Uptown Art Fair

As the Uptown Association’s primary fundraising event, the Uptown Art Fair is an economic engine for the community, generating revenue that pays for Uptown projects including extra security officers, beautification projects, education programs and seminars, and other community building projects.  What began 47 years ago as a small event with artists propping their pieces up against the curb to sell their wares, the Uptown Art Fair has grown into a nationally recognized, three-day fine arts festival attracting more than 375,000 people in one weekend.

The Uptown Art Fair is a true success story – but it hasn’t been easy…

In 1963, three Uptown businessmen got together to map out the first Art Fair, and in so doing created a piece of Minnesota history.  Advertising pro Gene Nieland, Bob Harris of Harris Hardware and Northwestern Bank’s Frank Weaver met as part of the Uptown Commercial Club to strategize how to breathe life back into the corner of Lake Street and Hennepin Avenue.  Times had been hard on the area, and these pioneers saw opportunity on the horizon.

What emerged from that meeting was the Uptown Art Fair.  Their vision was to bring art to the people, draw people to Uptown and provide a showcase and sales outlet for both professional and amateur artists from around the Minneapolis area.  The Minneapolis Institute of Arts was a key player in the planning and presentation of the first Art Fair, and selected artists were asked to donate an item for an auction to help defray the costs of the event.

The first year of the Uptown Art Fair was difficult to say the least.  Organizers practically had to beg people to attend the first fair.  But things got better.  Just one year later, in 1964, nearly 75,000 people attended the Art Fair to view work from 75 artists!  The art featured a mix of professional work as well as arts and crafts.  Artists were allowed into the Fair to exhibit on a first-come, first-served basis with little, if any, quality control.  This wide range of quality would soon catch up to organizers of the Fair.

It happened in the late 1960s when the Art Fair’s quality dropped to such a low that consideration was given to actually ending the show.  There were economic concerns as well: artists were charged only $15 to cover needs like advertising, security and clean-up which in no way covered expenses.

Things were not looking good…

To add to the woes of the era, large malls developed in the suburbs that took quite a bit of business away from Uptown.  The Art Fair had to fight even harder to bring people to the area and it gave many their first experience of the quality of this unique and diverse commercial district.  In 1975, the Hennepin-Lake Improvement District was created to organize the Fair, and to bring continuity to the planning and promotion of the area.

Problems continued to plague the Art Fair in its early years.  It was tough for organizers to stay true to the original mission of the fair: to bring quality art to a large number of people and give artists an opportunity to expose their art to the public and sell it at reasonable prices.  The quality of art continued to diminish as pet rocks began to take precedence over professional paintings.  Unregistered exhibitors also presented a problem for organizers.

In 1985, the Uptown Association was formed as a merchant’s association in the Uptown commercial district, and became the producers of the Art Fair.  After years of struggling, the Fair had new organizers and new ideas.  One of the key changes that organizers made was to the requirements for artists to participate; Instead of basing acceptance on a first-come, first-served system, new artist applicants were required to submit slides of their work to be juried.

This change brought immediate improvement in the quality of the Fair…

A five-member jury set the standards for new applicants who were judged on four major criteria:  impact, originality, intention and craftsmanship.  The jury requirement was initiated because the quality of the art, and therefore the caliber of the show, was perceived by many to have dropped considerably.

The quality of the show improved dramatically over the next decade, and the number of artists jumped to 600.  These 600 exhibitors were juried by professionals who reviewed their work during the weekend of the Fair.  Based on their quality of exhibition, approximately 20 percent of those 600 were invited to return the following year without having to submit an application.  Those with lower scores were required to submit slides the following year.  This practice remains.  After last year’s show, 51 artists were invited back to represent the 2008 Best of Show and top 10 percent of each medium. A total of 902 artists applied for this year’s remaining spots. The artists will travel from 42 states and three countries (U.S., Canada, and Argentina).

Organizers began to lower the number of exhibitors in the early 1990s from 600 to 350 in order to increase competition and improve the caliber of art in the Fair.  To date, the Uptown Art Fair continues to follow an arduous jury process. It now uses a state-of-the-art online application and jury process called Zapplication.™ Each artist submits five images of his or her work. All artwork submitted is in a consistent, high-quality digital format. Five highly qualified artists, instructors, and critics handpick the artists after previewing projections of the images on 8-foot screens. Three rounds of scoring determine the final selection and waitlist for the show. The identities of the artists remain anonymous during the entire review process.

As a result of the Uptown Art Fair’s evolution over the past 4 decades, the event has grown to be ranked one of the top 10 fine arts festivals in the country with a loyal legion of followers and attendees.