Howard Alan Events — Local services in Jupiter

Avoid them at all costs if you're a vendor. You will only lose your money and time. They even kicked out a vendor who complained about slow traffic and was offering deals just to cover their fees. READ THEIR REVIEWS ON YELP – 2.2 STARS.

Below are three reviews I’ve quoted from Yelp:

"Beware when applying to one of their events! They will take your $35 without even considering your application if you're not already on their list of regulars. I applied on Zapplication to an event, and the application was declined a few seconds after it was sent."

*"Be very careful of applying for any events with this company as they have shady business practices. They keep applications open until a few days before an event, giving the impression there's still open space available. This is not the case – you're applying for a waitlist, which is never communicated. It's just a scam to get more money from artists.

Applications state artists are juried and the jury meets twice per month. This is an outright lie, as others have stated. I've applied to five events, and all five – within minutes or by the next business morning – were either denied (2) or waitlisted (3). Clearly not going before a jury.

Elaine is their art director, and she has this very outdated and rigid view of how jewelry should be displayed. Any originality or color, such as being inspired by Gucci or Chanel’s floral displays, is met with insults that your display is ‘too crafty.’ They are not 'artist-friendly.' I won’t be applying to any more events with them. Instead, I’ve found other, more reputable art fairs to work with."*

*"I did their show for two years in a row in Keystone. The first year was OK, and the sales were OK, but there were many artists complaining about the show promoters. Mostly, they did not jury anything and simply took the money (too many jewelers and photographers).

The second summer, I saw their true colors. They treated me and a number of artists terribly! I was personally in tears at one point, and they screamed and yelled at another artist across from me for something that was their own fault. Every artist I spoke to will NEVER do a Howard Alan event again. They don’t care about the artists – no advertising, horrible treatment, lack of communication. All they want is...

Howard Alan embraces shady business practices. They keep applications open until a few days before an event - giving the impression there's still open space available. This is not the case - you're applying for a waitlist - when it's never communicated you're applying for a waitlist - it's just a scam to get more money from artists. Applications state artists are juried and the jury meets twice per month. This is an outright lie as other's have stated. I've applied to 5 events. All five - as in within minutes or the next business morning - either denied (2) or waitlisted (3). Clearly not going before a jury. I called them and emailed them repeatedly to review their rules for displays - seeing as tho I've been accepted into some of of the country "Top 200" art fairs from Sunshine Artist Magazine - clearly there isn't an issue with my work or display. Elaine is their art director and she has this very outdated and rigid view of how jewelry should be display. All photography is supposed to be on this odd dated 80s vibe background of black and gray. Sadly the only thing this accomplishes is making all the jewelry displayed look like it's from the same artist. Any originality or color such as being inspired by Gucci or Chanel's floral displays as I've done are met with insults that your display is too crafty. I tried repeatedly to work with them and contrary to what they advertise - they are not "artist friendly". It's odd because art is about originality and not conformity. I won't be applying to any more - I've found several other more reputable art fairs to work...

Coming soon to kill a local arts scene/festival near you! This festival business is run out of florida and is not local. What they do is show up and compete with existing local festivals and run them out of business. They ride the wave of interest that was created by local artists all the way to the bank $$$. Even worse, they bring in national and "regional" artists (non-local) to spread a generic festival atmosphere that frankly could be achieved anywhere. In Asheville where local artists have spent decades building a unique arts scene, this festival business has come in and scheduled their events on the exact dates of important local festivals and events that have been going on for years. They do not care to mesh into the local arts community calendars. As an artist, I know and have seen it first hand. If you want to see a city's true art scene, don't go to these events, THE ARTISTS ARE NOT LOCAL.

RIP LAAF Festival (17 years...