Resources for CaFÉ Administrators During the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic

We hope you are staying safe and healthy during these turbulent times. There’s no denying this pandemic has thrown us all into uncertain and unprecedented circumstances, and we want to thank you for your patience with us. As you know, plans are evolving and changing quickly, so we wanted to share with you some resources the CaFÉ team put together to answer some questions you may have and offer ideas on how to best move forward with your calls and events.

As we said in our message last week, CaFÉ is continuing services as normal. Our team is equipped and prepared to help you set up new calls, manage current ones, and help you if you need to cancel or postpone them. Whatever your decisions may be, we are here for you. If there are any changes to these plans, you’ll be the first to know.

As always, you can reach out to us by submitting a CaFÉ Help Ticket if you have any other questions or need some help. We will continue to provide updates to our operations should changes occur, and we wish you all the best in the upcoming days, weeks, and months.

Some of you have inquired about CaFÉ’s cancellation policy and process for refunds if you have to cancel your listing and/or event. At this time, we are maintaining our existing entry fee refund policy, which is that we ask the call sponsor to issue refunds with the revenue we remit each month. As for past, current, and future calls, the existing non-refundable CaFÉ service fees are also applicable.

If you think or know that you have to cancel, postpone, or delay your event, please let us know so that we can gauge the impact COVID-19 is having on our community and to help inform artists who are reaching out to us.

The CaFÉ team remains active and is here to support you as much as possible, so please do communicate with us as things are changing for you.

Many of you may be making updates to your organization’s website and social media pages; getting the word out to applicants is important. The CaFÉ team has put together quick instructions to help you more efficiently take action as you adjust your call listing status or event dates during this time.

1. Go to the Events tab and select Communication.
2. Check the box next to the group/status of artists you want to email.
3. An email form will open.
4. Enter your email address, cc or bcc, subject line, and message.
5. Click the Preview Email button to review your draft. The system will auto populate the following fields:
   CaFÉ login: [username] *
   [Status: image_label] [Artwork Title: image_name] * [first_name] [last_name]: *
6. Click Send Message. You have the option to Go Back, or Save a Draft.

1. Go to the Events tab and select Management.
2. Search for an applicant by name in the search box or find their name in the list of Received entries or another status.
3. Select the applicant’s Application ID in the left-hand column. This will direct you to their application page.
4. Locate their email address and click the address to bring up the email form.
5. Compose and send your email.

1. Go to the Ticket tab in the main menu.
2. Enter the title, select your event, and select the topic Image Request.
3. Compose your message, include which status(es) you need images for.
4. Be sure to provide your name, email, and callback number.
5. Click submit.

1. Go to the Events tab and select Management.
2. Select your call name from the current list of calls.
3. Click Call Editor. This will direct you to the call editor page.
4. Select the Event Information tab.
5. Revise the short description text
6. Revise the long description text.
7. Click Save.
8. Click Preview to see how changes will look on the live site.

1. Go to the Events tab and select Management.
2. Select your call name from the current list of calls.
3. Click Call Editor. This will direct you to the call editor page.
4. Select the Product Editor tab.
5. Enter 0.00 or the new fee for the Entry Fee cost.
6. Click Preview to see your new cost to apply.
7. If you wish to offer a discount instead, click create a coupon code. This will take you to the coupon manager page.

1. Go to the Events tab and select Management.
2. Select your call name from the current list of calls.
3. Click on the Received status (or another status) to load the list of applications.
4. Under Download XLSX, click Contact Information to download a spreadsheet of the artists’ contact information.
5. Under Download PDF, click Applications to download a PDF report of all the applications or Media Inventory List to download a PDF of the artwork images and details.

If you have to cancel or delay your opening receptions and exhibition dates, think about moving the exhibition online or waiving entry fees for new shows!

Create an online exhibition. With CaFÉ, we can export JPG images of your invited artists so that you can upload them to your website or social media pages. JPG exported images are a minimum 1200 pixels on the longest side and under 5mb — big enough for Instagram, Facebook, and most WordPress gallery add-ons. Post one artwork per day, caption it with the theme and what the work is about. Create a WordPress Gallery show or try an Instagram feed plugin for your website.

Boost artist webpages. You have access to artist contact information, which includes their webpage address. Now more than ever, artists would appreciate a promotional boost of their webpage or social media profile. We advise you to ask for permission from the artist to share their work and to not publicly share their contact information, but sharing their personal web pages and images of their work while tagging their social media handles can be a good way to acknowledge their artwork.

Waive your entry fee. If you move your exhibitions online or you have a new call coming up, how about also not charging an entry fee for the time being or putting the funds toward a good cause? Now is the time to think creatively—art can wait but it doesn’t have to if you make a few temporary modifications.

• ArtsReady
  
• COVID-19 & Freelance Artists
• National Endowment for the Arts: NEA Relief Resources and Opportunities
• Grantmakers in the Arts: COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and Arts Funding: Update and action items
• Alliance of Artists Communities: Coronavirus Update // Next Steps and Action Items
• Common Field: COVID-19 Resources for the Artist Organization Field