Call for 2026 Artists

 

Objectives of the Studio Tour:

• Hold an annual studio tour and sale specific to the ceramic arts in Austin

• Increase awareness of Greater Austin Clay Artists 

• Individual artists and community clay studios can open their doors to the public

• Artists can share and sell their work and demonstrate their process

• Education and recreation for the Austin community

 

Cost: 

We want to keep the tour affordable for artists, so we will only be asking for a $40 participation fee for each artist, and that you must be a GACA member and have paid your annual dues of $25. The $40 participation fee will help us with the cost of promotional materials and administration. If you are not a current member, you will be able to add that to your registration and pay during checkout.

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Who is eligible to participate?

Anyone whose main material in their artwork is clay! The tour is open to individual clay artists and community clay studios. 

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In an effort to keep the tour to a manageable area of Austin for patrons to navigate, we are requiring that host studios be located within the 10 Austin City Council districts or an extraterritorial jurisdiction. Artists who live outside of Austin may be hosted by another artist or studio within Austin. We are highly encouraging individual artists to host other artists, or consider joining together with friends at the most centralized studio of your group. This does not mean that we won't accept your registration if you want to be an private studio and not host other artists, but just realize that studios that have multiple artists will likely draw more patrons.

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Don't have your own studio? No problem! You can sign up to participate in the tour and let us know that you would like to be hosted by another artist or studio. While we are highly encouraging GACA members to communicate and make their matches before registration, we will be putting artists and possible hosts in contact with each other to make final matches if needed. You may reach out to other GACA members to find a match prior to registration through the Groups page on our website.

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If you work out of one of the Austin area community studios and would like to be hosted by them (if they are a participating location), you will still need to be a member of GACA and pay the $40 participation fee.

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If you are a community studio, you can register using one person as the main point of contact. You can indicate in the registration if you just want to participate in an open house style, or if you want to host participating artists, or both. Open house style can include tours of your studio, demos or workshops, or open gallery hours. If your studio members will be set up and selling their work, they must each register and pay the fee individually and list you as the host studio. 

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***If you are participating as a host, you MUST be open for the full two days of the tour, and have a backup plan for bad weather if you plan to have your artists set up outdoors (tents, alternative indoor space, etc.). The tour will take place rain or shine.

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***Host studios may NOT charge additional fees to the artists they are hosting. This includes additional booth fees, commissions, processing fees, etc. If we discover you are charging additional fees, you may be disqualified from participating in future tours. You may ask your guest artists to contribute to providing refreshments, but you may not require it. Studios who are participating as an open house and already have an established gallery space that charges commission may do so, but if they host any additional artists for the tour, they may not charge commission to those artists.

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All locations will be encouraged to hold demonstrations, small workshops, or happy hour type events. Though this will not be a requirement to participate in the tour, it does help to attract patrons to your location.

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Timeline:

February 1 - March 1, 2026 - Registration for artists and community studios

March 8, 2026 - Confirmation of participation and locations sent out, along with the digital marketing kit.

March 14, 2026 - Physical promotional materials and yard signs available for pickup

April 7, 2026 - Last opportunity to pick up yard signs and physical promotional materials at April GACA meeting

April 11-12, 2026 - Third Annual Greater Austin Clay Studio Tour!

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Marketing:

• Each participating artist will have a listing on our members gallery and studio tour pages of our website, which will also include an interactive map that patrons can use during the tour

• Listing of events (demos, workshops, etc.) on our Studio Tour page of our website. (We will collect these listings at a later date.)

• A social media campaign for the tour, featuring each participating artist and community studio

• Social media ads

• Printed flyers and postcards

• Yard signs for each studio location (must be returned after tour for use in following years)

 

Artist and Studio Responsibilities:

Participating artists and studios will be responsible for providing their own display setups, collecting and remitting Texas state sales tax, and helping to promote the tour through the provided marketing materials. More information and assistance will be sent out leading up to the tour. If you have never had a sales tax permit before and need assistance with it, please reach out to us.

 

Things you'll need for your registration:

• General Info (name, phone, etc.)

• How you will be participating

  • Individual artist at your own studio (Solo Artist)

  • Individual artist at your own studio and you can host other artists (Host Artist)

  • Individual artist being hosted by another artist or community studio (Guest Artist)

  • Individual artist needing a host studio (Guest Artist Needing Host)

  • Community Studio (Open House and/or Hosting other Artists)

• 1 image to be used on the Studio Tour webpage listings

• If you are a community studio or host location, you will be asked for accessibility information, including info on terrain, stairs, doorway widths, restrooms, and parking.