PLEASE NOTE;
The entry deadline has been extended until 11:59 p.m. PST on March 2, 2017, due to problems with the CaFE server on February 28.

Call for Entries
29th Annual Decatur Arts Festival
Fine Arts Exhibition

Presented by the Decatur Arts Alliance
Decatur, Georgia
May 23–June 11, 2017

The Decatur Arts Alliance invites artists working in all media to participate in the Fine Arts Exhibition of the 29th Annual Decatur Arts Festival. The exhibition is a juried multimedia presentation that contributes a fresh and unique perspective to the festival every year.

The Decatur Arts Festival draws approximately 60,000 people to downtown Decatur for a celebration of the arts that includes a juried Artists Market, Children’s Festival, New Dance, Literary Arts, Performing Arts Stage, and a Concert on the Square, as well as the Fine Arts Exhibition. This large audience represents a broad spectrum of knowledge and appreciation of the arts, and the Fine Arts Exhibition addresses this spectrum with a diversity of styles and media. Works selected for the show reflect a wide range of artists’ experiences and viewpoints, with excellence as a common thread.

EXHIBITION LOCATION
The exhibition will be in the Dalton Gallery at Agnes Scott College, 141 E. College Ave., Decatur, Georgia 30030. The Dalton Gallery is in the Dana Fine Arts Building. For directions, visit https://www.agnesscott.edu/maps-directions.html.

ELIGIBILITY
Artists are invited to participate in a juried exhibition of 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional works. Artwork will be chosen from submitted entries by a panel of three jurors on the basis of creative excellence and quality of execution.

• All works must be original and completed within the last two years.
• The sponsors are the final authority on eligibility.
• Works to be hung must be ready for hanging with any necessary hardware in place.
•  Artwork must fit through a standard door.
• Video presentations are eligible, but the gallery does not offer facilities for projection. Any selected videos will be shown on a flat screen or computer monitor.
* An artist entering an installation piece should be prepared to personally deliver, install, and de-install the work as needed. All physical requirements for installations are considered during the selection process.

RECEPTIONS
The opening reception of the Fine Arts Exhibition is Tuesday, May 23, from 5 until 7 pm, in conjunction with the Decatur Business Association monthly meeting. The exhibition closes with the Last Call party on Sunday, June 11, from 4 until 6 pm, which will include selected artists’ talks. We encourage exhibiting artists to attend both of these functions.

JURORS
Anne Collins Smith. Curator of Collections, Spelman Museum of Fine Art. Smith is a cultural curator, art historian, and cultural worker in the literary, visual, and performing arts. She received a BA in English and Art History from Spelman College and an MA in Visual Arts Administration from New York University. She served as an intern at the Cinque Gallery, and was the Romare Bearden Fellow at the Saint Louis Art Museum as well as the Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellow at the Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College, where she began to fuse interdicisplinarity with her curatorial practice.
      Smith’s interests include: arts, the economy, and social uplift; arts leadership; audience development; cosmopolitanism; the evolving role of the curator; material culture; public art; visual culture; and, African Diasporic continuity in artistic and cultural practices. She participated in the Art Leaders of Metro Atlanta; Independent Curators International’s Curatorial Intensive; Getty Leadership Institute’s Museum Leaders: The Next Generation; and Association of Art Museum Curator’s Mentorship programs. She is currently participating in the Burnaway Art Writers Mentorship Program

Yu-Kai Lin is the owner and Director of Kai Lin Art. He has worked with curators, developers, architects, and designers to collect art and has collaborated with teams to curate exhibitions and build collections for organizations including the High Museum of Art, The Hunter Museum of Art, a number of notable corporations and private collectors. Awarded by Atlanta Business Chronicle as a 40 Under 40, selected by Common Creative as a Top 50 Most Creative Atlantan,  and voted by Jezebel Magazine Best of Atlanta he has maintained an active role in the Atlanta arts community.
            Lin graduated from Emory University in Atlanta with a BA in Music: piano performance. He was honored as Emory University’s Alumnus of the Year  and was featured in The Atlantan’s Arts and Power issue. He enjoys teaching piano, his students, and the love and support of his family and friends. He founded Kai Lin Art as a contemporary art gallery to help make art happen in the Southeast and beyond.

 Phil Proctor is a professional sculptor practicing in Atlanta, Georgia.  He holds an MFA from East Carolina University and a BFA from the University of Southern Mississippi.  His permanently installed public art works can be found across the southeastern United States and Eastern Europe including at least seven large scale outdoor works in the Metro Atlanta area.  His outdoor sculpture exhibition record covers the Southeast and includes a solo exhibition at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Proctor has developed a professional reputation in the public art community through his involvement in the infrastructure of public art planning.  Some examples include his role as board member for the development of a public art master plan for the city of Suwanee and his initiatives leading to the first annual temporary outdoor sculpture exhibition in the city of Decatur.  He is also the owner of Nucleus Sculpture Studio where he provides the service of fabricating, transporting and installing the sculptural works of other well-known artists.

AWARDS
Best of Show -             $1,000
Gold Award -                   $700
Silver Award -                 $500

Purchase awards totaling $2,500 are selected by the City of Decatur, Decatur Business Association, and Decatur Downtown Development Authority for the City of Decatur’s public art collection. Additional purchase awards are being solicited.

SALE OF ART
Sales are encouraged. The Decatur Arts Alliance handles all sales and collects a 25% commission on all artwork sold as a result of this exhibition. All artwork for sale must be priced by the artist and so stated in the entry. Please be sure to include the 25% commission for the Decatur Arts Alliance in your price. The 7% Georgia sales tax will be added at the point of sale.
      An online catalogue is anticipated. Sales from the Fine Art Exhibition have increased each year and works from the exhibition have been added to private, corporate, and non-profit collections.

AGREEMENT
Submitting an entry form to this exhibition through Call for Entries (www.callforentry.org) constitutes an agreement on the part of the artist with all conditions set forth in this prospectus. No work accepted for the exhibition may be withdrawn before the close of the exhibition. After acceptance, the artist cannot substitute another work for the accepted one or change the sales price.
       The Decatur Arts Alliance reserves the right to refuse to install any work that, upon arrival at the Dalton Gallery, differs markedly from the images submitted or that does not, for any reason, meet the exhibitions standards of excellence.
      By submitting images of your work, you give permission to the Decatur Arts Alliance to use the images for publicity in the organization’s website, digital publications, press releases, Decatur Arts Festival publications (both print and electronic), and online catalogue of the exhibition.

ENTRY ETIQUETTE
Please understand that space is limited and if your work is accepted, another artist's has been denied. Accepted artwork is an integral part of the layout and overall aesthetic theme of the show. If you withdraw your accepted work, you are not only disturbing the balance sought by the jurors and installers, but also denying another artist the opportunity to exhibit his/her work. Please be considerate and do not submit the work you are submitting to the Fine Arts Exhibition to multiple shows with overlapping schedules.

LIABILITY
All reasonable precautions will be taken to ensure protection of submitted work upon receipt. Work will be insured for the duration of the exhibition. No liability can be assumed by the Decatur Arts Alliance during storage or by sponsors or personnel connected to the exhibition for damage incurred or loss of work while in transit. Artists are advised to arrange their own shipping insurance.

HOW TO ENTER
All entries are to be submitted digitally through www.callforentry.org (CaFÉ). Please retain a copy of the information you provide on the entry form. See Exceptions Below.
      If you have not registered previously with CaFÉ, setting up your portfolio is free. There is a $30 charge for entering up to three items in this exhibition, with up to three images per item. After completing the entry information, a credit card number will be required to confirm the entry process.

Please note: a credit card number is required for the first entry. If entering more than one work, artists should follow the instructions during the entry process for additional entries charged to the first payment.
      CaFÉ requires that all images conform to a specific format. The Decatur Arts Alliance encourages all entrants to review the instructions and tutorials for formatting images and entering before beginning the actual entry process.

Entries will be active on the CaFÉ website from January 9 through February 28, 2017, and all entries must be completed by midnight MST on February 28.

For technical assistance with your entry, please see https://www.callforentry.org/cafehelp.phtml, or contact cafe@westaf.org.

For questions about exhibition guidelines, please contact finearts@decaturartsalliance.org.

Participants may enter up to three pieces for one fee. Submissions will include the following:

• Contact information including mailing address, telephone number, email address, and website address (if applicable)
• Title of each work submitted
• Year artwork completed
• Brief statement about the work. This may include descriptive material. Limited to 75 words.
• Up to three images of each work submitted for jurying. If the work is a 2-D work, an overall view and at least one detail are recommended. If the work is a 3-D work, two alternate overall views and one detail are recommended. All submitted images must be formatted to the specifications outlined on the CaFÉ website. (http://www.callforentry.org/image_prep.phtml). By submitting images of your work, you give permission to the Decatur Arts Alliance to use the images for publicity in the organization’s websites, digital publications, press releases, Decatur Arts Festival publications (both print and electronic), and online catalogue of the exhibition.
• Image list numbered to correspond to the portfolio images submitted. Please include full photography credits as well as title, dimensions, and description of each work.
• Presentation/installation requirements for the work submitted including any special fixtures required

NOTIFICATION OF JURY ACTION AND DELIVERY/RETURN OF ARTWORK
Notification of acceptance will be by email only, no later than April 1, 2017 to the email address provided on the entry form, with “Notification of Jury Decision” in the subject line. Attached to the notification email will be instructions for shipment and retrieval of artwork, as well as a consignment agreement. Applicants not chosen will also be notified. No phone calls, please.
     Images of accepted work will be retained by the Decatur Arts Alliance for archival purposes. The exhibition will hang from May 23 through June 11, 2017, in the Dalton Gallery in the Dana Fine Arts Building on the campus of Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia.

The organizers:
The Decatur Arts Alliance (DAA) is a nonprofit partnership of artists, business owners, residents, and government dedicated to supporting and enhancing the arts in the City of Decatur. Founded in 1989, the DAA sponsors the annual Decatur Arts Festival and is a founding sponsor of the AJC Decatur Book Festival. The Fine Arts Exhibition has been a part of the Decatur Arts Festival since its inception. The DAA provides a collaborative environment to coordinate the interests of artists, gallery owners, theater groups, dance groups and performance venues within the city and helps make Decatur home to a strong arts community. The DAA is supported by membership, along with proceeds from the Decatur Arts Festival and the Decatur Wine Festival.
     To contact the DAA, call 404.371.9583, email admin@decaturartsalliance.org, or visit www.decaturartsalliance.org.

The place:
The City of Decatur, Georgia, is located just east of and adjacent to Atlanta’s intown communities and near the metro area suburbs. With more than 200 shops and restaurants in commercial districts around the Square and in historic Oakhurst Village, Decatur is a popular shopping, dining, entertainment, and arts destination. Twenty thousand residents live in Decatur’s quiet, tree-lined neighborhoods and downtown condominiums, and as the DeKalb County seat, Decatur’s thriving commercial community is the epicenter of county business. (www.decaturga.com)

Application Requirements

Eligibility Criteria