Artists

The Artist Alley is a place for artists to sell their original, unique, and handmade wares at Momocon. If you are selling licensed or mass produced goods, please consider selling in Vendors instead as it will be a better fit for your shop.

Momocon is home to a large number of people of all ages. Please use your best judgment regarding subject matter. Momocon reserves the right to remove any artwork deemed inappropriate.

However, the following are not allowed for sale at Momocon:

• 18+ / adult / explicit materials
• food (including teas or dried foods) and drinks
• Traced art from official or non original sources
• Official merchandise
• Bladed weapons
• AI-generated art
• Drug paraphernalia 

Because we receive many questions about it, we will reiterate that all foodstuffs are not allowed in the Artists Alley, especially hand-made foodstuffs. The Georgia World Congress Center has strict food rules and even approved vendors (such as the food carts you see in the hall set up by the venue) carry millions of dollars in insurance coverage. This includes all food products, including dried foods or consumables. At this time, we do not permit AI-created art in the Alley or for sale that utilizes art samples not created by the applicant.

Based on feedback from artists and applicants in the past several years of MomoCon’s Artists Alley, we will be continuing with a jury system for future events. The Jury Process typically opens in December before the event, with notifications going out to all applicants on or before mid-January before the event. The Jury System is based on (in order of importance):

1. Adhering to Artists Alley rules/guidelines, removing incomplete applications
2. Variety of products/offerings/artwork (categories of many types)
3. Professionalism and completeness of portfolio

We are here to answer any questions about the process should you have them. No system will be perfect for every artist, but we are built on feedback and will strive to improve with any system from year to year.

Our Artist Alley Application Committee selects the artists for each year, based on the following criteria:

1. Following the Alley rules: Many applicants will be rejected for not reading and understanding the Alley rules, see the section above for more details.
2. Differentiation of product: Our #1 goal is to have a diverse Artists Alley, with representation from crafts, 2-D art, clothing, trinkets, jewelry, photography, comic artists (as part of the Comic Artists Alley) and unique offerings. We look for a good mix of artists who have been a great part of the alley in the past and new artists (both new to MomoCon or selling in Alleys in general). The highest concentration of applications comes from the 2-D prints art category and as such is one of the more competitive categories and many artists are waitlisted in this designation. This is not a reflection of the art itself, but the sheer number of these artists means that many will not make the first pass and may be waitlisted.
3. Professionalism and Preparation: We love artists who are enthusiastic, bring a good amount of work, and are raring to go for the Alley! Applications with only a small few pieces of work or people who are unprepared and might only have a very sparse table at the event are less likely to be accepted.

The Artist Alley Application Committee consists of highly experienced Artists Alley former participants, professionals, artists, and crafters. We have no preference at MomoCon for any style of artwork over another; 2-D prints, original art, painters, photographers, crafters, jewelry makers, trinket makers, and clothing craftspeople are all welcome in the Alley and we take great care (it is in fact our #1 goal) to have a very balanced amount of each type of product in the Alley, providing the best selection for our attendees!

Everyone that isn’t accepted during the initial jury review selection (or rejected) is added to our waitlist. If an accepted artist withdraws their application, or misses a post-approval deadline, then their table will be forfeit and offered, in order of the review results, to an artist on the waitlist during the original determination and whose material isn’t a violation of the Alley’s rules. IF the waitlisted artist who received the rollovered table also withdraws or misses a deadline, then the table will rollover to the next artist on the waitlist, etc.

There are many many MANY reasons applications are not accepted or are waitlisted for the Alley, including (but not limited to):

• incomplete applications
• breaking one or more of the stated rules
• misspelled emails (if we can’t contact you, we can’t approve your application!)
• The quality of artists that submitted their application in a specific category is higher than in previous years
• The quantity of artists that submitted their application in a specific category is higher than in previous years

Please keep in mind that no decision is ever personal. Our Artist Alley Application Committee members will recuse themselves for any applications of friends with close ties to ensure the best experience. Please keep in mind that our current policy is that we do not offer portfolio feedback and/or waitlist position, as we receive a lot of applications and unfortunately do not have the time or resources to offer detailed critiques/placement for all of them.

After your application is accepted, you will be contacted by the Artists Alley team to confirm your registration and arrange payment. Due to some extremely egregious abuses in the past, we will require upfront payment for the spaces when invoices are sent/tables are assigned. Cancellations and refunds will be available for 30 days after payment per our standard online payment processor procedure. After 30 days, transfers (that will require MomoCon Artists Alley volunteer staff approval) are available, but the artist will need to arrange for any transfer/payments of money and to get approval and changes confirmed through the MomoCon Artists Alley volunteer staff themselves (MomoCon will not handle any refunds or money after the 30 day window). No transfers can be made within 30 days before the event. Transfers must involve an artist that is currently on the year’s waitlist (to be arranged with the Artists Alley team).

Payments: Payments for Artists Alley tables may be made only via PayPal account or credit/debit card (the processor is PayPal but you can use any type of credit or debit card without a PayPal account). We will not take checks or cash at any time, please make accommodations.

Why the strict rules about upfront payments, transfers, and refunds? A very large number of artists reserved tables, passed many payment deadlines and were given accommodations and forgiveness from the Artists Alley volunteer staff, and still dropped their tables at a late date, causing much frustration for our room designers, Artists Alley volunteer staff, accounting, and many others. This was also extremely disrespectful to those artists who were unable to secure a table during the initial reservation period due to the high number of applicants and demand, only to have that taken table be tossed aside at a late date when the original waitlist artists (who were very interested) did not have time to make accommodations to sell. We ask those who are interested in selling at the MomoCon Artists Alley make that decision before the refund deadline, to make the process smoother for everyone and allow those who would like to sell the opportunity to do so with enough time to craft product for the event. Should emergencies occur, transfers of tables are available (with Artists Alley jury approval), but it is the responsibility of the confirmed artist to make the accommodations for the transfer.