Gainesville, Florida, the cultural heart of north central Florida, invites you to participate in Florida’s premier fall festival of the arts. The 39th Annual Downtown Festival & Art Show, recognized as one of the top fine art shows in the nation, invites the area’s most talented artists to apply. More than 240 of the nation’s finest artists will display original oils and acrylics, vibrant watercolors, unique sculptures, dazzling jewelry, decorative ceramics and vivid photography. Over 80,000 visitors will have the opportunity to purchase one-of-a-kind art work amid the charming, tree-lined streets of historic Downtown Gainesville on Saturday, November 7 and Sunday, November 8, 2020. Artists will compete for $20,000 in cash prizes.

Join one of Gainesville’s most beloved events, the 39th Annual Downtown Festival & Art Show, the premier fall festival of the arts!
 
We are working with Zapplication (or ZAPP) to streamline our application and jury process for you!
The 2020 Festival application will be online soon!

2019 Festival rules

  1. Late and/or incomplete application packages will not be accepted.
  2. Notification of acceptance will be mailed no later than June 14, 2019. No status information will be given prior to that date.
  3. Artists may withdraw from the Downtown Festival & Art Show and receive a refund of booth fees (minus a small processing fee), upon written request received before September 6, 2019. No refund will be issued after that date.
  4. Artists must be present for the duration of the show dates: 10 am to 5 pm, Saturday, November 7, and Sunday, November 8. Work must be exhibited both days — no exceptions.
  5. All exhibits must be original work done by the exhibiting artists and offered for sale. Application for works of a collaborative nature must include all artists’ names. One booth per artist; a limited number of double booths may be approved upon availability. No dealers, agents, stand-ins or proxies allowed. Only work representative of the artists’ slides will be permitted. If exhibited works differ significantly from the images submitted, the artist may be asked to leave and will forfeit fees. Buy/sell or imports will not be tolerated.
  6. Fees not paid by the deadline - July 19, 2019 - will result in forfeiture of booth to an artist on the wait list. Artists will be notified by mail of their assigned booth number and location, along with exhibitor information about check-in, set-up and parking, no later than August 20, 2019. Booth requests are fulfilled on a first paid, first served basis.
  7. Check-in and set-up is Saturday morning only beginning at 5 am— no set-up is allowed on Friday night. No changes in booth assignment will be allowed without the approval of Sunny Andrei, Festival Coordinator.
  8. ​Each exhibiting artist must check-in and provide picture I.D. before set-up. Failure to do so will result in forfeiture of booth.
  9. All work and artist belongings, including chairs, must be contained within the assigned booth space. Exhibitors are responsible for keeping their area clean during and after the show. Electricity is not available. Artists are required to display official card bearing their name, space number and city residence for the duration of the Festival.
  10. Parking and traffic are not permitted in show area after 9 am on Saturday. The streets will remain closed on Saturday night and security will be on site. Although artists, at their discretion, will be allowed to leave exhibitor displays on the street overnight on Saturday, the City of Gainesville is not liable for any loss. The streets will reopen to the public at 8 pm on Sunday evening, and all booths must be dismantled and removed by this time.
  11. Country crafts are non-competitive only. The following are not eligible for exhibit: works which are mass-produced or manufactured; made from commercial molds, kits or patterns; commercial displays; taxidermy; knitting; velvet painting; manufactured or kit jewelry; candles; ceramics cast from commercial molds and art supplies. Buy/sell or imports will not be tolerated.
  12. Bicycles, roller skates, roller blades and skateboards are prohibited from the Festival. Dogs on leashes are permitted.
  13. All rules will be strictly enforced.
  14. The Festival Committee reserves the right to prohibit display of work deemed unacceptable.
  15. Failure to follow these rules will result in ineligibility for this and future shows and any prize award. All rules will be strictly enforced. Failure to follow these rules will result in ineligibility for this and future shows and any prize award. Show committee reserves the right to make final interpretation of the rules.