Effective July 1994
Revised March 2016
Revised October 2014
Revised January 2014
Revised April 2012
Revised May 2010
Revised December 2007
Revised October 2004
Revised October 1999
Revised October 1997
Revised June 1997
MOUNTAIN STATE ART & CRAFT FAIR EXHIBITOR POLICY
Policy
The purpose of this Exhibitor Policy is to clarify the guiding principles required of ALL Mountain State Art and Craft Fair (MSACF) exhibitors. It is the MSACF Board of Directors intent that this policy serves as the plan course of action designed to influence and determine decisions and action relative to MSACF exhibitors.
Categories of Exhibitors
Regular Exhibitors—Exhibitors that have chosen to submit an application to participate in the MSACF and have been juried by a panel of jurors selected by the MSACF. The MSACF Board of Directors will rank exhibitors as accepted, alternate, or not accepted. All individual exhibitors will be notified of their respective status no later than the 1st of January in the year that the fair will be held.
Jury Requirements and Process
All exhibitors must be juried in order to participate in the MSACF. A minimum of seventy-five (75) percent of total exhibitors must be West Virginia residents. In all other regards exhibitors are treated equally. Selection will be based solely on quality and overall balance of each Fair.
● Commercial molds or patterns and work made from commercially manufactured items such as bottles, styrofoam shapes or plastic forms are prohibited. Also unacceptable, work made from kits of any kind and any novelty or bazaar items that are mass produced. No commercial art or craft supplies may be sold at the MSACF.
● Kits and patterns may only be sold providing they are the original work of the exhibitor.
● Artists may sell reproductions of their work only if they are clearly identified as such and not sold as “prints”. In addition, those people who sell reproductions must have a reasonable selection of original work to display in their booths.
● The MSACF Standards/Professional Policy Committee will act on questions of professional practice, behavior, and related matters.
● Any product that includes copyrighted or licensed components, images, logos, etc. owned by a business, corporation, university etc. will not be permitted to sell licensed product in the MSACF unless the artisan has obtained written permission from the business/university who owns the copyright. Artisans must also provide copies of their agreements or permits to sell copyrighted or licensed product.
• Exhibitor selection is managed each year through a jury process. The exception to this process is the prior year's participants whose sales fell in the upper 25%. Those Exhibitor's are automatically invited to return for the next year's fair and will only be reviewed.
The following process will be utilized to jury regular, special, market place and prepared food exhibitors:
● Exhibitors will be permitted to sell or distribute only those works which were approved by the jurors. Any work exhibited which has not been approved by the jurors shall be removed at the request of a member of the MSACF Exhibitor Selections/Demonstrations Committee.
● Jurors will conduct on-site reviews of existing exhibitors at each Fair for consideration to participate in the following year’s Fair.
●Jurors will jury market place and prepared food exhibitors during the Fair.
● The Board of Directors may choose to conduct additional fall jury session for regular and special exhibitors.
● The MSACF Board of Directors will act on the recommendations of the jurors at a fall board meeting.
● Individual artisans who are members of affiliate and/or partner organizations & have submitted their art, craft or food products to the MSACF jury system and have been placed on the Not Accepted list are ineligible to participate in affiliate or partner members booths.
●All exhibitors are required to have their booth in operation during the established Fair hours to accommodate late fair attendees. Exhibitors breaking down early will not be accepted into the fair in the future. Exhibitors wishing to break down early must have approval from the MSACF Board of Directors.
●All booths shall be identified by a permanent name sign supplied by the exhibitor. Each booth should be attractively decorated in order to display the exhibitor’s work to his/her best advantage and enhances the Fair’s image.
●Tables should be covered with attractive tablecloths that completely cover the tables, including table legs. It is highly recommended that fabric tablecloths be used. Using plastic tablecloths is discouraged.
●All boxes, supplies, etc. must be stored in a way that they are not visible to Fair guests. Booth appearance is an important factor in the jurors’ recommendations.
●NO exhibitor is permitted to nail or tack items to the tent posts that are supplied by the MSACF. Any items placed on the posts will be removed and the exhibitor may be subject to a fine determined by the MSACF Board of Directors.
Sales and Commission
Exhibitors are expected to bring enough items to last the three (3) days of the Fair. Exhibitors may accept orders and commissions to be filled after the Fair.
●Each exhibitor will provide a sales receipt for each purchase. MSACF Board of Directors reserves the right to randomly audit any exhibitor’s sales records.
●The MSACF will not be responsible for any loss or damage to an exhibitor’s property. It is an exhibitor’s responsibility to provide insurance necessary for the protection of their goods and equipment.
●A commission of 15% will be charged on all sales. This includes orders paid in full or a deposit made on an order during the MSACF.
●All exhibitors are required by West Virginia State law to collect sales tax on the items sold during the MSACF.
●A copy of your WV Business License/Permit must be displayed prominently during the fair.
The MSACF Board of Directors is present during the duration of the fair to accommodate exhibitors and address their concerns. However, if any exhibitor displays unreasonable conduct or attitude toward other exhibitors, the general public, or the Board of Directors, the MSACF reserves the right to deny them participation as an exhibitor in future fairs.