You are invited to submit your application for admission to the 77th annual 57th Street Art Fair.

• Applications and images are submitted for consideration through the Zapplication webpage.

• Please carefully read the details prior to application, including our policy on reproductions, which are not allowed.  For information on this and on specific media categories see our pages on Regulations and Policies and on Media Categories, found under the For Artists tab.

• Please focus on Image Requirements before applying to show.  Information on this can be found at www.zapplication.org/imaging_tips.html

 

Digital Images

• Four (4) images are to be submitted for each individual media category entered by the artist.

  • Three (3) images (image #1-3)must be of individual pieces of work.

  • One (1) image (image #4) must be of a display of the artist's work, showing overall continuity and presentation of your current body of work.

• Images must be in 1920 pixel horizontal x 1920 pixel vertical format. Images must accurately represent the body of the artist's work to be exhibited at the Arts Festival. 

 

Artist Categories

• New Artist (if you have not exhibited in the 57th Street Art Fair before);

• Artists Applying in a New Medium (if you wish to exhibit work in a medium other than the category you exhibited in our fair previously); or

• Re-Screening Artist (we have asked you to re-screen) This year all new and returning artists in the Drawing, Painting, Sculpture and Wood Objects/Handcrafted Furniture categories are to be re-screened

 

Application Fee

Please submit a non-refundable jury fee of $45 with your application. Payments may be made with credit cards online via Zapplication or by a check made payable to the 57th Street Art Fair.  Mail check to 57th Street Art Fair, P.O. Box 15371 , Chicago, Illinois, 60615.

 

Returning Artists

Returning artists are considered those who participated in the 2023 Fair. If you are a returning artist, complete an application. In the checkout section, select the 57th St. Art Fair Jury Fee and click re-calculate. Enter the code you received via email into the coupon code field. Click re-calculate and the jury fee will be waived. Continue and submit. If you are a returning artist and do not enter the coupon code, you will be charged the $40 fee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jury and Selection Process

Each year, approximately one fifth of the artists exhibiting in the previous year's 57th Street Art Fair is asked to participate in the jury process.

 

For the 2024 fair, artists exhibiting in the following media will be re-screened:  Digital Arts, Mixed Media, Photography, & Printmaking. If you were a new artist in 2022 in one of these categories, you DO have to re-jury. 

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Potentially 75 new exhibit slots in all categories will be determined through the competitive jury process. The jury is composed of professionals working within the art community including working artists, art educators, curators, collectors and gallery representatives. The panel uses a blinded jury process to review a set of three images provided by each artist. The identities of individual artists are not disclosed to jurors.

 

Each juror will have three weeks to independently screen every application. The process, materials, dimensions for each image and artist information statements are made available to the jury. Artistic excellence is the sole criteria for selection of exhibitors. The panel is convened to discuss their rankings and the artists with the top scores will receive invitations to exhibit. High-scoring artists who are not initially invited to exhibit will be added to a wait list and offered the opportunity to exhibit should an invited artist decline to participate in the Fair.

 

Decisions of the jury panel and the Board of Directors of the 57th Street Art Fair are final. No juror comments are retained by the Fair and no scores are shared with artists.

 

During the Fair

The jury meets again to determine award winners and who will be invited back for the next year. Low scorers are juried out, but may reapply the following year.

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Acceptance of Offer to Exhibit

Any artist who is selected by the jury and all returning artists must notify the Fair of intent to exhibit at the 2024 Fair and submit a booth fee to the Fair by April 15, 2024. Failure to respond by the deadline may result in revocation of the invitation and immediate invitation of an alternate from the wait list. The applicant must keep his or her Zapplication profile up to date with correct contact information, including mailing address, email address and phone number.

 

Exhibit Fee

Upon acceptance into the fair, all artists will be asked to submit a $400 booth fee through Zapplication. This includes the City of Chicago Merchant Itinerant Fee that the 57th Street Art Fair is required to pay on behalf of each artist. Please do not send an exhibitor fee with your application.