How to Plan an Art Fair: Jurying, Booths and Fees

To plan an art fair, define the fair (juried fine art, open art show or mixed art and craft), choose a date and an outdoor or indoor site, open an online application with clear medium categories, run a fair jury, set jury and booth fees from your costs, lay out 10x10 ft tent spaces with artist access and emergency lanes, explain sales tax to artists, plan awards and judging, promote to collectors and the public, and write a weather plan before you need it. A juried outdoor art festival needs nine to twelve months, because artists book their show season early. The steps below focus on what makes an art fair different from a craft fair.

If your event mixes fine art with handmade goods, or you want the basics of venues, vendor emails and volunteer roles, our guide on how to plan a craft fair covers those in detail. This post goes deeper on jurying, booths and the outdoor details of a juried art festival.

1. Decide what kind of art fair you are running

• Juried fine art fair or festival: original work only, chosen by a jury, often with awards. Draws serious artists and buyers; needs the most work.
• Open or non-juried art show: first come, first served, often for local or student artists. Easier to fill and good for community events.
• Art and craft fair: a mix of fine art and fine craft, usually juried by medium.
• Gallery-style indoor art show: wall panels or pipe and drape instead of tents, common for school, club and winter shows.

Set the size to match your team: 40 to 80 artists is a realistic first juried festival; large established festivals run to several hundred artists over a weekend. Pick a date that does not clash with larger fairs within driving distance, because artists choose between them.

2. Choose the site

Outdoor art festivals run in downtown streets, parks, campus quads and waterfronts. Downtown streets bring foot traffic and partner businesses but need street closure permits from the city. Parks are easier to close but need a plan for grass, ground anchors and vehicle access.

• Space per artist: each 10x10 ft booth needs room behind it for storage and a path for load-in.
• Vehicle access for unloading, with timed load-in windows and remote artist parking.
• Power, if you offer it, usually for a small premium.
• Restrooms, water and shade for visitors and artists.
• Permits: street closures, temporary event permits, tents, food vendors and amplified sound. Requirements vary by city, so start with your city's special events office.

3. Build the application and medium categories

Most juried fairs take applications through an online jury application system, which collects images, takes the jury fee and lets jurors score from their own screens. A web form plus a shared folder can work for a small first fair, but a dedicated system saves hours once you pass a few dozen applicants.

• Medium categories: painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, digital art, sculpture, ceramics, glass, jewelry, wood, metal, fiber, leather and mixed media.
• What to ask for: artist name and contact, medium, a short artist statement describing process, three to five images of current work, one image of the booth setup, price range, booth size and power needs, and sales tax registration status.
• Rules: original work only, no reproductions unless clearly labeled and limited, no buy-sell or imported goods, artist must be present. Publish them with the application.
• Dates: open applications five to seven months out, close them about four months out, and notify artists within a few weeks so they can plan their season.

4. Run a fair jury

The jury decides the quality of your fair and its reputation with artists. Artists talk to each other about which shows jury fairly.

1. Recruit three to five jurors with different backgrounds: working artists in different media, a curator, a gallery owner or an art educator. Pay them or offer an honorarium if you can.
2. Jury blind where possible, showing images and the statement but not names, to reduce bias toward familiar artists.
3. Use a numeric scale, such as 1 to 7, scored on originality, technical skill, consistency of the body of work and booth presentation.
4. Score independently, then rank within each medium category.
5. Apply category caps so the fair has a balance of media; accept the top scorers in each category up to the cap.
6. Keep a waitlist by category, because cancellations are common.
7. Decide on jury exemptions, such as last year's award winners being invited back without jurying.

Our art contest judging rubric gives you scoring criteria and wording that adapt well to jurying applications as well as judging awards on site.

5. Set jury fees and booth fees

Most juried fairs charge two fees: a small non-refundable jury fee with the application, which covers review costs, and a booth fee due only after acceptance. Avoid charging the full booth fee before jurying; artists see it as a red flag.

1. Add up costs: permits, insurance, tents or barricades, security, restrooms, marketing, awards, juror honoraria, artist hospitality and staff.
2. Divide by the number of spaces you expect to fill, not the number on the map.
3. Add a margin and compare with fairs of similar size and attendance in your region.
4. Set tiers: standard 10x10 ft, corner, double 10x20 ft, and power as an add-on.

Publish the refund policy, payment deadline and what happens if the fair is cancelled for weather. Clear terms prevent most disputes.

6. Lay out booths and tents

The 10x10 ft pop-up canopy is the standard outdoor art fair booth, and many fairs require white canopies with sidewalls for a consistent look. Require weights on every leg; 40 lb per leg is a common minimum, and your city or insurer may set its own rule. Stakes are usually not allowed on pavement and may need approval in parks because of buried utilities.

• Back-to-back rows with a 3 to 4 ft gap between rows for storage, or single rows with access behind.
• Aisles wide enough for crowds and a clear emergency vehicle lane, usually set by the fire department.
• Mix media along each row so visitors see variety; avoid clusters of the same medium.
• Corner spaces suit sculpture and large work that can be viewed from two sides.
• Anchor areas: an information booth, award ribbons display, artist hospitality tent and a children's art area.

Number every space and send each artist a map with their number, load-in window and parking. Return-artist seniority, where past artists get first choice of space, is common and helps rebooking.

7. Explain sales tax and insurance

Many states and some cities require artists selling at temporary events to register and collect sales tax, and some require the organizer to collect permit numbers or report on artists' behalf. Rules vary, so check with your state and local revenue departments and put a plain summary in the artist packet. Most cities and insurers also require the fair to carry event liability insurance; many fairs ask artists to carry their own coverage too.

8. Plan awards and on-site judging

Awards give artists another reason to apply and give the fair a story for the press. Common awards are Best in Show, Best in each medium, Juror's Choice and a People's Choice vote. Cash prizes, purchase awards from sponsors and a jury-exempt invitation to next year's fair are the prizes artists value most. Judges walk the fair on the morning of the first day, score booths on the same rubric, and ribbons go up before noon so visitors see them. Announce winners on social media the same day.

9. Promote to buyers, not just visitors

• Feature artists in weekly posts and emails; buyers come for specific work.
• Give artists a graphic, a caption and a link to share with their collectors.
• Partner with galleries, museums and art schools for cross-promotion and juror recruitment.
• Local media arts calendars and features on award winners.
• Sponsors such as banks, hotels and downtown associations can fund awards and promotion.

10. Write the weather plan before the fair

Wind is the biggest risk at an outdoor art fair, because a gust can lift an unweighted canopy into a crowd. Decide in advance who watches the forecast, the wind speed at which artists must lower canopies or close, how you will tell every artist quickly (a group text and runners), where visitors shelter in a storm, and whether you have a rain date. Publish the weather policy, including refunds, in the artist agreement. Overnight security for multi-day fairs and a booth-sitter program so solo artists can take breaks round out the artist experience.

Once artists are accepted, Map D's vendor fair software puts your festival map online so artists pick a space and pay, or send a request you approve first, with space types and prices you set, and it can track each artist's certificate of insurance. You can draw the floor plan for one event on a free account; publishing it and selling spaces need a paid plan.