In 1999, the term "online jurying" existed only in the brains of people like former NAIA president Larry Oliverson and art curator Paul Fisher. All the thousands of art and craft shows around the country conducted their jury process the same way they had been for decades: by examining photos or inserting slides into a projector.
Seven years later, the industry has been transformed by a word that almost everyone on the circuit has heard: Zapplication. For the few of you who haven’t heard of Zapp, it is an Internet application process pioneered by Oliverson and others, and run by the Western States Art Federation (WESTAF), with input from the National Association of Independent Artists (NAIA). It allows artists to upload images in JPEG form to a Web site and then use that site to apply directly to shows. No more endless paperwork, no more slides.
When SA last addressed Zapplication, in April 2005, there were 11 shows participating in the process. There are now close to 50, and that total may increase to around 100 in a year and a half, says WESTAF Executive Director Anthony Radich. And Zapp isn’t alone. In fact, a company by the name of Juried Art Services (JAS) predates Zapp by more than three years. Although it worked only with the Smithsonian Craft Show in Washington, D.C., for its first few years, JAS has started branching out and now is affiliated with 23 shows, according to founder and Chief Executive Officer Paul Fisher.
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