Emerging Masters at Festival of the Masters

Hello,I am a retired gymnast that has started dabbling in art in my spare time. I want to start doing art shows and recieved a call for entry from JAS for Festival of the Masters at Disney. It is in my back yard and they state that they have a new portion of the show, Emerging Masters, that doesn't carry the award requirement of the main show. Has anyone heard of this or know anything about this show that they can share?
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  • When I did Disney I stayed at my house an hour away.  No problem getting in and out.  The location is just off the main highway I4 and very easy to access. You will be able to park by the curb for unloading.  For some locations this is a long dolly and not for others.  It is flat sidewalk and not a hard dolly if you have a good cart.  I believe Disney also has carts available that you can use.  You can park in the main parking lot for Downtown Disney which is huge.  As far as setup and breakdown go it is not the easiest but not bad at all.

  • How do you get in to set up? Do they have an area close by to park and unload?

  • I got accepted in the Masters show, under the new emerging artist catagory, this will be my third show...

    I read where they are negotiating special rates for their hotels but they don't allow pets and I can't afford $200 per day to board my dogs. We'll have  to sty at a dog friendly hotel...If we're not staying on the Disney complex, but a hotel outside it, will it be more difficult to set up and to enter each day?

  • Thanks Lisa for replying to this thread and sharing some of the new information. We did the show last year. I do agree with Jim regarding layout and booth placement being less favorable in some locations. However, the show is well run, the staff is exceptional. Our area captain did a great job. We enjoyed the perks, the awards breakfast and had a great time. Sales were about what we expected with so many tourists.
    We got a great rate at a local hotel through price line bidding and hope we can do the show again this year. We looked at it as a relatively inexpensive mini vacation with the opportunity to sell art!!!

  • I've done this show off and on for many years.  I haven't done it for a while because I got tired of driving to Florida in November and then in February.  It is a really fun show to do because we are at Disney.  Don't expect to make serious money, though.  Think of it as a paid vacation.  I was never in a bad space, but, there are some.  I hope they never get rid of the "award" requirement because this keeps the quality of the show at a high level.  Unfortunately, some buy/sell has won awards at lesser shows and I hope the committee checks out the exhibitors thoroughly to disqualify those people.  I'm considering coming down again, this year. Jim, are you going?

  • Hello Daniele,

    I will answer your question via email as I do not want to derail the purpose of Roberto's thread. Anyone who has specific questions about the show can email us at wdwfestivalofthemasters@email.disney.com
  • Wow.  My tongue-in-cheek comment was read!  Thank you Lisa, for commenting and clarifying.   I hope everyone sells out completely at the show.  Or at the minimum has a really great time.  I can't wait until I have skill and product enough to partake, or at least apply!  :-)

  • Thanks Jim, we are glad you enjoy coming!

    Some of the changes for this year are:
    *We will be judging body of work and artwork will no longer leave the exhibit
    *We are introducing a "Festival Favorite" award (for the main show only) in which the public will vote for their favorite artist.
    *Our exhibit selection will become first come, first serve
    *We have changed our award structure and increase the amount of award money given. All award winners at the main show will now be invited back.
    *Emerging Master awards will count as a primary awards allowing those winners to then apply to the main show the following year.

    We know that we will be focusing the marketing to get the right local clientele at the event but the exact strategies are still yet to be determined.

    As for the layout, unfortunately we only have so much space at Downtown Disney to put tents. The layout will change slightly from last year but for the most part will be the same.
  • Lisa, thanks so much for hopping on and commenting! We always enjoyed doing the show, and visiting one of the many attractions at Disney. It's one of the best runs shows in Florida, with some of the most helpful volunteers in the business. I'd love to hear more about the changes, especially anything that gets the local art buying population in the Orlando metro area down to the show.

    Layout seems to always be an issue there. The first time I did the show, I was in the field, with the wood chips. The second time, I was in the shadow of Cirque de Soleil. Neither location was great for sales. It seemed as if the artists on the main strip between House of Blues and the south entrance did the best, with booths on the spur leading to the parking area doing okay. The booths on the lawn behind the main street never got as much traffic either. Are you planning to change the layout, or is it pretty much the same?

    Thanks again for posting!

  • Hello Everyone,
    I am part of the Festival of the Masters committee and have been working on this event for the past four years. Thank you Roberto for starting this blog. We are happy to know that there is some interest in this new portion of our show. We look forward to recieving your application if you choose to apply.

    I want to let everyone here know that this new portion of our show did not come out of a desire to make more money. Artists have been requesting for several years to take away our award requirements and let more people participate in this show. While we cannot take away the award requirement for the main show as it has been in place since 1978, we saw an opportunity to let artists that have not been able to meet our award requirements into the event. We also are giving award money away for this group, a total of $3000.

    Also, we recognize that this has been a very difficult show for a lot of artists to sell at because of our large tourist audience. Please be assured that we are trying very hard to get a better buying audience to the event but tourists will also be a big part of our attendance.

    We are working hard at many changes that we hope will better benefit the artists that participate in our event this year and in future years.
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