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Show New Director of Art Festival States Views, Problems try to increase the level of quality. He said the overall image of the festival itself is of upmost importance impor-tance in jichieving that goal. . "If trTe event is organized, consistent, and enjoyable from the patron's point of view then more people will attend the event, artists, merchants, and concessionairs will make money and everybody's happy and the event can only get better" Toomey said. "If artists make money then more artists will apply and the quality of work will get better. If the quality gets better, more people attend and purchase work it's a big cycle" he said. ' i tly tip 3 i. f ' I C i J . W H I .... " 4.'r"f " "in.-walltmsswt- i.: I , V - I ! i?r. j ' f V - ' This year's Park City Art Festival Director not only had the responsibility responsi-bility of physically coordinating Utah's largest two-day event, he also was charged with bringing new life to the spectacle some feared was getting stale and repetitious. Sean Toomey, 25, exhibited his watercolors in the 1975 and 1976 art festivals and has attended most subsequent events. When he assumed directorship of the festival in February he has some definite ideas about the direction he wanted this year's event to take. The director is a former concert promoter - and as a partner in Creative Concerts produced the outdoor music The director is a former concert promoter and as a partner in Creative Concerts produced the outdoor music at Parkwest last summer and the summer before. Toomey said his background in concert promotion helped immensely immen-sely in directing this year's festival because the organizational and logistical problems are much the same. 1982 Art Festival director Sean Toomey 'This year I started working in February but next year I'm starting in September' Creating an organized and consistently consis-tently enjoyable event is no simple proposition. Although previous estimates predict 200,000 to 250,000 people attend the event each year during the two days, Toomey feels that figure is high. He feels a more accurate estimate is between 100,000 and 150,000 which still creates logistical problems of monumental proportions. In addition to providing thousands of patrons with an easy access to the festival, there must be crowd control, traffic control, security, restrooms, first aid, general information infor-mation made available to exhibitors and patrons alike. Traffic control this year is being handled by University of Utah police officers who will move traffic hopefully smoothly to parking areas at Prospector and the Park City resort where festival goers will board free buses and take them to Main St. The traffic control officers must also make sure all Main St. bound traffic has the appropriate parking passes. No one without a parking pass will be allowed to advance further than the mass parking areas. All Park City residents have been by . now hand delivered parking passes for their respective neighborhoods. "At an outdoor concert you have to have security, a parking plan, crowd control, first aid, just like the art festival" Toomey said. "You also must promote the event, book the performers and take care of them just like the artists at the festival. You also have the last minute crises that have to be taken care of." Although Toomey admits the visual arts or street exhibits are the top priority at the festival, he feels performing arts have been neglected neglect-ed in the past and this year has taken steps to upgrade that aspect of the annual event. There are twice as many performers this year as last and each has carefully been selected from a file of 100 applicants for quality and diversity. Most importantly, Toomey said each group or individual performer plays music that "fits well" with Park City and the festival. Professional sound systems have been provided for both the main stage across from Treasure Mountain Inn and at the courtyard stage at the Kimball Art Center. Also concert seating on chairs rather than on the ground will be available at both stages. Toomey heard complaints there was too much food last year and this year there's roughly half as much. He said they didn't restrict food booth applicants but rather raised ' the booth fee to weed out marginal and less sincere concessionairs. There are 225 artists displaying their work at this year's festival which is almost 60 more than last year and the largest number ever, according to Toomey. The Director hopes the additional artists will bring new items to the festival and create a greater diversity of work. Of the 225 artists exhibiting this year, 208 were selected by festival jurors from a field of over 600 applicants. Each applicant was required to submit five slides of their work which meant jurors had to view 3,000 individual ; slides. To speed up the process this year, five projectors were set up so the jurors could look at all the applicants slides or work at one time. "It made things move faster and it gave the judges a better perspective of the scope of each artist's work" Toomey said. To make things go even smoother next year, exhibitors will be judged this year right at the festival. If an artist is accepted on the street this year then they are excluded from the jurying process next year and are automatically accepted. The street jurying concept will allow judges to view a broad spectrum of the artist's work and hopefully eliminate some of the inconsistencies inconsisten-cies of acceptance which artists have complained about in the past. Toomey said some artists have been accepted one year, turned down the next and accepted again the following year. ' He adds artists have complained about the inconsistencies inconsis-tencies and wonder why they are in one year and out the next; a question the art festival committee has found difficult to answer. Another problem Toomey has attempted to deal with and one which he did not anticipate at the beginning of his job involved disgruntled local artists. For years many Park City artists complained about not being accepted in the festival that occurs right in their hometown. What was worse, according to Toomey, was when a rejected local artist came across an accepted artisan whose work was clearly inferior. Toomey has concluded the locals are rejected not because their work is of poor quality, but rather because they lack the festival savvy required to get through the jury process. . He said many regular festival exhibitors attend festivals all over the country during the summer and have refined their presentations to judges and have acquired a skill in submitted what the judges want to see, so to speak. . Toomey continues the locals many times do not have professionally taken slides of their work and do not have that festival savvy or ability to anticipate what the, judges are looking for and providing it. Some suggested locals be allowed to by-pass the jury process altogether, but the festival committee feared the policy might undermine the integrity of the selection procedure and the festival altogether. To solve the problem, the Park City Artists' Association was given a large exhibit space in an excellent location at the Timberhaus parking lot where local work could be exhibited together. Toomey said the jurying responsibility was turned over to the association which worked well because artist's work was judged by peers who provided applicants with feedback and critiques. There are seventeen local artists in the special booth which is the equivalent of nine regular booths combined. "Not only did the locals get more attention during their own jurying process, they got a break on entry fees because the cost was shared and they also got a great location" Toomey said. The director said much attention has been paid this year as in the past to the welfare of exhibitors. "The artists are really catered to" Toomey said, "we .have volunteers volun-teers who will relieve artists while they take a break, get them drinks and try to be as helpful as possible." Toomey feels the care of exhibitors is a paramount consideration consider-ation because if they are well taken care of the reputation of the festival is enhanced and more and better artists want to exhibit here. Toomey added the festival so far has a very good reputation in that regard among artists. Although the Park City Art Festival has a reputation for quality . exhibits. Toomey feels an ongoing goal of the festival is to continually Once at the festivals, patrons this year will be required to pay $1 admission charge for adults only. Collecting the money is a job in itself. Residents won't have to pay and will be mailed an admission badge this week. . Toomey said he encountered some opposition to the $1 this year, but explains it is in lieu of the $1 charged last year for a round trip bus ride to and from the festival. Toomey still feels the city should have waived its open container ordinance for the weekend. "I think the police will have their hands full without trying to keep people from drinking on the street" he said, "I think it could detract from the Festival if patrons are continually confronted by officers." With the bulk of this year's work out of the way, Toomey said he's already planning next year's festival. festi-val. "This year I started work in February but next year I'm starting in September," he said. "I'm looking forward already to next year's festival and I'm beginning to formulate some ideas. I basically never tire of the event there's something almost magical about it" Toomey concludes he feels strongly the event should always be on Main St. and limited to that area. |