board prior to the start of the Festival.

Essential Festival Information

  • Applications must be postmarked by December 15, 2008.
  • Slides will be reviewed by a panel of jurors for invitation to the Festival.
  • The Festival takes place March 7 and 8, 2009.
  • A juror of national prominence will jury accepted original work Saturday, March 7, beginning at 9 a.m.
  • Awards and checks will be presented to the winning artists in person at the awards ceremony late Saturday afternoon. An artist must be present to accept his or her award before 5 p.m. Sunday, March 8, or he or she will forfeit the award.