Updated Policies & Procedures

Policies and Procedures

Click here to download a PDF of the 2022 Official Policies and Procedures

DELAWARE VALLEY ART LEAGUE

OFFICIAL POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

DVAL is governed by its Constitution/By-Laws,

Robert’s Rules of Order And its Official Policies and Procedures

Rev. September 21, 2022

Organizational/Operational:

Each Director shall submit an annual budget and year-end report in April. The Treasurer uses this information to prepare the Organization’s Annual Budget which is voted on at the Planning Board Meeting.

The DVAL Treasurer shall provide the Board a full accounting of incoming and outgoing funds each month.

Board approval is necessary before paying any expenses not included in approved Committee Budgets. The monthly board report will reflect the annual budget in comparison with actual expenses.

Joiner/Membership fees are not refundable.

In order to achieve Full Membership status, new members must have their work reviewed by the DVAL Internal Review Committee.

The Internal Review Committee meets twice a year, in April and November.

The Internal Review Committee will not review any work that does not conform to outlined requirements which are based on DVAL Official Policies and Procedures. These requirements are posted on the DVAL Website and also sent to individual candidates well in advance of their scheduled review.

There are no limits to the number of times an Associate Member may submit work to the Internal Review Committee, as long as their work conforms to outlined requirements which are based on DVAL Official Policies and Procedures.

Joiner/Membership fees will not be refunded if an associate member’s work fails to pass the Internal Review.

Workshop fees are not refundable unless the Workshop Director receives an advance notice and a replacement can be found.

DVAL Members with art teaching experience (classroom or workshop) may be scheduled as a Guest Artist and are able to give both demonstrations of their work and conduct workshops.

DVAL does not pay travel expenses for Guest Artists.

Honorarium for Guest Artists is $600 total. $150 is paid at the General Membership Meeting and the remaining $450 is paid at the Workshop. Any change to the Honorarium requires Board Approval.

The Guest Artist will not be paid if they do not fulfill their obligations.

As a volunteer run organization, all members are expected to volunteer whatever time they can during the course of the year. Those members whose work is chosen for a show must agree to help with that show in order to participate, unless otherwise noted.

Due to liability concerns, the Board has voted not to rent out DVAL owned equipment.

DVAL does not accept advertising from any outside group, art related or not, on its Website (unless it is a paid-in-full DVAL Sponsor).

DVAL will post “Calls to Artists” and “Non DVAL Exhibits/Workshops” on its website only if they have potential to benefit the DVAL Membership.

Friend of DVAL status is given to professional working artists who have formed a special relationship with the organization due to their past experiences either as a Juror or Guest Artist. Additionally the artist must be an active member of DVAL, have an art related degree, teaching experience and exhibit regionally/nationally. These artists are not required to submit work to the Internal Review for jurying. However, the Internal Review Committee will determine if an artist qualifies for this distinction after full review of their resume. The “Friend of DVAL” status offers the same privileges and responsibilities of “Full Membership”

In order to protect the interests of DVAL, signed Contracts, and Exhibition Agreements, (blank forms are available from the Administrative Secretary) shall be secured for all exhibition venues, facility rentals (meeting/workshop/art sale venues), jurors and guest artists. Job descriptions list which Officers/Directors are responsible for securing these documents.

Nominations and Elections:

The Vice President shall appoint and preside over the Nominating Committee. This committee shall consist of at least 3 board members and shall be convened no later than January of each year.

In the absence of a Vice President, the President shall choose a member of the Board of Directors to preside over the Nominating Committee.

DVAL Officers/Directors shall be limited to holding one board position per term.

A candidate for the Presidency shall have served on the Board of Directors.

Officers/Directors shall have been a member in good standing of DVAL for at least one year. If the necessity arises, the Board can make an exception in order to fill an office with an otherwise qualified candidate.

After one term (two years) all Officers/Directors shall inform the Board, in writing, of their plans to remain or step down from their current Board Positions, no later than January. If they choose not to continue in their positions, it will be announced as open.

When Officers/Directors have served their two terms (four years) the position will be announced as open. The current Board Member may stay in that position only if no one steps up to replace them.

The Nomination Committee shall research potential candidates for open positions and present these candidates to the board in February for discussion and vote. This can be done by personal contact, announcements at meetings, on the website, or by email.

Once the slate has been voted on by the Board of Directors, it shall be presented to the membership via Email. The general membership may now step forward and put their name in nomination for any open office. They may do this by contacting a member of the nominating committee or any member of the Board of Directors.

If no one steps forward the slate will then be presented to the general membership for a vote.

If more than one candidate is nominated, the revised slate will be presented to the general membership for a vote.

The Board will decide if this vote is to be taken electronically in the interest of time and to ensure that a quorum is met. If the vote is taken electronically; the results will be announced at the March Membership Meeting.

If the vote is be taken in person by a show of hands at the March Membership Meeting, the results will be announced before the end of that meeting.

The Installation of Officers/Directors shall take place at the Annual Luncheon held in May, which marks the beginning of the new term.

Outgoing Officers (including the President) and Directors are not given gifts but instead receive a note and Certificate of Appreciation, generated by the Administrative Secretary, thanking them for their service.

Exhibitions:

Entry fees are never refunded.

Exhibitors must submit original work for all shows. Reproductions of any type will be rejected by the Exhibition Committee.

No digitally generated work, photographs or sculpture are accepted in any DVAL Exhibition or Art Sale.

Any additional charges incurred by any Exhibition Venue must have Board approval.

Unless otherwise noted, Not-For-Sale (NFS) works are permitted at DVAL permanent venues but are not accepted at Art Sales.

All work to be juried must have the DVAL entry label attached to the back, upper left corner.

Unless otherwise noted, each member is able to enter 2 pieces of work to be juried.

If members are permitted to enter more than one piece of work at Special Exhibitions/Events an additional fee may be charged for each piece submitted. This will clearly be stated in the Event Prospectus.

The number of entries for DVAL Special Exhibitions/Events is determined in advance by the Board and will depend on the size of the exhibition. It will be clearly stated in the prospectus if members are permitted to submit only one or more pieces of work. Artists will be notified when paintings, if any, are accepted by the juror.

Only “Full” members and “Friend of DVAL” members may exhibit work in juried and non-juried shows and participate in Art Sales. Jurors work will no longer be accepted in the show that they jury.

No work may be submitted to the jury process for the same venue where it has previously been shown. It may, however, be re-entered for jury process in another DVAL Show in another venue..

DVAL does not stipulate a time limit requirement on paintings entered in exhibitions.

All work will be juried by an outside professional juror pre-determined by the Juror Procurement Chairperson.

Exhibition Jurors may not be DVAL Members.

The Exhibition Juror Honorarium is $200. Any change to the Honorarium requires board approval.

Prizes for DVAL Juried Shows are: First place $150, Second Place $100, Third Place $75, Merit Awards $25 and Memorial Awards (Memorial Award amounts vary).

The Purchase Prize is no longer available.

A member may be awarded only one award per show.

Jurors will select paintings for a show based solely on merit. No painting will be selected to fill any quota for a desired type of painting or the total number of paintings to be hung.

While the Exhibition Director/Chairperson may inform the juror of the approximate number of paintings the venue can comfortably hang, the Exhibition Committee may not inform the Juror how many pieces to select, offer opinions on which paintings should get into the show or which should win prizes.

Attempting to sway judges opinions will result in immediate expulsion from the Organization.

Work is to be delivered to St. David’s Episcopal Church for jurying between 9:30 and 12:30pm the day of the scheduled jury.

The jury process will be done in a secure place during the membership meeting and may run longer than the meeting.

Members may view delivered work prior to commencement of the jury process ONLY if they are not interfering with the work of the Exhibition Committee.

The membership has advance notice of when the jury process will begin. Once the doors to the jury room are closed (at 12:30pm) no more entries will be accepted.

Only the Exhibition Director and Exhibition Coordinator (or an alternate designated by the Exhibition Director) may be present during the jury process.

Members who attempt to enter the jury room prior to the completion of the jury process to retrieve their paintings are subject to a $20 fine.

All DVAL Members, including Exhibition Committee Members, may not contact the juror to discuss exhibition entries before, during or after the jury process. Doing so will result in immediate expulsion from the organization.

If a painting is juried into a show and is not delivered or hung in that show the artist will be fined $20 and will be prohibited from exhibiting at the next juried show at that venue.

If an artist brings a painting to a show that deviates from the one juried in, it will be rejected at delivery by the Exhibition Committee, the artist will be fined $20 and will be prohibited from exhibiting at the next juried show at that venue.

All fines will be collected by the Treasurer once the Exhibition Director identifies the need. All fines will be deposited in a special account established to fund the current DVAL outreach project

Prior to the jury process, or when hanging a show, paintings will be rejected by the Exhibition Committee if they are not properly framed, have unsightly mats, damaged frames or do not have wire strong enough to support the work and allow hanging.

Oil paintings must be dry and properly framed if not using gallery wrapped canvases (with edges 1 ½” or wider).

Gallery wrapped canvases must have clean or painted sides.

Any subject matter depicting nudity will be rejected at all DVAL Exhibitions.

All work must be signed-in at the show by the artist (or their representative) at delivery and signed-out by the artist (or their representative) when picking up work at the end of the show.

If an artist is unable to deliver or pick up their work at specified times they are responsible for arranging a substitute in their absence. A fine of $20 will be charged for failure to do so. In addition, they will be prohibited from entering the next show at that venue.

There will be no reimbursement for damage or loss of works that are not picked up.

If the weather prohibits delivery or pick-up of paintings, the exhibitors will be notified by the Exhibition Committee either by email, phone, or a notice on the website.

Prices may not be changed, nor can any piece be removed or substituted before the end of the exhibition unless sold.

No painting may be moved, once hung, by anyone other than the Exhibition Committee of that venue.

It is the Exhibition Committees responsibility to ensure that no volunteer/member receives preferential treatment concerning where their work is hung.

Unless otherwise noted, paintings which are sold are not required to stay the duration of the show and may be replaced with a non-juried painting. The label for the replacement painting will reflect that this is a non-juried piece.

When a painting is sold the artist must notify the Exhibition Director/Chairman and provide the DVAL Mailing List Coordinator with the purchaser’s contact information for DVAL records.

Unless otherwise noted, all arrangements of sales and delivery to purchaser will be made by the artist and must conform to the schedule provided by the exhibition facility.

Any changes in policies and procedures for special exhibitions/events will be outlined in the prospectus for that event.

All art work in all DVAL Exhibitions will be carefully handled; however, DVAL will not be responsible for loss or damage except that which occurs during the process of hanging DVAL Shows. Damage payments are not to exceed $150 regardless of the cost to repair or replace the damaged piece.

All artists participating in DVAL shows (regardless of the size of their work) are now required to acknowledge that they have read and understand DVAL policy as it relates to loss or damage of paintings. The liability policy will be posted at the entry sign-in table.

The Official Policies and Procedures shall be posted on the DVAL Website.

Copies are also to be made available to the Membership at all Membership Meetings.

Changes to these Policies and Procedures require Board approval