How it Works
You are in control.
With the tools provided by Easy Entry Online, you design and advertise your own events, provide the access links for entrants, jurors and staff, monitor entries and collect entry fees through your PayPal account. You can also display optional online galleries of current exhibits and archive galleries of past exhibits.
Based on your prospectus, you can:
- Set up your online entry event by selecting from the broad range of options in the setup form.
- Open your event for entry either manually or automatically based on the date entered in the setup form.
- Monitor entries online and get current statistics using the statistic option in the administrative (admin) page.
- Send manual or automatic payment reminders to entrants who have not yet paid the entry fee before the event closes to entry.
- Close the event to entry manually or automatically based on the date entered in the setup form.
- Designate and provide instructions to jurors.
- Use optional downloaded lists to notify accepted and unaccepted artists, along with instructions for delivering accepted artworks to your gallery or exhibition space.
- Download any accepted images and data you would like to save locally—unaccepted images are deleted online after the exhibit closes.
View or download Guide.
What Easy Entry will do:
- We will provide and maintain the Easy Entry Online application, website and Guide.
- We will provide technical support to you by email or phone.
View or download Terms of Service.
What does it cost?
You will be charged $2 for each entrant in your events. The $2 will be withdrawn from a fee deposit that you set up in advance in an amount suitable for the expected number of entrants. You will receive emails when the deposit is $100 or less. If the fee deposit reaches zero, your events will no longer be open for entry. Unused deposits are fully refundable. Deposits are paid through PayPal using the "Go to Paypal" button in your client setup form. See Guide 2.2.
Frequently Asked Questions
It costs nothing to sign up. You will be charged $2 for each paid entrant in your events. The $2 will be withdrawn from a fee deposit that you need to set up in advance in an amount suitable for the expected number of entrants. You will receive an email when the deposit is $100 or less. If the fee deposit reaches zero, your events will no longer be open for entry. Fee deposits are paid through PayPal using the payment link available in your client setup form.
Easy Entry Online does not replace your web site; it acts as a complement to your site. Easy Entry is reached through links on your web site. Entrants, jurors and your staff will see your organization’s name and logo while in Easy Entry.
Online entry saves many hours of staff work. Entrants set up an account online using Easy Entry’s account forms then enter the artwork information and upload images of the artwork, eliminating any need for staff involvement except when an entrant needs assistance. Additional reduction of workload comes when you set up a PayPal account. Easy Entry uses the Instant Payment Notification feature of PayPal to automatically record an entrant’s fee status and mark the artwork as “Show to Juror.” You can also download images and related data, lists for notifying accepted and unaccepted artists and a text file designed to support the preparation of catalogs and wall tags. The learning curve is not steep and there is a PDF manual to assist you along the way.
If the entry fee is not paid, the artwork is not cleared for viewing by the juror. If you set the opening and closing dates for entry, the artist will be automatically reminded to pay three days before the closing date. If you do not enter the dates, you can at any time download a list of entrants who have not yet paid and email reminders to them.
You could avoid PayPal by receiving payments directly and manually updating the entrant’s records using the provided option for that. However, this staff workload is eliminated by Easy Entry’s use of the PayPal features that allow automatic recording of entry fee payments. There is also evidence that entrants enjoy the convenience of online payment after they have submitted their online entries. Note also that online sales will not be possible without a PayPal account.
Jurying is done online. Once your jurors have set up an account, you can designate from one to five jurors for an individual artwork event and up to ten jurors for a body of work event. The juror(s) can then independently log in to the juror’s gallery for that event and score the artwork without the artists being identified. The gallery displays the entered images along with title, media and size. The body of work gallery also includes an artist statement. Each juror can assign each artwork or body of work artist a score from 1 to 5.
Easy Entry provides a separate gallery where you or your staff can mark the artworks to be accepted for exhibit based on the jurors' total scores. This provides some control over the number of artworks to be selected. If you want a single juror to select the exhibition, she or he can be instructed to score the selected artworks 5 and those would then be marked accepted.
Online submission for juried exhibitions is widespread in the United States and misrepresentation does not seem to be a problem although the artists’ photographic skills vary considerably. Many galleries include a statement in the prospectus like, “We reserve the right to disqualify any artwork not accurately represented by the digital images submitted.”
An individual artwork event allows up to five jurors to score individual artworks which are then marked as accepted for exhibit; it does not preclude selecting multiple entries from one artist. The accepted artworks can be displayed in a public online gallery. A body of work event allows up to ten jurors to score an artist based on a collection of multiple artworks and an artist's statement. The artist can them be accepted based on the jurors' scores. The pupose is usually to select one or more artists for a solo or small group exhibit. The juried body of work art is not eligible for display in a public online gallery; however, the solo or small group show can be set up as an event and the images of the exhibited artworks entered into that event for that purpose.
Although Easy Entry is designed to make entry a simple as possible for artists, some may need additional email or phone guidance and a few may simply not be able to manage it. For the latter few, an administrative option exists whereby the event manager can receive the images and related data and assume the identity of the artist for entering those artworks. If direct payment of the entry fee is allowed, it can be manually recorded.
Active use for one or two juried events should be sufficient to learn how to get the most out of it. While there are many options providing great flexibility, each was developed in response to a gallery need and is presented in a way that makes its purpose clear. In addition, the Easy Entry Guide is a handy reference with detailed descriptions. Usability was a top priority during design of the application. We welcome feedback on user experience.
Each of the links takes a particular user to where they need to be. Some of the links are candidates for posting on your own website: For example, there is a link for updating an account; another for entering an event; another to access the public galleries of current or archived exhibits. Other links take authorized individuals—managers, administrators, jurors, exhibit volunteers—to login pages requiring a password to perform their functions. These links could be stored as favorites or bookmarks by the individuals involved or posted as and where you consider it convenient.
There are legal and technical things you can do to reduce risk but you should start with the knowledge that any image on the web can be copied from the web and watermarks are weak protection because they are easily removed. Legally, the creator of art owns a copyright to it as soon as it is created. Registration of the copyright significantly enhances the chances of successfully stopping an infringement and recovering any financial losses. Unpublished works can be registered as an ordered collection with one application form and one fee, making the usual fifty dollar copyright fee quite modest for a large collection of images. Several significant advantages of registration are listed on page seven of the US Copyright Office’s publication, Copyright Basics. An authoritative and clear discussion of the legal aspects of copyright law is on Ken Kaminesky's blog. Although any image on the web can be copied, there are things you can do to make it more difficult. The Cambridge in Color site does a really nice job explaining this. Back to Top
