1. Artists apply online to http://www.zapplication.org by midnight (Eastern Standard time zone) on Monday, March 31, 2025. Submit one application per category.

2. Submit a twenty dollar ($20), non-refundable jury fee. Please pay with a credit card via ZAPPlication®, or mail a check payable to "City of Kettering" to Rosewood Arts Center, 2655 Olson Drive, Kettering, Ohio 45420, or call (937)296-0294. The payment must be received by application deadline or the application will not be accepted.

3. If applying in more than one category, you will need separate ZAPP profiles.

4. Booth fees are required after notice of acceptance and are due Thursday, May 29, 2025. The booth fee is paid directly to the City of Kettering by check or by credit card (you may not pay the booth fee through ZAPPlication®). Accepted artists must sign the artist contract agreement which will be provided with acceptance notification. Submit your booth fee and a signed copy of the artist contract agreement to Rosewood Arts Center, 2655 Olson Drive, Kettering, OH 45420 or call (937) 296-0294.

5. If it becomes necessary to withdraw from the show, please contact Rosewood Arts Center immediately. Deadline for a cancellation with a booth fee refund is Friday, June 13, 2025. After that date, no booth fee refunds will be issued.

6. Applicants must apply online through ZAPPlication®. It is in your best interest to prepare your images to 1920 pixels square (with black borders masking rectangular images) and upload these prepared images to your ZAPP profile. While the system will automatically add black borders to any images not already meeting those requirements, we encourage artists to prepare images to meet those requirements prior to uploading them to their ZAPP profile.

Jury Process

The jury for Art on the Commons consists of three arts professionals with a wide range of artistic knowledge. Jurors are selected for their experience and expertise in a specific media and serve on panels in their area. A diversity of backgrounds and skills is sought, including artists, educators, fine art and craft gallery owners and museum directors/curators. A new panel of jurors is selected each year to allow for fresh perspective. Jurors for 2025 are TBA. The jurying process is done by category and is anonymous. Factors included are presentation, quality, originality, technical ability and booth display.

Categories

Ceramics: Original thrown or hand-built objects created in earthenware, porcelain, stoneware and terra cotta. Ceramic artworks are created for functional use. No forms of mass production are permitted. *If artists include ceramic jewelry in their festival display, they do not need to submit a separate application for jewelry, as long as jewelry is less than 20% of the inventory exhibited in the booth.

Fiber and Leather: Original works including basketry, embroidery, weaving, leatherwork, tapestry, needle felting, and wearable art. No machine-tooled, machine-screened patterns or miscellaneous forms of mass production are permitted. *If artists include jewelry in their festival display, they do not need to submit a separate application for jewelry, as long as jewelry is less than 20% of the inventory in the booth.

Glass: Original objects created through kiln-formed, glass blowing, molding or casting. Works may be etched or engraved. No forms of mass production are permitted. *If artists include jewelry in their festival display, they do not need to submit a separate application for jewelry, as long as jewelry is less than 20% of the inventory exhibited in the booth.

Jewelry: Original pieces hand-crafted from precious and semi-precious stones, clay, polymer clay, metals, glass, fiber, etc. Commercial casts, molds, production studio work or other forms of mass production are not permitted.

Mixed Media: Two or three-dimensional pieces that incorporate more than one type of physical material in the same piece, including but not limited to, paint, pencil, watercolor, photographs, prints or found objects.

Painting: Original, one-of-a-kind works created with oil, acrylics or tempera. No forms of mass production are permitted.

Photography and Digital Art: Photographic prints must be made from the artist’s original image, both from film and/or original digital files, printed by the artist or under the artist's direct supervision. Digital art must be original, two-dimensional works utilizing computer technology to craft or manipulate visual images. Work must be signed and numbered as a limited edition.

Printmaking and Works on Paper: Printmaking includes hand-pulled original works in relief, intaglio, lithography, serigraphy and monotypes. Works on paper must be original, two-dimensional artworks on or of paper including drawing, watercolor and paper collage. Prints must be signed and numbered as a limited edition.

Sculpture: Original, one-of-a-kind stone, wood, clay, metal, etc. in figurative or abstract three-dimensional forms. Sculptural artworks are non-functional. No forms of mass production are permitted.

Wood: Furniture, vessels and functional items created through traditional and contemporary woodworking techniques. No forms of mass production are permitted.

Artists may only display work in the media categories in which they are accepted. All work exhibited must be comparable to work shown in submitted images.

Each body of work must be juried separately. If you wish to be considered in more than one category, you must submit a separate entry for each category. Please note that you will need a separate ZAPP profile for each category you enter, but you may repeat the booth slide.

If you are planning to share a booth, each artists' body of work must be juried independently. Each category is juried separately. If your work is not accepted into one of the categories for which you applied, you may not show this work in your booth.

On-site jurors will be present at the festival to ensure the quality of this process. Exhibiting work that was not juried in to the Art on the Commons is grounds for removal from the show. Art on the Commons is a renowned fine arts and crafts festival with high standards for participants. Artists are selected to participate each year through a jurying process, with criteria focused on craftsmanship, originality, diversity and artistic professionalism.

Artist Statement and Description of Materials/Techniques

An artist statement describing your subject matter and ideas, as well as a description of materials and technique representing your submitted artwork is required. Statements are limited to 300 characters. Please do not include your name or business name as this information is read aloud during the jury process.

Acceptance Notification

Acceptance notification will be made by May 15, 2025. Rosewood Arts Center will send e-mails to all artists informing them of their status along with contracts to invited artists. The status of each artist will also be posted to his or her Zapplication account. All communication will be done by email.

Booth Fees

Booth Fees are due on acceptance to the Festival. Booths not paid in full by the deadline of May 29, 2025 will be considered available and offered to an artist on the waiting list.

Wait List

Because of the limited number of booth spaces available, the jury will select artists for the wait list, depending on the category of media and jurying criteria. Any withdrawals from the festival will prompt the Art on the Commons staff to contact the waitlist for the jury's first selection for that category.

________________________________________

 

RULES/REGULATIONS

Eligibility

Only fine arts and fine crafts will be considered for display. All works must be of original design and produced by hand. No kits, handicrafts, or manufactured items will be accepted for jurying or displayed in the booths. Only individual artists may submit work. Submissions by retail businesses or galleries are not eligible. Reproductions relating to your original artworks, such as stationery, cards, giclee prints, commercially produced fabrics and/or t-shirts, etc., may not exceed 20% of the total work on display. The Art on the Commons committee retains the right to request the removal of work not meeting the quality and standards represented in the juried images or the eligibility requirements.

All images submitted for jurying must represent recently produced work (within the last two years) that will be offered for sale at this festival. Artists may display work only in the media categories in which they are accepted. All work exhibited must be comparable to work shown in submitted images. Exhibiting work that was not juried in to the Art on the Commons is grounds for removal from the show.We require all artists to submit an additional booth image for the jury review process. The booth image shows the jury your body of work, provides dimension and scale, and shows overall continuity and presentation of your current body of work. If available, please use an image from an outdoor show. Booth images may not be manipulated in Photoshop or other computer program, may not contain the artist or studio name, and must show the entire booth, not just a portion. Booth image should be exclusively representative of the product/merchandise that will be brought to the Festival – works which are not juried into the festival will not be allowed to be sold.

Rosewood employees are not eligible to participate as vendors at Art on the Commons.

Artists with a history of not appearing on the day of show without notification or following the festival rules and regulations will not be eligible for jurying.

Shared Booth

A two-person collaboration exhibiting one media category may qualify as a single exhibitor if this is explained at the time of application (please see questionnaire portion of application). If more than one artist with independent bodies of work wish to share a booth, each artist must submit a separate entry form in each respective media category and four images of his/her artwork, plus a booth image, as well as the completed entry form. Shared booths are limited to two media category entries.

Sale of Work

There will be no commission charged on sales. Artists will be responsible for collecting sales tax and obtaining vendor’s licenses.

No Show Policy

Artists who have not checked-in and/or called the Festival Day Phone Number by 9 am Sunday, August 11th will be considered a “no show.” No Show artists will not be eligible for refunds and may be ineligible for participation in future Art on the Commons festivals.

Rain Date

Art on the Commons takes place rain or shine. There will be no rain date and fees will not be refunded in the case of inclement weather.

Code of Conduct

All participating artists must abide by the City of Kettering Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department code of conduct. Any artist in violation of the code of conduct will be ineligible to participate in City of Kettering events. The City of Kettering PRCA code of conduct can be found here.

________________________________________

 

BOOTH INFORMATION

Booth Fees

10' x 10' $165.00

10' x 10' shared by two artists $210.00

10' x 20' $190.00

10' x 20' shared by two artists $235.00

The exhibit area is paved. Staking of canopies will not be permitted. All storage must be out of sight or stacked neatly beside booth display (space permitting). Reservation of a 10' x 20' booth to use for additional storage is not permitted. Indicate any special needs you may have for your booth in the space provided on the entry form, including requests to adjoin another artist’s booth or location preferences.

The artist must be present in the booth during the festival. No agents or employees may represent the artist, and all items must be handmade by the artist.

Non-compliance to any of these requirements may result in exclusion from next year’s jury selection.

Artist Amenities

• An artist networking event the evening before Art on the Commons (Saturday, August 9).

• Ample off-street parking adjacent to festival.

• Curb-side unloading and loading.

• If requested in this application, electricity is available at no extra charge.

• Booth sitters are available to provide up to 15-minute breaks.

• Booth signage identifying the artist, category, city and state, and online presence.

• Complimentary bottled water and breakfast for artists.

• Marketing materials will be designed using artwork from accepted artists.

• Complimentary invitation postcards.

• Estimated 10,000 patrons.

Further Information

For more details about the Art on the Commons, contact:

Rosewood Arts Center

2655 Olson Drive

Kettering, OH 45420

(937) 296-0294

or email aotc@ketteringoh.org.

For online information about Art on the Commons, visit

www.playkettering.org/aotc.

________________________________________

 

REFUND POLICY

Cancellation Policy

If you are invited to participate and choose to cancel your acceptance into the Festival, please follow the procedures below:

Cancellations must be made in written form and submitted by mail or e-mail. E-mails can be sent to aotc@ketteringoh.org. A Rosewood staff member will contact you via the contact information listed on your application to verify your cancellation. If your cancellation is made before June 13, 2025, a full refund will be processed and refunded.

Artists who cancel after June 13, 2025 (including the day of the show) will NOT be eligible for a refund.