Application Fees are Parasitic
- Jun 3
- 3 min read
If I told you I have spent $10,000 in the past 3 years on application fees with a 97% rejection rate for my applications, would you believe me? Also, if I told you I have participated in 50 exhibitions on my curriculum vitae over many years, and the top 15 exhibitions, in terms of quality, had no application fee, would you believe me? Well, as unbelievable as these statements may sound, they are both true. My 97% rejection rate is not due to poor presentation, bad writing, an incohesive CV, or a weak portfolio, but rather because my work falls outside the mainstream. For example, a vast majority of these rejections contained exhibitions where virtually almost all the selections ended up being paintings, which gives me a clear indication there is a bias against experimental art and underrepresented forms of visual art with most curators.
A common misconception many artists make is all fees are the same. They are not. If you are contributing for a selection requirement or paying a participation fee, these are nowhere on the same level as an application fee. With a selection fee, you are receiving something in return, usually an exhibition of your works, presentation, promotion, handling of your art, etc. In an application fee, you are literally paying to attempt getting your foot in the door. They are nowhere near the same level. There is a very common misconception amongst gatekeepers and some individuals in the establishment who think an application fee is an indicator of curatorial quality. This is not the case. An application fee is not an indication of competent curatorial standards by any stretch of the imagination.
If I told you an application fee was a literal trick, would you believe me? The fact is a curator either likes my art or does not. Believes in my art or does not. I do not need an assembled jury of peers to pretend they are carefully reviewing my work for weeks at a time, as they have you believe. They are not deliberating carefully, in reality, jurors are no different than an average curator in the amount of time they spend studying your work. The mythology behind a ‘juror’ as an arbiter of ultimate fairness is laughable and insulting to our collective intelligence. They are on the same level as the judgement of an individual curator. Period. I don’t mean to disrespect the position of a juror, but the lore behind jury-led decisions need to be addressed and unveiled as they are.
I came across a gallery recently which had no application fee, but had a selection fee. Now, the gatekeepers would like to have you believe, the reverse formula is the most acceptable form of participation in professional work. However, not only did I not lose thousands of dollars to ‘reach the steps’ of an actual gallery, but in fact, was able to secure exhibitions in major cities within busy art districts, including London and Paris. No pretentious formula of having to slobber my way to the door begging for scraps. A simple application. Accepted. Paid. Exhibiting in major cities with excellent presentation. What more could I ask for?
As a result, this essay is a mass-call for artists to absolutely reject opportunities with application fees, no matter the prestige of the venue, as an application fee is nothing more for than a trap. Let us recognize this attribute of predatory behavior. You are also disrespecting yourself in the application fee process. Are we really so desperate to the point we are to believe we must pay to beg for scraps? ‘Please like my work, I’ll pay you to look at my portfolio’. This is a joke of a system. I vow, for the rest of my life to never pay another application fee again. No matter the prestige or reputation of the venue. You may be surprised there are quite a few opportunities available without an application fee, if you look in the right places. I have assembled a tiered list below of websites where you are most likely to find open calls with no application fee. Enjoy. One final thought, artists who pay application fees are doing nothing more than feeding this parasitic system which needs to be vanquished for good. If we collectively stop paying these application fees, we stop feeding the beast and the continuation of this unethical practice.
6. Wooloo.org
photographic assemblage (with unedited photography) by Michael Hanna