Fanime details on this year's Artist Alley

-Anthony Beanes
Co-Director

Fanime has posted details regarding next year’s requirements to sign up for artist alley.  Much of their information can be found on their website at http://apps.fanime.com/2016/artistinfo/ regarding all the needed information to apply for a table for the artist alley.

What was found alongside the application was a voting criterion that will be addressed to all artists who want to apply. Prior iterations on registering artists for the artist alley included a first come, first serve basis. Fanime is the fourth biggest anime convention In the U.S., and getting a table for the artist alley is very competitive. Below you can view the entire document of what is listed for what criteria that needs to be fulfilled to be considered to be chosen to be in the artist alley.

In prior years Fanime has adopted the, "First Come, First Serve" rule, but proved to be much more difficult to get different artists tables rather then the some artists every year. So in attempt to limit which artists gets a table at next year's Fanime, it will be decided by a jury. As stated on Fanime's website:

"The identity of the artists will not have any bearing on the evaluation. We have 4-6 neutral judges reviewing your entries. This is so that we have a diverse group evaluate the submissions. We will primarily be looking at the works to ensure rule compliance and evaluate at a minimum bar. This is because of the lower number of tables and the high demand for table, that minimum bar may raise and lower depending on the number of submissions. Final selections depend on the quality of applicants rather than set judgment guidelines. There are a limited number of seats available relative to the huge application pool and selections will be made in order to maintain the Alley’s quality, variance, and success for both the Artists involved and the fans. We will not be doing a 'load balancing' based on art type or medium."

Art can be a very subjective topic, as well as every artists has his/her own artsyle when it comes to their artwork. Is it fair to compare chibi art to a life like drawing of Eren from Attack on Titan? Questions like these have already been brought up, or will be brought up. Fanime is trying find a way to make it a even playing field for everyone to apply, but when making decisions like these for artists people are going to be angry one way or another. This jury for Fanime is basically the same idea as the NCAA Football jury who decides which college football team is ranked, and if they will get into the NCAA college football playoffs. At the time of this posting, the application to submit is due by this Friday at noon.