Dear Show Director,
Welcome to the first issue of "The Independent Director", the periodic communication for Art/Craft Show Directors. This free communication is designed as a method of dispersing great information on producing shows from and for show directors. Each monthly issue will focus on some aspect of show production with explanation of real-world situations faced by real shows. Why is NAIA doing this? To recognize terrific efforts of show directors and staff.
The next issue of "The Independent Director" will be about Safety at shows. Safety of people, art and property. It will include the actual "Post Show Report" from The Omaha Summer Arts Festival which was hit by a severe storm this summer. This issue will be published next week, so look for it in your email inbox.
In the beginning, with very, very limited resources of money and manpower, NAIA targeted the big shows hoping that any influence we had would spread to smaller shows. That was a very successful strategy at first. Case in point: "slide labeling". The initial problem with slide labeling was two-fold: there were hundreds of different requirements for slide labeling that artists had to abide by and very often staff would mistakenly load artist jury slides into the projectors in the wrong direction. NAIA consulted with directors to find a solution and the "Red Dot Slide Standardization" was born. This method solved both problems which helped shows and artists alike. By having a standard, artists could save money and resources by using individual slides to apply to more than one show. After loading the slide carousels, show staff could take a quick look to verify that all the red dots were visible on the top outside perimeter and know the jury slides were loaded correctly. Almost all shows adopted this standard. As slides are phased out and replaced by digital images NAIA continues to work for standardization of digital images as well.
As the years have progressed NAIA has been reaching out to all shows of all sizes and levels. From the big dogs like Main St. Fort Worth and Cherry Creek Arts Festivals, to the middle shows like Peoria and the Royal Oak Clay and Glass Show, and even to the tiny shows such as the Marion Arts Festival with only 50 exhibitors. NAIA has always striven to work cooperatively with art shows in order to save and improve this Great American Phenomenon. It is in both our interests. To further that goal we hope you find this new publication useful.
Those of you that are NAIA Contributing Member shows should have received my monthly "Updates" by email since January of 2007. If not, please contact me through the email address at the end of this post. The "Updates" are monthly reports to the membership on all the activities of NAIA, a peek at current discussions on the Member Forum, announcements and news. This year we decided to add a second update of sorts specifically for art shows. This was to be authored by our Executive Director, but since we do not currently have one, I have taken on the task until we can hire a new ED.
A separate important avenue of communication for Show Director Members is our Online Member Forum. We have recently added a "Show Director's ONLY" area of the forum where NAIA Director-Members can discuss anything with each other. No artists, not even the Board, have access to the Director's Only section. The well-known and respected previous Director of the Uptown, Minneapolis show, Cindy Fitzpatrick, has agreed to be the monitor for this area. NAIA Director Contributing members can gain access to this forum by registering here.
To join NAIA as a Contributing Member go to this page and click on the "Contributor" link in the left column.
Thanks for reading the premier issue of "The Independent Director" and watch for the second issue on Safety at Shows in your email box next week.
Sally J. Bright
NAIA Board Chair
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