The Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair Application will become available starting October 1 until all booth slots are scheduled and booked or the Arts and Crafts Fair concludes. Sign up today to be notified via email when the application goes live.
Apply to the fair
The Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair application is open to all artists with minimal theme or medium restrictions. We welcome 2D and 3D works in all artistic and artisan styles from traditional to contemporary. All artwork must be original, and suitable for display in a public, family friendly retail setting. Pillar Arts prioritizes Indiana craftsmanship and human artistry.
The Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair typically takes place every Friday through Sunday from Black Friday Weekend to the weekend before Christmas Day. The Arts Alliance Center often adjusts its retail hours in November and December for holiday shopping, the Arts and Crafts Fair occurs during Arts Alliance Center seasonal holiday hours, and booth vendors will be notified of any additional changes to scheduling, or emergency closures due to weather conditions.
College Mall is located at 2893 East 3rd Street, Bloomington Indiana 47401
- Free Parking
- ADA Accessible
- Food Court
- Family Friendly
The Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair application process
- Read through this webpage of program documentation.
- Complete the full vendor application below.
- Wait for notification of acceptance, or follow up questions.
- Review paperwork, sign agreements, pay fees.
- Join us for the fair on your reserved dates.
Jurying criteria for applications
Pillar Arts is dedicated to supporting artists who make high-quality handmade arts and crafts. Work will be judged by the images and descriptions submitted with your application. Your pricing is your own.
What will not be accepted:
- reselling items, or selling mass-produced items.
- selling discriminatory or child-inappropriate art/craft.
- selling prompt driven generative AI graphics or generative AI content lacking human creative contributions.
Our jurying process considers the quality of the work submitted, and the cohesion of the overall Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair, but reserves the right to refuse selection for any reason.
Notification of acceptance
Our Artist powered, volunteer jurying committee will review the application as quickly as possible and notify the applicant of status when jurying is complete. If the application is accepted, the artist will be sent details of participation including agreements to sign, and scheduling to confirm.
If demand is greater than booth space availability, a waitlist system will be used.
All agreements must be signed, and all booth fees paid on or before the first day of Fair participation. Booth fees may be paid in person with cash, credit, or debit either online or at our Arts Alliance Center.
Booth space
Pillar Arts is able to provide a portable folding table and chairs for setup within the Arts Alliance Center (not in the Simon Mall hallway, not in the retail unit threshold). We have 8 portable tables of varying sizes that may be utilized and plenty of aluminum folding chairs. First come, first serve. We have some black and some decorative table cloths if requested, but not enough for all tables – and they may not coordinate with all art arrangements. Artists are encouraged to bring their own whenever possible.
If Artist booth displays or personal comfort require different tables or display configurations, or additional seating accommodations, we will work with you on a case by case basis according to your need. If we have retail resources that support your display arrangement needs, you are welcome to borrow them.
Artists are responsible for providing all their own process information, retail displays, merchandise, products, payment systems, petty cash, bags, boxes, signage, etc…
The Arts Alliance Center register and art sales will not intermix with Holiday Arts and Crafts vendor sales. For the sanity of everyone’s accounting, please be prepared to manage your own sales.
Special accommodations for unconventional displays, electricity needs, wall hanging needs, shelf space, etc. can be considered, but may affect placement in the gallery.
The Arts Alliance Center does not have open community Wi-Fi, but our password protected work Wi-Fi can be provided to vendors if requested.
Booth fees
You may apply for as many or as few days as you would like. If selected, vendors are expected to sign all agreements and complete all fee payments on or before the start of the first day on site. Booth fees may be paid in person with cash, credit, or debit either online or at our Arts Alliance Center.
Pillar Arts does not provide refunds for booth fees.
There are no guarantees of foot traffic or customer engagement with the fair. This time of year comes with risk of poor weather, communicable disease, and undefeated college football seasons.
Pillar Arts reserves the right to close the Arts Alliance Center due to unsafe weather conditions or other emergency factors.
Marketing + promotion coordination
Pillar Arts broadcasts the Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair to the community through our twice-monthly newsletter in the run-up and during the event, additionally during the holiday season we publish a special addition of our newsletter highlight spaces and venues for local art gift buying. Pillar Arts also shares Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair general retail marketing information across our social media platforms during our holiday season.
Artists are encouraged to:
- Inform their loyal shoppers of the booth location and times you will be present.
- Post additional and frequent social media content informing your audience where you will be. Tag the Arts Alliance Center and/or Pillar Arts so we can reshare and boost your visibility.
- Tell friends and family about your booth to encourage word of mouth spread.
Pillar Arts also has many lawn signs for the Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair that can be lent to any artist that would like to place additional durable signage for the event around the community.
Setup + tending the booth
The Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair operates while the Arts Alliance Center is open. Artists often need additional setup time in the morning of their first day. If requested, a Pillar Arts representative can meet you up to an hour before our gallery opening to accommodate art transport, and table arrangement.
Some common situations:
- If you wish to leave the Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair up to an hour before gallery closing. That is just fine with us! See you the next day.
- When participating continuously through a weekend, you may leave your booth setup overnight. If you are bridging weekends, or have long gaps between participation days, lets work together to find the best storage strategy for you.
- Please take breaks, eat lunch, and tour the gallery while you spend time operating your booth.
- You may bring friends, family members, professional assistants to hang out with you and help operate the booth. However, a larger cohort supporting a booth may be moved toward the Performance FlexSpace to accommodate others.
- If the artist needs to leave, or have a representative operate the booth on their behalf, please make sure we have point of contact information with the person, and please make sure your representative is able to perform retail transactions and make decisions on your behalf.
Membership benefit
The Pillar Arts membership supports our programming, connects you to a community of artists, and provides discounts on a variety of resources and programs. Including the Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair.
Our annual membership is $35 a year for individuals, and discounted to $25 a year for qualifying status. Arts groups, guilds and organization annual membership fees are $45 a year. Depending on how many days you are planning to rent a booth, a membership purchase may meaningfully reduce your booth fees.
Visit us
The Arts Alliance Center gallery and gift shop is located at 2894 E 3rd St, Bloomington, IN 47401
Find us in College Mall