SAQA's robust regional exhibition program expands the variety of exhibition opportunities available for our members. Each region is responsible for handling the details of its regional exhibition, from developing the theme to issuing the call for entry through planning the traveling schedule.
Even though regional exhibitions are separate from the Global Exhibition program, it is important to follow the guidelines outlined below. This applies to juried exhibitions, non-juried showcases, and regional trunk shows - all types will require approval. This ensures that each region has a well-thought-out plan for the exhibition and that a consistent level of professionalism is maintained from initial planning to completion.
Not a Regional Rep? If you are interested in coordinating a regional exhibition in your region, please make sure you contact your Regional Rep first. If there is no Regional Rep for your region, contact the Regional Representative Coordinator.
PROPOSALS
The first step in planning a Regional Exhibition is to develop your Exhibition Proposal (downloadable form), which will help pull together all the necessary details. In addition to defining the requirements of the call, you will need to find an appropriate venue (or venues) and develop a budget. The final step is to get your proposal approved by the Regional Exhibition Coordinator.
If you have any questions about completing the proposal form, please contact the Regional Exhibition Coordinator at regionalexhibit@saqa.art.
- Regional Representatives (or their agents) must file a proposal at least four weeks in advance of issuing the call for entry.
- Only approved regional exhibitions will be allowed to use the SAQA name and logo in their exhibition title and have access to publicity materials.
- Approved regional exhibitions will also have access to SAQA’s umbrella insurance coverage
- Please note - SAQA does not award prizes, monetary or otherwise, for regional or global exhibitions
Regional Exhibit Proposal blank (doc) - select File / Download to make a copy of this form.
VENUES
Prior to approaching a venue, please use the Regional Venue Request form to send us your list of venue requests for approval. This is to avoid conflict with the SAQA Global Exhibition venues.
It is important to choose suitable venues that will display the artwork in a manner that is consistent with the professionalism of our members. Venues should provide adequate insurance and appropriate security.
Each region will negotiate fees and commissions with its venues individually. Only the venue is allowed to take a commission, at an amount to be negotiated with the regional representatives or their agents, and not to exceed 50% of the sale price.
Many venues will have their own contract which will need to be reviewed and signed by SAQA. Send contracts to regions@saqa.art for review. If the venue does not have a contract, you can use the document below:
SAQA will take NO commission on the sale of works, and neither can the regions, regional representatives or their agents, curators, or any other persons involved in the development or organization of the exhibition.
Regional representatives or their agents should strongly urge the venue(s) to enter into a contract with each artist (with the assistance of the regional representatives or their agents). As each region will act autonomously in their dealing with the venue, any issues that arise involving the sale of works will be the responsibility of the region.
When an exhibition is not on display, you must ensure that all artwork is stored and transported securely.
INSURANCE
SAQA has an insurance policy on behalf of the artists in SAQA exhibitions, including approved regional exhibitions. SAQA will arrange to provide insurance for the artwork during the exhibition and while it travels until it is returned to the artist. We do encourage our exhibiting venues to carry their own insurance as well. However, we advise artists to separately insure their artwork as not all losses or damages may be covered by insurance.
To obtain insurance coverage, the curator must send a list of works and their values to the Regional Rep Coordinator, regions@saqa.art after the exhibition has been selected.
The manner in which the art will be insured should also be clearly stated in the prospectus so that individual artists can purchase their own insurance if needed.
JURORS
If a juror is used, he or she must be independent of the exhibition. They must be from outside of the region, or if in the region, they should not be a SAQA member. The juror(s) should be identified in the prospectus and a brief biographical statement included. The Regional Exhibition Coordinator will recommend a qualified juror upon request.
If a juror honorarium is required, it must be included in the budget. Requests for juror payments can be made online at: www.saqa.com/accounting.
ELIGIBILITY
The call for entry must be open to all SAQA members in the region(s). Membership must be current as of the call for entry deadline. The inclusion of members in other regions (or who have your region selected as a second region) is at the discretion of the regional exhibition committee.
To ensure that all entries are juried equally, invited artists MUST be stated in the prospectus and juror artwork on display should be identified clearly as such.
CALL FOR ENTRY / PROSPECTUS
After the Exhibition Proposal is approved, a Call for Entry Prospectus must be created. This should be completed and sent to regions@saqa.art a minimum of one month before you are ready to share with it your region.
The prospectus will inform potential applicants about the exhibition requirements such as:
- Overview of exhibition theme/concept
- Juror Information (and brief bio)
- Policies and Guidelines
- Entry requirements for applicants
- Important dates
- Entry Fee
To create your prospectus, use the Prospectus Template (Automatically downloads)
Sample versions of prospectuses can be viewed on the Regional Call page.
Send the Prospectus to the Regional Rep Coordinator, regions@saqa.art.
Please send the prospectus to SAQA before promoting the call to your members. This ensures that it is also available on the website – not everyone in your region will read their emails or visit a blog/Facebook page.
Confirm that the entry fee is available in the SAQA Store (www.saqa.com/fees) when your call opens. You will also receive information from SAQA about how to view payments made for the entry fees.
Here is some information on the Life Cycle of a Call for Entry to help you understand the process.
Regional Exhibition Prospectus Template - Automatically Downloads
ONLINE CALL FOR ENTRY SYSTEM
If your region is interested in using the SAQA Call for Entry system for your approved regional exhibition, please contact info@saqa.art for more details.
Two options are available:
- Submission Form Only ($75)
- Submission Form and Airtable integration ($200)
Training for the Airtable integration is usually done closer to the end of your call period or after the deadline. It will cover the basic administrative tasks and how to prepare your database for jurying. Regions can continue to use Airtable for exhibition administration if desired (catalog planning and event tracking).
You do not have to use the SAQA Call for Entry system. Other options are available.
BUDGET AND MONEY MATTERS
Regions must include a proposed budget as part of their Exhibition Proposal. Regional exhibitions must be self-funded – basically, exhibition expenses should not exceed income (entry fees and sponsorships).
Prior to seeking sponsors (using sponsors is optional), send your list of potential sponsors to regions@saqa.art for approval to approach them. This is to avoid conflict with all SAQA requests for sponsors.
Regional grant funds are available for the approved regional exhibitions – this requires the completion of a grant application and review by the SAQA grant committee. Contact grants@saqa.art for more details.
Regions are expected to maintain accurate financial records of all receipts and expenditures and be prepared to share the records with involved parties. Regions must also keep accurate records of the exhibition artwork (artist contact information, title, and value of each artwork) as well as the venue(s), location and exhibition dates.
It is highly recommended that entry fees be paid online via the SAQA Store. Any mailed entry fees or sponsorship income must be submitted to SAQA in a timely manner.
An online form for sending money is available at: www.saqa.com/accounting. This form can also be used to request reimbursements for exhibition expenses. If you are not a Regional Rep, please contact your Rep first before using this form.
EXHIBITION PROMOTION
Once your exhibition has been juried, it's time to promote and share your members artwork. Be sure to complete the online event submission form to add your exhibition to the SAQA online calendar. For more tips and resources, check out our resource below:
Maximizing Marketing for Regional Exhibitions
RECORD KEEPING
An important task of any regional exhibition committee is to maintain the history of your exhibitions. This is helpful for archival reasons as well as informing future volunteers about where your exhibitions have traveled. This doesn't have to be anything complicated but do make sure that other people have access to it - a shared google or dropbox drive is recommended.
Keeping track of this information on an ongoing basis will help with promoting future exhibitions as prospective venues may ask for a CV or resume type of document.
As a starting point, you can create a single document that is appended with the following information for your exhibitions.
- Exhibition Title, Juror, and Theme
- Exhibition Schedule (venue, location, and dates)
- Accepted artworks (artist / title)
- Sales History
Ideally, you should also have sub-folders for each exhibition, including artwork images, artist and venues contracts, sales history, etc. The key is storing this information in a shared drive that multiple people can access. Need help setting this up? Please contact us at regions@saqa.art, and we would be happy to assist.
Call for Entry Prospectus Samples
Example: Local Color - NoCal/NoNev (doc)
Example: Marie Webster - Indiana (doc)
Example: Stitched - Florida (doc)
Example: Inspirations - NoCal/NoNev (doc)
Contracts
Juror Contract (doc)
Resources
Using SquareSpace for entry submissions - by Shannon Conley (PDF)
Helpful Suggestions for Installing Your Regional Exhibit (PDF)
Suggestions for Working with Venues by Kate Themel (PDF)
Tips and Etiquette for Working with Galleries (PDF)
Shipping Tips and Suggestions by Bill Reker (PDF)
Rep Calls:
Regional Rep Call - Regional Exhibitions with Betty Busby, Cynthia Levis, and Amanda Snavely
Maximizing Marketing for Regional Exhibitions with Jennifer SolonThe SAQA Call for Entry Systems with Jennifer Solon
Regional Portfolios with Sarah Aubry, Shannon Conley, & Cynthia Levis
All about Regional Exhibitions with Betty Busby, Cynthia Levis, and Jennifer Solon
Karol Kusmaul: Thanking Volunteers & Diane English: First Time Entries for Regional.Exhibitions
What Works Videos:
How Regional Exhibitions Benefited the Florida Region (Nancy Billings)
We encourage regions to create printed catalogs for their exhibitions - it is a great way to promote your member artwork and keep a historical record of your regional activity for the SAQA archives.
Be sure to include a line-item in your budget for graphic design or find a volunteer in your region who is familiar with publishing software (InDesign is the most commonly used one). You will also need to include printing costs in your budget if you are not using print-on-demand printing.
Over the past few years, most of our regions have used on-demand printing of their catalogs instead of printing a large number of catalogs ahead of time. This allows you to space out your catalog purchase instead of having a large expense all at once (and maybe ending with a lot of leftover catalogs to get rid of).
SAQA currently uses Kindle Direct Publishing (Amazon) for on-demand printing, and this service is available to our regions (see KDP section below). We also offer regions the use of SAQA's issuu.com account to share digital versions of your catalog.
Kindle Direct Publishing
Visit the KDP Instruction page to learn more information about how to make your catalog and print it using Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).
When you are ready to upload your files, PLEASE DO NOT USE YOUR OWN AMAZON ACCOUNT - contact info@saqa.art to find out how to log in. You will receive the necessary login details and other information.
Once your catalog is designed, upload it to KDP in a high-resolution PDF format. Once that process is complete, you can order sample copies in addition to any wholesale copies for your venues, artists, and sponsors.
To request reimbursement for your catalog purchases through KDP, use the online accounting form. You will also use this form to send money earned from in-person catalog sales.
Using KDP, you can also easily add your catalog to the amazon.com store. In addition to being an easy way for individuals to buy your catalog, each sale will provide your region with a small royalty.
Catalog royalties will be posted to your regional account quarterly. You can access online reports through the KDP account.
Issuu
SAQA is offering an easy and exciting new way for your existing regional exhibition catalogs to be hosted as flipbooks online. You can see some examples of the flipbooks from our regional exhibitions by clicking here: https://issuu.com/saqaart/stacks/1cd34a570bfe4e0e90bc043c19c2eb21
This is a great way to share the art from your regional exhibition (preferably within the last 2 years) with the public and expand the audience for your region’s art. To participate, all you have to do is upload your catalog PDF files (see details below). After SAQA has had a chance to upload the catalogs, we will send you back a link to the flipbook you can share and the HTML code to embed the flipbook on your website or blog.
How to participate
- Create a single PDF file of your exhibition catalog. For the flipbook, the first page of the PDF should be the front cover of the catalog, the second page of the PDF should be blank, and the rest of your catalog should follow.
- Save the PDF as a reduced-size PDF (the file needs to be less than 25MB).
- Fill out the short form and upload your file here: https://airtable.com/shrNBarQv6Woum01t
Regional Exhibition Coordinator (Betty Busby) - regionalexhibit@saqa.art
Reps Coordinator (Desi Vaughn) - regions@saqa.art
Website Questions - info@saqa.art
Contracts (Reps Coordinator) – regions@saqa.art
Grant Information – grants@saqa.art
Accounting - accounting@saqa.com
