Dear Artist,

Minnesota Center for Book Arts and The Shop at MCBA invite you to apply to participate in the eleventh annual Book Arts Festival on Saturday, November 17th from 10am to 5pm. The Book Arts Fest celebrates the art of the book in Minnesota and beyond. This event is dedicated to the promotion and sale of artists’ work and an appreciation of the book as an embodiment of artistic expression. The Fest is free and open to the public.

This year MCBA staff will be reviewing applications based on the quality of work as well as overall variety of work and mix of the old and new. If you have participated in the past, please be prepared for this application process to be more competitive; not all who apply will be accepted. All new vendor applicants are required to submit digital images representative of the work intended for sale (email to kobermeyerkolb@mnbookarts.org). We also encourage previous participants to submit images that can be used in publicity.

Within the studios, we will have room for up to 40 book, paper and print artists to exhibit and sell their work. We encourage you to engage our audience by bringing your own project to work on during the sale and create your own artist demonstration. We see this event as an excellent opportunity to educate the public on the vast possibilities of book arts.

Unfortunately, we are no longer able to offer credit card processing services for vendors. New financial accounting protocols and associated liabilities to MCBA prohibit this.

Marketing efforts for the Festival include a direct mail postcard, extra postcards for artists to send to their own mailing lists, local holiday gift guides, press releases to local news outlets, postings on the MCBA website and announcements in MCBA e-Newsletters and social media.

To Apply:

Fill out the enclosed application and drop it off in person at The Shop at MCBA, or send it in by mail or email (kobermeyerkolb@mnbookarts.org).

Minnesota Center for Book Arts

Attn: Book Arts Fest

1011 Washington Ave S, Suite 100

Minneapolis MN 55415

To Participate:

All applications must be received by November 2. Payment must be made to reserve your table. We accept cash, checks, VISA, Mastercard, Discover and PayPal. Please make sure to mark on the form your first and second choices of table size, and pay the appropriate amount for your first choice.

We will review applications on a rolling basis as they come in, and will let you know the status of your placement quickly. If you already have work in The Shop, we kindly ask that you do not remove it for the Festival.

Sincerely,

Karen Obermeyer-Kolb

The Shop at MCBA

Press release and application form available at: