Clarifying Points and Myths about ZAPP™

• ZAPP™ was built with the artist applicant in mind and employs a user-friendly interface that facilitates fast and trouble free applications to art shows. ZAPP™ is advised by a group of artists and administrators, or the Artist Advisory Committee, as well as by individual artists who use ZAPP™ to ensure that the system is constantly improved in ways that respond to artists' needs.

• The ZAPP™ team cannot provide advice or opinions regarding the quality of images that artists have uploaded into the system. The Tutorials and Resources section within the ZAPP™ system provides a listing of professionals who can help artists prepare images for jurying. If an artist already has digital images on hand, these professionals can review already-formatted images and provide advice regarding their quality.

• All images in the ZAPP™ system are required to meet ZAPP™ specifications [link to image specs?]. If your images do not meet these requirements, in some cases the system may make minor adjustments to them to allow an artist to upload the images into the system. If such a change is made, a message will appear alerting the artist to the nature of the modification. Examples of such modifications include: ZAPP™ will convert alternative colorspaces into the sRGB colorspace, progressive JPEGs will be converted into baseline JPEGs, and the system will reduce square images larger than 1920x1920 pixels. If an artist is not content with how their images appear on ZAPP™, the artist may need to reformat the image or apply color correction to the image. For further information on this process, please refer to ZAPP™'s Image Preparation section.

• ZAPP™ is proud to offer a very secure online environment. Please know that artists' high-resolution images are not accessible at all via the Web interface - this applies to both artists and art fair managers. Please see the Security section of the ZAPP™ site for more information about our secure environment.

• The ZAPP™ system does not pre-jury, jury, or otherwise judge artwork in any way. ZAPP™ is a Web-based tool that allows art fairs to administer application and adjudication processes more efficiently. Beyond providing an interface for art fairs to conduct their juries, ZAPP™ has no involvement in jurying or in directing any art fair processes or policies.

• Each art fair determines and controls its own jury environment. The ZAPP™ system offers a number of different platforms for the adjudication of artwork, but does not dictate the options that must be used. Events may have slightly different jury settings based on the event's individual funding availability, administrative preferences, location, technical limitations, and other factors. For example, an event may need to work in a setting that has more ambient light, longer throw distances, or other factors.
  
  In an effort to ensure continued professionalism in the field, the ZAPP™ team offers recommendations for professional jury settings. ZAPP™ does not, however, dictate specific standards for the jury environment. Artists should contact events directly to discuss their policies on jurying methods and image viewing specifications.

• Artists who have started an application in the ZAPP™ system are listed in the Started status. At this point in the process, administrators do not yet have access to an artist's application. Once an application is officially submitted, the status moves from Started to Received. At this point, the art fair to which an artist has applied can view the application.
  
  Delivering applications to a show is an automated function that occurs every time an applicant submits an application by completing the checkout process. The ZAPP™ system does not hold any applications, nor can it prevent them from moving to the Received status. The ZAPP™ team cannot manually move artists to or from the Received status. An artist can find out if a submitted application was successfully received by viewing the status on the My Zapplications page of the ZAPP™ system or by monitoring her registered e-mail account for confirmation of a successful submission. If an artist believes that an application may not have been received or reviewed by an art show, we encourage the applicant to contact the art show directly.

• The ZAPP™ system does not offer this option to event administrators. All applications that are submitted through the system automatically move into the Received category, and are immediately available for review by art fair administrators.

• ZAPP™ provides an Web-based, art-fair management tool for events - and nothing more. Once an event licenses ZAPP™, ZAPP™ team members work hard to assist artist applicants when technical issues arise, however, ZAPP™ system limitations do not allow ZAPP™ team members or administrative users to shape or influence acceptance to shows. If an artist's acceptance rate has declined following a transition from slides to digital images, the artist may consider hiring a professional photographer to ensure that her work is being presented in the best possible way.

• Each event using the ZAPP™ system creates its own rules and regulations. When artist applicants have questions about eligibility, application content and protocol, fees, adjudication processes, and other issues related to the management of an event, they should contact the event's administrator directly.

• ZAPP™ is free for artists to use. There are no fees charged to artists when they create a profile or manage a portfolio of images. Most events charge an application fee when artists apply and each event determines its own fee structure. Application payments made by artists to events are processed through ZAPP™ and then sent directly to the event. Questions about application fees and other fees should be directed to the event administrator.

• While artists' transactions are processed through ZAPP™, application fees are sent directly to the event. Only event administrators can authorize a refund, which means artists must contact the event to which they have applied if they would like to request a refund.

• While we strongly encourage all ZAPP™ events to be professional, open, and ethical about event policies and procedures, each event is solely responsible for updating information specific to that event on the ZAPP™ Web site when changes in event policies and procedures occur. Each show is responsible for enforcing policies and following stated procedures specific to their event.

• While ZAPP™ makes it easier for artists to apply to shows, event directors have indicated that, in some cases, the number of applicants remains the same. While a few events have experienced a modest increase, others report slight declines in application numbers. The ZAPP™ team encourages artists to read about each event's jury methods, policies, success rates, and artistic preferences, then contact the event administrator in order to better understand the competition for that particular event.

• ZAPP™ has no affiliation with the ArtFair SourceBook, which is a national index of all art shows, festivals, and fairs.

• The ZAPP™ site only lists art show applications for shows that have decided to use ZAPP™ for their application process. You may view all of the events that use ZAPP™ by looking at the site's Participating Shows list. Events not on this list use alternative application processes and are therefore not listed in the ZAPP™ system.

• ZAPP™ is managed by the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF), a non-profit arts service organization with extensive experience in the development of technology services for artists and arts administrators. When the Eastman-Kodak corporation announced it was discontinuing slide projector production, WESTAF worked with nine art fairs and festivals and the National Association of Independent Artists (NAIA) to develop an online art fair application system.
  
  The ZAPP™ system is a tool that has been - and continues to be - developed based on advice received from both artists and art fair administrators. The ZAPP™ system does not make policy decisions about the administration of art fairs. Rather, ZAPP™ is a Web-based tool that administrators and artists can utilize in order to increase efficiency and effectiveness.

• The ZAPP™ technical support team is available to help artists who need assistance with the process of sizing their images to the 1920x1920 specification. The ZAPP™ Help section of the Web site also offers tutorials on how to size artist images. However, the ZAPP™ team cannot resize images for artists.