From: fafhrd@lunacity.com (David Medinnus)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.fandom
Subject: Art Show Mail-In
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 92 13:23:04 PST
Organization: LunaCity BBS - (Clan Zen Relay Network) Mountain View, CA

Dave has so kindly agreed to post on my behalf 
-- Shawn Blanchette

While I am not planning on being drawn into a discussion 
regarding my dismissal as the Art Show Director for 
Confrancisco, or regarding my replacement be it someone
from the West or East Coast, I did want to offer my feelings
and past experiences in handling mail in art.  (And yes, 
while I was the ASD for Worldcon, I was fully planning to
allow it...)

I run a variety of shows in the Bay Area with attendees 
numbering from 500 to 3000, and with 20 to 200 artists
participating.  Mail in art has always been not only allowed,
but actively sought to provide a wider variety for the
convention attendees beyond those artists who attend every
convention, every year, plus all of those Art & Wine 
Festivals, Ren Faires, etc.  Yes, accepting mail in art 
requires additional effort on the behalf of myself and my 
staff, but I have always considered it worth the trade off 
to have work by the likes of David Cherry, Tom Kidd, Darrell 
Sweet, James Warhola, Robert Daniels, Patricia Davis, Laura
and Kelly Freas ...

Anyway, even before I opened a retail store, all mail in art
was mailed directly to me, not the convention or the hotel/
facility.  If I wasn't there to receive it, I went to UPS or
the Post Office and PICKED IT UP.  Maybe it took a few
minutes away from my life, but so does designing forms, 
copying them, mailing letters, etc., not to mention attending 
meetings and conventions.  I have always considered mail in 
art as part of offering the best show and convention possible 
to the fans.

Our shows are physically set up the night before the 
convention begins; for here not a particularly special point 
of negotiation with the facilty, but part of our standard 
way of doing business. When possible -- when the room can be 
fully secured -- we also allow artists the opportunity of 
early check in this night before, and the art show staff 
begins hanging up the mailed in art.  Any art not hung before 
we trundle off to our feather beds is then hung the next 
morning, the same time artists are checking in.  Of course 
we are busy then, but I try to have enough staff present to 
assist both the attending and mail in artists, and so far 
(knock on wood), we've always managed to get it up and open 
the doors at noon for convention participants.  Not all mail 
in art is always up by noon, but then, neither is all art by 
attending artists.  

Nor am I as hardlined about paperwork as the terrific team 
doing Dreamcon -- paperwork gets lost or delayed getting to 
artists from my end occasionally, and I am not going to 
penalize someone for being busy, especially if it is my fault
for the delay.  I or my staff will fill out paperwork when 
necessary for ANY artist attending or not, although we do not 
go out of our way to state this.  The penaties involved -- the 
occassional delays in getting bids on work due to delay of bid 
sheet hanging -- seem to be incentive enough for artists to do 
their own paperwork when possible.  And I don't know about 
other shows, but we do have plenty of dead time during the open 
hours, when any sort of paperwork is almost a pleasure 
("I'd rather be busy than bored").

Taking down the mail in art is done again as just a part of 
doing business and closing the show.  While the art show is 
closed to bidding during the auction on the last day, we are 
open for the business of buyer pick-up, artist checkout and, 
when time and staff available, mailed art retrieval.  Again, 
I try to schedule enough staff to help everyone.  When the 
convention is over, I take the art with me in however many 
trips it takes to get it home -- just part of the job.  And 
yes, getting it mailed back out is not fun, and sometimes it 
doesn't go out as quickly as I would like, and sometimes it 
comes back due to reasons known only to UPS or the Post Office 
and I have to send it again ...  But if I could find a job 
-- any job, volunteer or not -- that I enjoyed every duty
required, I would consider myself very lucky indeed.

With regard to insurance/art safety, as others have already
stated, out here it is the artist's responsibilty.  This 
includes not only mailed in art, but all art displayed at
the show, unless any loss or damage is due to the negligence
or willfull misconduct of the convention, its staff or agents.
(Any major calamity -- earthquake, flood, fire -- is covered
by the facility's policy.)  And all artists are told of this
up front in the initial solicitation which includes the show
rules and general information.  This may not make everyone
happy, but I have not seen any lessening of participants to
the shows out here.

Lastly (for this has gone on longer than I'm sure Dave will
be expecting), we do not charge an extra fee for mail in art.
(I do not consider return postage a fee -- rather an expense, 
nor do I consider the supporting membership a fee since all 
attending artists must have a full membership -- paid or as
consideration for participating in panels -- to the convention.)
Art show fees, whether called hanging, panel or commission
are to cover the costs associated with running the art show,
not as convention profit, nor as compensation for the time and
effort expended by staff.  At least not out here.  We are 
VOLUNTEERS, not employees, not profiteers.  And like the
artists, I and my staff know what it involved in doing the
show; if someone doesn't like the duties, they don't volunteer.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Medinnus -> (fafhrd@lunacity.com)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.fandom