Call for Art Info Session Highlights

Do you have questions about how the Call for Art works? Unable to attend our Call for Art Info Sessions? Here are some highlights and useful links so you still have access to the information.

Please note that this information is all available on our website in various places.

How is the Work Selected?

The jurors and curators look for originality, quality of execution, and thought provoking elements that instigate conversations.

2012 Visual Art Jury: Dan Savage, author, media pundit, sex advice columnist of “Savage Love”, and co-founder of the nationally recognized It Gets Better Project; Daniel McGlothlen, erotic art collector, bondage photographer, performance artist, and previous Festival artist; Ellen Forney, celebrated cartoonist and frequent Festival artist; Jim Duvall, award-winning photographer and founder of the Seattle Erotic Art Festival; Mistress Matisse, columnist, sexuality activist, and previously accepted Festival artist. Learn more about how the visual art selection process works.

2012 Literary Art Jury: David Jones, poet, performer with the Floating Mountain Poets, and frequent featured reader at the Festival; Evan Peterson, poet, fiction and nonfiction author, performer, editor, book reviewer, columnist and educator; Kyle Jones, published writer, educator and previous Festival literary artist; Priya, published writer, poetry and cross-genre editor, and previous Festival literary artist; and the fourth juror is to be confirmed.

Film Curated By: The Festival Director and a team of jurors from Three Dollar Bill Cinema, producers of The Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival and The Seattle Transgender Film Festival.

Installations Curated By: The Festival Director and Installation Art Director.

Performance Curated By: The Performance Director, internationally acclaimed performer, writer and director David Crellin aka Armitage Shanks.

Store Art Curated By: The Retail Director.

Who Should Apply?

Everyone 18 years old or older.
Emerging artists. The jury does not take name or reputation into account when selecting the artwork, so emerging and established artists are given equal consideration.
Established artists. On average, the Festival sells 25% of artwork in the exhibition and boasts even higher Store sales, with a competitive commission rate. In addition, your work will be seen by thousands: the Festival anticipates over 10,000 attendees in June.
If you were declined before. It is a new jury every year, so the same piece might be declined one year and accepted the next.
If you create something completely different than what we’ve shown before. The Festival strives to be new and different each year.

What Art Should You Submit?

We encourage you to submit your best work; the pieces that you are most excited or passionate about. We also recommend that you diversify your submissions. For example, provide a range of your work rather than five similar shots from the same photoshoot, or various versions of the same literary art poem.

Note: there has been a change in policy regarding the date of creation: artwork does not need to be contemporary (created in the past few years). The artwork just needs to be new to our event.

Tip: do not cater to the jury or select your art based on what was in previous Festivals. The jury is new each year, so they may select completely different pieces than were shown before.

What to Avoid (Common Mistakes)

Submitting art that is not yours. You must own the copyright.
Leaving watermarks or recognizable signatures on images of your visual art submissions, or your name on your literary pieces.
Registering and submitting on more than one account. Each Call for Art has a limit to how many submissions you can make, and we disqualify artists who try creating a second account to submit more art.
Contacting a juror or curator about what work to submit.
Submitting work that has already been accepted and shown at the Festival. (It’s ok if it has been featured at other events.)