During Your Stay
Exhibit Hours
The Artists Market is open 12 noon – 8 pm daily. Your booth must remain open for business during these hours unless the Market closes for a brief period due to a weather emergency. Any abandoned booth – one that is closed during Artists Market hours, unattended, damaged, or erected in an unauthorized space – will be removed by the Festival.
Three Rivers Arts Festival reserves the right to change the hours of the Artists Market at its sole discretion.
Authorized Personnel
All Festival personnel can be identified by Festival credentials. Many will also wear shirts that say “Festival Staff” or “Festival Crew.” Representatives of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, our parent organization, can be identified via Pittsburgh Cultural Trust ID card. Other authorized personnel within the Artists Market include our private security force, Gateway Center personnel and Pittsburgh Police officers, all of whom wear uniforms. No one else is authorized to represent the Festival and/or Hertz Gateway Center. Report anyone impersonating a Festival representative to Festival staff.
You’ll receive mobile phone contact information for Festival staff and crew members when you register. Please keep this information handy in your booth.
Artist Hospitality
Festival staff are on-hand at all times during the Festival. The Artists Market Office is located on the first floor of One Gateway Center. There is always water available there.
Saturday Breakfasts
We hope you will join us for a complimentary breakfast on Saturday morning during your stay. Artists and registered assistants are welcome. Award winners are announced at this breakfast each week. You will receive more information at registration.Booth Sitters
Volunteer booth sitters are available to watch your booth while you get a bite to eat or run to the restroom. To take advantage of this complimentary service, sign up on the Booth Sitter Request Form at the Artists Market Office (on the first floor of One Gateway Center). Requests are filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Booth sitters are unable to make sales on your behalf or handle any money.Roving Volunteers
You will also see helpful people with Volunteer credentials periodically walking through the Market grounds. Feel free to stop them with requests for assistance.Artist Restrooms
Gateway Plaza generously allows Artists Market participants to use the restrooms in One Gateway Center. (Hooray for indoor plumbing!) To access the restroom, request the key from security. Please do your best to keep the facility clean and neat out of respect for our hosts. Don’t forget to return the key. Present your tag to the security desk for the key only. Do not ask the Crazy Mocha Coffee Shop for their restroom key–it is only for their immediate customers.
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Security
Three Rivers Arts Festival takes security seriously, and we take every precaution to ensure that the Artists Market is safe for exhibitors, artwork and patrons. The Festival provides 24-hour security. Unfortunately, pickpockets and other professional thieves target large public events as potential opportunities.
We ask you to be vigilant. Construct your booth and display with the security of your artwork, cash and credit card receipts in mind. If you see anyone who arouses suspicion, notify Festival personnel and/or a security officer immediately. Do not hesitate to report any security concern. Please make us aware of every incident, no matter how small you might think it is, so that we can continue to make the Festival a safe and secure event.
Weather
Festival personnel are constantly in touch with the National Weather Service. We make regular announcements via the PA system regarding the weather. While we want to have as many operational minutes at the Market as possible, we ask you to comply immediately with any weather-related instructions. As always, these rules are designed to keep you and your artwork safe. Severe weather and high winds can be dangerous.
Weather notifications are color-coded as follows:
- Festival Green: Rain. Protect your artwork as necessary but remain open for business.
- Festival Blue: Severe weather expected. Close tent flaps as necessary and secure artwork.
- Festival Red: Severe weather, extremely high winds and/or thunderstorms. Close your booth immediately and seek shelter.
All that said, do not close your booth unless instructed to do so. You may not close your booth without permission from Festival staff. If a weather emergency necessitates a temporary closure, stay nearby so that you are available as soon as the weather emergency subsides.
Lost Credentials
If you lose your Festival-issued ID credential, you must purchase a replacement tag at the Artist Hospitality tent for $5. Festival security will not permit anyone to conduct sales or work in Artists Market booths without the appropriate credential. More importantly, you won’t have access to indoor plumbing without your credential.
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Pets
No pets are permitted on Artists Market grounds. Do not keep your pet at your booth. See kennel information if you need to board an animal during the Festival.
Judging and Awards
Three Rivers Arts Festival awards $10,000 in prize money over the course of these events. Each weekend is judged separately, giving all participants equal chances to win awards. In addition, artists with the highest site juror scores are automatically invited to participate in the next year’s Artists Market. Site jurors review the work displayed at each exhibitor’s booth between 12:30 and 3 pm on the Friday of your session. If the judges ask you questions about your work, please feel free to answer them, but do not engage in any active lobbying. Jurors will place a colored sticker on your booth sign to signify that your jury is complete.
Additionally, local photographer Larry Berman has generously donated a new award, granting professional photographer’s services valued at $250 to two chosen artists (once each weekend). Recipients may choose to either have 4 pieces photographed, or have 10 digital images enhanced to help their artwork look its best.
Awards are announced at our Saturday morning breakfasts.
Courteous Behavior
Fortunately, all exhibitors at Three Rivers Arts Festival are mature, responsible adults. As such, you know that behavior that infringes on the ability of other artists to conduct business is unacceptable.
Exhibitors may use radios and other sound and audio-visual equipment in your booth only with the full consent of exhibitors in the surrounding area. Volume must be kept within reasonable levels. Sensitivity to other exhibitors should be observed at all times. The Festival reserves the right to limit and/or prohibit the operation of sound and/or audio-visual equipment.
Please Follow the Rules
We’ve worked long and hard to produce a quality event. Failure to comply with our rules and regulations compromises the work of other artists, the reputation of our show and/or the safety and security of participating artists, staff and patrons. Repeated and/or egregious failure to comply will result in your expulsion from the 2011 Three Rivers Arts Festival Artists Market and make you ineligible to participate in future Festival events. We don’t want that to happen! So please just don’t:
- Be a no-show. When you don’t show up, it means someone else didn’t get a space. We hate it when you don’t show up. And we remember forever.
- Be late. Empty booths look bad, and setting up during the show looks worse.
- Attempt to sublet all or part of your booth space.
- Display works by an artist who was not listed on your application.
- Display works, accepted or not, by an artist who is not present.
- Display work which is not comparable in size, style and quality to the work in the images you submitted to the jury.
- Display any sort of jewelry if you have not been accepted in the jewelry category.
- Display ribbons and awards from any show except the 2011 Three Rivers Arts Festival.
- Abandon your booth or close your booth early.
- Bring lighting equipment that requires more than 500 watts of power.
- Show up at the Market site without registering at the Load In Staging Area (June 2 & June 9) and waiting for directions from Festival staff.
- Disregard the express instructions of Festival staff.