Non-commercial booth contracting at Japan Weekend

Japan Weekend

FAQ

GUIDE FOR THE ARTIST BOOTHS

We changed the way you can book the booth. On Monday the 11th we will update the sample forms.

¿WHAT IS THE ARTIST ZONE?

At Japan Weekend we want to support artists and young creators and decided a few years ago to include a subsidized area dedicated to art and crafts. Throughout our various events you will find a large space dedicated only to offer space for them to sell their own material at a much reduced floor space cost so that artists can have opportunities to profit from their own creations.

The extra cost of the floor and borrowed material is assumed by Japan Weekend in exchange for the guarantee that the artist has created that material.

Currently there are two types of artist booths: Artist House and Non Commercial. You can consult the specific information (size, material, approximate price, selection process…) of each of them in points 7.1 and 7.2 of our stand rules.

 

🌸What can be sold in an artist’s booth?

Any creation made by the representative (and artist) of the booth. It is considered to be 100% designed or created by the artist himself/herself. The creation is considered to be the part on which the attractiveness or purpose of the piece is based.

Example: You can sell key chains with your own designs, even if the key chain was created by another company or factory. The same goes for prints. What matters is that the motif itself, the main attraction of the product, is made by the artist representing the booth.

 

🌸What is not considered a self-created?

If you are selling a bracelet, the beads, decorations and other objects must be created by yourself. There is no point in buying beads or charms and putting them together to create a final product. We do not consider that there is enough of a creation process to justify the subsidy.

Another example is a 3D print. Anyone who simply prints someone else’s designs, even if they later modify them in some way or supplement them, does not count as a possible candidate for the artist zone.

If you only do one step of the object. For example, if you varnish boxes, no matter how well you do it and how much art and complication it involves, we do not consider it a complete creation of the object. We only allow the creation of objects whose design is entirely made by the representative.

 

🌸Does this mean that if I do not fully design the object I cannot sell it at Japan Weekend?

Yes, you can sell it, but you will not be able to access the artists’ subsidized area. But you can sell it in the commercial area.

 

🌸If I have something I have bought or licensed, can I sell it?

No, because you did not design it. You could sell it by acquiring a commercial stand.

 

🌸Is tracing considered a self-creation?

No, and if we detect any tracing we will cancel the stand. Likewise, no logos or brand images of registered products that could be confused with official material may be used, neither on the product nor on the packaging. You have all the information about this as well as specific examples in point 2 of our stand regulations.

 

🌸Why can only material from the booth representative be sold?

The number of booths available is limited, and priority must be given to artists attending the event. Currently, two artists are allowed per booth and nothing can be sold from an artist who is not attending the event. This means that if one of the artists can only attend one day, his or her material cannot be sold and the booth will be considered a single artist booth. You can only apply for a booth if you are going to be at the event every day of the event.

Likewise, the organization understands that an artist may be absent for several periods of time to rest, and as long as the artist has attended the event and has been at his stand for most of the day, there will be no problem for his position to be covered by his accredited companion or by the second artist in those specific moments.

 

🌸Can I organize with other artists to hire a commercial booth if I do not comply with the rules of the artists’ area?

Yes, you can.

 

🌸What is the price difference between a commercial booth and an artist booth?

In all our events, the non-commercial booth consists of a space of 3 meters x 2 meters so the space is 6m square. In the case of Madrid which is our event with the highest cost for all the stands, the square meter of this space in 2022 was charged at 16.7 per m2 without counting the cost of the material and structure provided by Japan Weekend.

Compared to a commercial stand that costs €2000 per 6x2m, the cost per m2 is €166. Yes, the commercial stand in our event costs ten times the price of a non-commercial stand without taking into account that commercial stands are not provided with material such as tables and chairs. In the case of Artist House, the difference increases much more because we add more material to rent as more tables, larger structures with inscribed canopy, light sockets…

In other words, even at events where we rent the highest price for artist area booths, we cover about 90% of the cost of the booth floor.

It is incredible how much something as simple as a table can cost. We only give you details of the payment for the floor but we also cover the costs influenced by things like space usage fee, electricity consumption, cleaning of corridors and many other things. Currently the artists’ area occupies almost an entire pavilion in some events or more than a quarter of the space we have in other events. The price per square meter is very expensive and continues to increase over the years even though we do not vary our prices much.

By making the artists’ area of this size, we assume a high cost so we emphasize that the area maintains a certain quality and good image for the public.

 

🌸Why are stand prices going up, and what influences the price change?

As we mentioned in the previous point, about 90% of the cost of the stand space alone (taking Madrid as an example) is covered by Japan Weekend. This calculation is made without taking into account the space comprised by aisles, lighting or rental of services or material used in the area.

When the price of these services or the floor of the venues becomes more expensive, we try as much as possible not to affect our artists. However, if there is a high increase in the cost or a general increase in all services, we have to slightly increase the price of the stand.

An example of the latter would be the increase in all our 2023 events following the increase of all services by the venues. An exception was made for the February edition as we announced the booth prices before the general increase was communicated to us, but for the September edition we have had to apply changes.

Again using Madrid as an example, so that the increase does not affect the smaller artists, we have eliminated the structures in the non-commercial zone while maintaining the price, and we have slightly increased the price of the Artist House zone.

HOW TO APPLY FOR A BOOTH IN THE JAPAN WEEKEND ARTIST ZONES?

The first thing, as always, is to take a look at our stand regulations:
✨ARTIST BOOTH REGULATION (13/11/24) ✨

The rules are extensive and cover in detail some of the things that we will indicate here in a more concise way. Remember that the reading of the rules is mandatory for everyone who registers in our artists’ area and that they must be understood and respected. You will be able to find this regulation in this space of our web page as well as in all the registration forms that you make; as well as in many of the mails that we exchange with you throughout the months.

The second most important thing is to be clear about the opening date of the form because the registrations for each event are only open during the period of 6 DAYS ‼️‼️‼️ After those six days, it will be impossible to sign up for that event and you will have to wait for the next edition to be able to sign up. At the bottom of this page you can check the status of stand registrations.

Don’t know the opening date of the event you are interested in? You can always find the dates on our Twitter profile, inserted as a featured message or at the bottom of this page where we will update them as they are announced. Remember that the dates are always given first on Twitter so we strongly recommend you to follow us on the social network. Twitter is also where this form will be published for the first time, being important for all non-commercial stands to register at the same time (you can find more information about this in points 7.1 and 10 of our stand regulations).

The Twitter account from which we announce the dates and publish the forms is as follows ➙ https://twitter.com/JW_Arte

HOW DOES THE REGISTRATION FORM WORK?

On the day of the opening of forms, TWO FORMS will be published. Both forms will close at the same time (you can find the deadline date inside the form) and it is mandatory to fill both forms using the same email address for both registrations. Filling out form 1 will generate a code that you will need to fill out form 2.

Entry forms will first be posted via our Twitter art account, with this website being updated with them a few hours later.
↓↓↓↓ We know there is a lot of confusion about the entry forms so we have answered some of the most frequently asked questions for you ↓↓↓↓↓↓

 

🌸What is Form 1 published for?

The purpose of this form is to determine the order of registration of the stand at the event and who is the person responsible for it.

By filling out this form a unique code will be generated that will be sent to you by email (CHECK SPAM) and that is essential to fill out form 2.

PLEASE NOTE: The order of registration will give you a choice of space and will determine your place at the event.

 

New, form 1 is the same for Artist House and Non Commercial.

 

🌸What is Form 2 published for?

The purpose of this form is to collect all the information related to your booth as well as samples of your work.

 

You have 6 days to fill in this form. After this time access will be blocked so you will be locked out.

Fill out form 2 as correctly and completely as possible, be especially careful with the links to the portfolios that we work with to make the selection.

 

🌸What happens if I have given the wrong information when filling in the second form?

We will not be able to correct your error before reviewing your application and you will have to wait to correct it. We will let you know how to correct this error in the confirmation email if you are successful.

If there is an error in the sales portfolio box, for example a wrong link or a wrong link, please fill in the form 2 correctly. If there are 2 registrations from the same person, the last registration will be taken into account.

 

🌸What information do we ask for in the forms?

Please review points 10.1 and 10.2 of our artist booth rules as they contain exhaustive information on what we ask for and how we ask for it, as well as details on what some of the more sensitive information is used for.

Additionally, at the bottom of this page you can find links to some Japan Weekend Madrid test forms, which will give you a basic idea of how both forms work.

 

🌸I am a trans person and my ID still does not show my name, should I put my deadname?

No! Use your name in this box. We will need the deadname ONLY if you are the artist responsible for the booth and when we ask for billing information.

 

🌸Is it mandatory to fill in the second person’s data?

It depends! If the second person is a Companion/Helper, it is not obligatory to give us the data at the time of registration. You will be able to give us the data after the confirmation of your booth through the change form.

If the second person is an artist, it is mandatory to fill in the form with his/her data.

Remember that it is NOT possible to add a second artist to the booth once the artist’s place has been confirmed, so if you have not provided the second artist’s data, he/she will not be able to exhibit or sell at the booth.

 

🌸I want the invoicing to be made in the name of a family member, group or similar, how should I do?

Invoicing must be in the name of one of the artists of the booth or a brand in which he/she works. Exceptions will only be made for family members in cases of trans people, in case of discomfort related to the use of the deadname.

You must fill in the section “data for billing – data to return the deposit. the name of the family member if you are in this case and ID of the same.

 

🌸Being trans, without updated ID and responsible for stand, where do I provide you my deadname for invoicing?

You must fill in the section “data for invoicing – data to return the deposit. in the box ”Full name of the person in charge as it appears on the ID card. It will only be used for billing purposes”.

 

🌸Why two forms instead of one?

In May 2022 the double form system was implemented to solve several common problems such as:

  • That Google Forms or any form system crashes due to the number of people accessing the form in the first few minutes.
  • That due to the nerves for wanting to fill out the form as quickly as possible, important data is filled incorrectly.

Only the time of the first form is taken into account and we give you 6 days to fill in the second form (the deadline will be indicated on the form).

 

🌸How and when will I know the result of my application?

It may take about a month from the closing date of the forms ‼️
If we close forms on Thursday, June 1st, the results will be available around July 1st if there are no unforeseen events that delay the process. Remember that for events like Madrid, where there are more than 1300 booth applications, our team spends hundreds of hours reviewing both your applications and the material in your portfolios. As impatient as you may be to know if you have gotten a place or not, the review process is long and tedious so we ask for your patience until it can be shared.

All results are sent by email and we usually notify you through our Twitter the same day that the results are announced.

WHAT IS THE “SALES PORTFOLIO”?

We call “sales portfolio” the space we ask you to dedicate to place the material you are going to sell in our event. Since we have very strict regulations, especially regarding copyright, the sales portfolio is requested in order to detect early on products that could not be sold at the event. The sales portfolio also helps us to better visualize your requests, especially for portfolio reviews such as Artist House, as social media does not usually help to visualize the merchandising/material for sale.

The sales portfolio will be a DRIVE folder in which we ask you to include the following elements:

  • 70-75% of the material to be brought to the event.
  • Photos from previous booths (either JW or other event).
  • At least one valid mandatory process.

 

🌸Does it have to be strictly a DRIVE folder?

Yes.

Because reviewing different systems hinders the review work and even for smaller events we have to review over a hundred portfolios, our team needs all portfolios to be on the same platform so that they can work more comfortably. As of May 2023 we will not accept any sales portfolio that is not hosted on DRIVE.

 

🌸I intend to make some products but they are not finished, how do I let you know?

If you have several products in development that are already started and you know you are going to bring to the event you have registered, you can add the DRIVE sketches and a word/pdf indicating what you have in mind for the finished works or that you have commissioned to third parties.

If you have drastically changed your material between the time you confirm your booth and the event, please update your portfolio and let us know by email.

 

🌸Is it mandatory to show hands in the process/timelapse (Illustrators)?

No. We will only ask you for this if there is suspicion of plagiarism, by sending a separate mail to request this.

The only thing we ask is that you see from the blank canvas to the end of the lineart. No cuts, no jumps in time and no inclusion of sketches or elements drawn outside the same process. Although we don’t suspect of tracing, we ask all of you to follow this process so that you all receive the same treatment from the day of registration. In addition, we want to make sure that the public can feel confident that they are buying original products with artist’s value by being their own and unique.

We will not accept portfolios that do not include the mandatory process.

You can find more detailed information about the process, references and other related topics in point 10.3 of our stand rules.

REGISTRATION DATES

(FIRST HALF OF 2025)

🌸 MADRID (15 & 16 February)

 

 

🌸 BILBAO (22 February)

 

🌸 BARCELONA (15 March)

 

🌸 ALICANTE (26 & 27 April)

 

🌸 VALENCIA (17 & 18 May)

  • Artist House → CLOSED
  • Non Commercial → CLOSED

(SECOND HALF OF 2025)

🌸 MADRID (September) & others.

The opening date will be announced in 2025.

TEST FORMS

(Sample form from JW Madrid)

FIRST FORM (TEST FORM)

SECOND FORM ARTIST HOUSE (TEST FORM)

SECOND FORM NON COMMERCIALS (TEST FORM)

 

REMEMBER: These forms are for testing purposes. If you fill them out you will not be registering anywhere and then you will not be eligible for a place because you have not filled out the form for the registration form.

RULES FOR ARTIST BOOTHS

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE REGULATION

(Last update: 13/11/2024)