JOINT STATEMENT BY UNICON ARTIST ALLEY ARTISTS

Greetings, Unicon organizers

We are Unicon Artist Alley participants, and we come to you together with criticisms about the way the Artist Alley is currently organized. Our intention is not to attack and insult the organizers of Unicon, but to offer constructive criticism and ask for better treatment of Artist Alley participants.We of course appreciate that Unicon staff work very hard to make the convention happen and we are thankful for your hard work. But there are many aspects about Unicon Artist Alley that are unacceptable, especially compared to other conventions in Europe. There are many things that could be fixed very easily and with little effort, and would be of enormous benefit to both the Artist Alley participants and to the convention itself.We are posting this statement publicly because we do not believe sending it to Unicon staff privately would have any effect. We know that Unicon staff have received many complaints about the organization of the Artist Alley over the years, including from artists co-signing this statement. These complaints are usually ignored, and even if acknowledged, still haven’t resulted in any significant changes. In fact, many aspects of the Artist Alley have been getting worse over the years.62 artists who participated in the 2023 Unicon Artist Alley (and/or previous Unicon or Wintercon Artist Alleys) came together to discuss and agree on these points. We ask that you take them into serious consideration:

1) The queue:

The way artists have to queue for hours in the morning to even get their badges and get in is unacceptable. Nothing like this happens at ANY other convention. Even if nothing else changes, this MUST change. Having participants queue outside for hours in 30 degree heat or -10 degree cold is not okay. You cannot demand in the rules that artists have their tables set up by 10:30, if you cannot ensure the artists are even able to get in by that time. This situation is tiring and stressful, and can even be dangerous to participants’ health in extreme weather conditions like this year’s Unicon.Things we feel should be implemented to help get rid of the queue:
✦ Move to online tickets and table fee payments for Artist Alley participants, so that time isn’t spent handling cash sales at the door;
✦ Allow for badge pickup on Friday;
✦ Open access for Artist Alley setup from at least 8 AM on Saturday.

2) Artist Alley size and participant selection process:

Implement an actual juried Artist Alley application process to ensure basic quality of products and to weed out “AI art” and art theft. Put actual, rigorous effort into detecting AI art and art theft. Explicitly ban AI art from the event, not only from the Artist Alley, but from other aspects such as the poster contest as well.Separate the Artist Alley sellers and flea market sellers to different areas. Flea market sellers are those whose merchandise is not drawn/made by themselves. Flea market sellers should not be mixed in with the Artist Alley. Anyone who wants to sell products ordered from Aliexpress/Ebay/etc alongside their own art should go in the flea market section. Artists should be given priority in placement.While Unicon being accessible to small and beginner artists is great, there is a limit. Currently the Artist Alley is simply way too big for the amount of visitors Unicon has. Both physically, where visitors don’t have the time and energy to walk through the entire thing, and financially, as the customers are spread too thin across too many artists and everyone ends up with disappointing sales. Unicon HAS to stop expanding the Artist Alley, and ideally should cut down on the number of tables somewhat.

3) Table fee:

Implement a fixed table fee instead of the 10% fee. While the 10% fee is great for making the event accessible for total newbies, it quickly becomes unfair for anyone earning over a couple hundred. No other convention does their Artist Alley fees like this. Together with having to pay for a ticket separately, Unicon quickly becomes more expensive than other conventions in nearby countries, while offering lower returns in sales numbers and none of the comforts and conveniences other conventions do.Not only is the 10% fee unfair, so is the demand for stock reports. Artists shouldn’t be expected to spend hours of extra time compiling stock reports. No other convention in nearby countries asks for anything like this. Using the stock reports and threats of bans as a scare tactic to try to make sure people put the exact 10% in the envelope is an underhanded practice and disrespectful to artists.If a fixed table fee is implemented, the separate entry ticket for Artist Alley participants should be eliminated. Since most artists spend the entire event working behind their table, it is unfair to make them pay for a ticket in addition to the table fee. Instead have the ticket fee incorporated into the flat table fee, and enable people to buy extra passes for helpers if necessary.For the fixed fee, we suggest a price range of 40-50 euros per table, and this should include the event ticket for at least one artist. This is a reasonable price, considering the level of earnings that can be achieved at Unicon. Unicon cannot expect artists to pay prices comparable to much bigger conventions, where sales numbers are much higher.To accommodate smaller artists even with a fixed table fee, Unicon can:
✦ Sell half tables;
✦ Encourage smaller artists to share tables with their friends;
✦ Set aside a certain number of tables meant specifically for newcomer artists.Selling half tables and encouraging people to share tables will also help improve the overall appearance of Unicon’s Artist Alley, as there won’t be tables only half filled with merchandise. This will also help reduce the physical size of the Artist Alley and make it easier for visitors to walk through and see all of the Artist Alley, without cutting down on the number of participants as much.Make the table fee be paid online, up front. This, along with juried applications, will eliminate no-shows, which has been a continuous problem for Unicon - many empty tables, which look unappealing, take up space, could have gone to artists who are actually present.

4) General Artist Alley management:

Improve table layout. Absolute necessities:
✦ Leave a space of ~40 cm after every 2-3 tables, so that artists are not trapped behind their tables and can get out to fix their tables, fetch water, go to the bathroom. This is standard practice for almost every other convention.
✦ Do not put tables in dark corners and facing walls with little to no foot traffic. Do not put tables behind pillars and trash cans!!! Ensure that every table has a reasonably decent location and is not blocked by anything, hampered by lighting problems or located in such a far corner that no visitors will ever go there. This does mean reducing the number of tables in the Artist Alley.Additional placement matters to consider:
✦ Consider possibilities to reduce the noise levels near Artist Alley. It is often difficult to communicate with customers next to loud music and cheers;
✦ Consider possibilities to reduce the amount of smoke near the Artist Alley, as sitting in it all day can make people dizzy and have coughing fits.✦ Many artists do not have helpers with them and are stuck at their table for the whole day. Consider creating the position of “Artist Alley assistants”, whose job is to go around the Artist Alley and ask artists how they are doing, offer to fetch them water and food, offer to watch their tables for a couple of minutes while they go to the bathroom. This kind of assistance is standard at many other conventions. Right now Unicon is one of the worst conventions for artist wellbeing in comparison.

5) Communication from Artist Alley staff:

We ask for improvements in communication and information sharing:
✦ Artist Alley confirmations are known to not arrive in a reasonable time, making it hard for artists to make travel and accommodation plans. Artist Alley confirmations should reach everyone AT LEAST 1 month before the event. Detailed instructions for arrival and setup should be sent out at least a week before the event.
✦ Communication by Artist Alley staff is very chaotic and sloppy in general. Copy-pasting old emails leads to wrong information being spread to artists, causing confusion.
✦ The event NEEDS better signage about important information. Experienced Unicon attendees may know where to go and what to do, but there are many first timers who end up very confused.
✦ We would appreciate a better, readable map of the Artist Alley, with each artist’s table clearly marked, for both the artists’ and visitors’ benefit.
✦ We would appreciate some type of marketing on the convention’s website and social media for Artist Alley participants.

6) Miscellaneous comments:

It is generally agreed that the pre-assigned tables this year was a good and welcome change. We hope that this is preserved, and space is made in the Artist Alley application process for people to request to be placed next to their friends. We understand that this was already a possibility, but the communication was lacking and many people were not aware of the changes to table allocation this year.If you don’t have the manpower to handle it, stop doing personalized badges for Artist Alley participants. You ask for logos and pronouns, but then don’t even include them on the badges. Many people received badges where their names were missing or messed up. Searching for the badges by name contributes to the horrible line on Saturday mornings. Personalized badges are nice, but not a necessity, and generic ones will do fine until other issues are resolved and you can return to it in later years.

Conclusion:

We artists have come together to express our dissatisfaction because we care about Unicon and want to see it prosper and develop into an even better convention in the future. A prospering and well organized Artist Alley is a must have part of any truly great convention. The points we have brought up here are standard practice at most other conventions worldwide, and it is not too much to expect Unicon to provide similar standards.We of course understand that some of these changes would be difficult for Unicon to put into effect due to a lack of manpower, but there are many important changes listed here that can be implemented with little to no effort or extra time. There is absolutely no real reason why most of these changes can’t be made. We do not expect everything we have asked for to be fulfilled at once, but we wish to see at least some of these implemented by the time of Wintercon 2024.We hope for an official response from Unicon organizers and promises of meaningful changes in time for Wintercon 2024. We are happy to discuss our ideas further with Unicon staff, and to provide suggestions and reference materials for how to improve Unicon’s Artist Alley.

This statement is co-signed by:

@st4rfighter
@sailor _ juno
@jkuosa
@axirokko
@tigertoaster
@bog _ loot
@king _ fisher _ arts
@ieva.exe
@weasel _ magpie
@artsy.kokoro
@_ amenalyme
@kotikaleo
@metsaahenki
@Miauta _ Mi
@ra _ artblog
@inkandmilk.cos
@subak _ panda
@darktarou
@rady _ art
@j _ amatus
@Si3art
@poco.peach
@grecaiyi
@old _ keijifai
@wasabii _ candles
@lemonek0
@ovaroya
@vatokykaika
@elyadead
@_ aikowth _
@vicky.shell
@aristocraticbunnies
@zaz.abelle
@duhovkin
@peteberrybest _
@jolimoli _
@rinkistrinkets
@kitsunoshi _ art
@kawaiiweirdd
@fairy.soda
@annettoee
@necrorave
@ichigo.tales
@trikkme _ handmade
@laisk _ kunst
@amanita _ xz _
@mififii _
@berryz _ boo
@no _ name _ animation
@thepinkdemoncat
@houjinnn
@kokoro.pin
and 10 artists who wished to remain anonymous.

Our exchange with Unicon

✦On 30/08/2023 10:01, we wrote:
Hello,I am delivering to you a joint statement by Unicon Artist Alley participants. The statement is a collaborative effort co-signed by 44 artists.You can read the statement at https://uniconstatement.carrd.co/
It is also included with this email. The statement will also be posted publicly on Instagram.I am merely acting as a liaison - all communications will be shared and discussed with all the artists who co-signed the statement.All the best,The 44 artists behind the joint statement

✦On Wed, 30 Aug 2023 at 12:17, UniCon Group <[email protected]> wrote:
Hello,thank you for the collective feedback. Sometimes communications can be complicated or even whole messages lost, especial days and weeks before/after convention, when the amount of correspondence is the largest. We also would love to ask to ready rules of applications very carefully before each event, because we are constantly working to improve our conventions and almost each time some changes are applied.
As for the statement:1) Unfortunately the queues problem is always present since we are always making amendments and improvements compared to previous editions. But each time there are more and more participants and visitors so the implemented solutions are not enough (as they there tailored for the less attendance). We will try Friday set up and badge distribution for the next WinterCon and will see how it is going to work out.2) We have been closely studying situation with the recent trend of so called "AI art" development in US and other European conventions, but UniCon 2023 was the first time we had to deal it ourselves. At the moment we don't plan to ban "AI art" as such, but will add requirement for sellers of "AI art" to inform visitors and customers that the product in question is AI generated. At this point the amount of "flee market" application is not that large to differentiate it from the Artists' Alley.3) UniCon Artists' Alley follows the same model for more than a decade, which allowed grow the Alley, Event and not only survive the Covid period, but continue to both operate and grow. If anyone sees the model unfitting for them, the business table costs 250 EUR and includes 3 entrance passes. Unfortunately in current economy we are putting all our efforts to have the ticket price and participation price as low as possible and the last time we higher-ed the prices in 2022 and before that in 2017.4) We will see what we can do, but we are limited with the resources we have with the venue.5) We do plan to have application deadline farther away from the event and try different communication/application approach for WinterCon VII.6) For next WinterCon we plan to make improvements with pre-assigned table distribution.Yours faithfully
Parva, UniCon CEO
&
Andosmir, Head of Artists' Alley

✦On Wed, 30 Aug 2023 at 17:24, we wrote :
Hello,Thank you for the swift response.However, since dozens of artists spent a whole week working on this statement, making sure it was detailed, clearly understandable, grammatically correct, and as diplomatic as possible, we would appreciate the same kind of effort from Unicon in response. We would like Unicon staff to take more time to consider our requests more thoroughly, and to have internal discussions amongst staff members. We would like a detailed response that addresses EVERY point we brought up in our statement.Here are some responses to your e-mail:✦ We appreciate any efforts taken to lessen the queue and we hope that considerable improvements can be seen by the time of Wintercon 2024. We hope that you are taking this seriously.✦ Not banning AI art is unacceptable. Every other convention has banned it. There is no excuse.✦ Ebay/Aliexpress resellers and flea market sellers are a much bigger part of the current artist alley than you seem to want to admit. If you don’t want to give flea market sellers their own, separate area, remove them completely. Having them mixed in with artists selling their own work shows how little you think of artists.✦ There was no response to our suggestion of limiting the size and number of participants of the artist alley.✦ Following the same model for 10 years is the whole problem - While the 10% fee may have been okay and sensible in the event’s beginning years, now that it has grown into one of the biggest conventions of the Baltics, it is no longer an acceptable way of doing things. Reminder that NO OTHER CONVENTION does their artist alley fees like this. There is no reason why Unicon should be special in this manner. Apply the industry standard to your event. We believe that with a fixed table fee of 40-50 euros Unicon’s income from the artist alley could remain at a similar level as previously. If you are adamant about keeping the 10% fee, then you should at least cap it at 50 euros - which is still more expensive than table fees at many Finnish conventions, where artists’ earnings are easily 2x what they can make at Unicon.✦ Can we also have an explanation for why the table fees and participants tickets have to be paid in cash in the first place? We don’t want to accuse Unicon of trying to hide its income, but this is certainly what this practice looks like.✦ What does this mean? How exactly do venue resources affect your ability to leave spaces between tables and your ability to make sure every table has a decent placement? Please specify. We understand that it can be difficult to do anything about the smoke and noise issues, but changing table placements is an easy fix, especially if the artist alley is made smaller. There are always a lot of empty tables at Unicon/Wintercon - do something to eliminate this issue.✦ Great, we hope that significant improvement can be seen in time for Wintercon. We would like a more detailed response about your plans for improving signage, maps and online promotion.We think it would be prudent for Unicon to make a post on their own social media that addresses artists’ concerns and promises improvements. Show that you acknowledge the issues and the massive complaints.With your current response and apparent lack of serious care for our concerns, many artists feel disrespected and many of us have agreed we are not going to come to next Wintercon/Unicon if this attitude continues. We intend to encourage others to boycott the event as well.An additional 9 artists have signed their support of the statement since publishing.All the best,The 53 artists behind the joint statement

✦On 06/09/2023 16:19, we wrote:
Hello Unicon organizers,We still hope to receive a more in-depth and thoughtful response from Unicon, with more concrete plans of changes. Please confirm if you are working on a response.An additional 18 artists have signed their support of the statement since publishing.All the best,The 62 artists behind the joint statement.

✦On Fri, 8 Sept 2023 at 08:02, UniCon Group <[email protected]> wrote:
Hello,Yes, we have reviewed all of your points. Some adjustments to the WinterCon VIII Artist's alley application rules will be made.Wishing you a nice day.

✦On Fri, 8 Sept 2023 at 16:35, we wrote:We are not satisfied with this response. As stated before, dozens of people spent a week working on the original statement - we expect you to show a similar level of effort and consideration in your response. This level of response from you feels extremely disrespectful and dismissive.We are asking for:✦ an in depth response to the original statement that addresses EVERY complaint. Your first response to the statement was sent in 2 hours and was obviously rushed and no time was spent actually considering the suggested changes or discussing them with other Unicon staff.✦ detailed plans of what changes you are planning to make and explanations for why some changes are not possible. “This is how we have always done it so we are not going to change it” is not an acceptable explanation. "Venue limitations" is not an explanation - tell us in detail what exactly the limitations are and how they affect the implementation of the ideas we put out.✦ a public post on social media about the changes you are making, so that there is accountability.We stayed quiet on social media for a week, to give you time to hopefully work on a better response. We would have given more time, if there was any indication a better response was being worked on. We see now that this isn’t going to happen, so we are going to start making noise on social media again.All the best,The 62 artists behind the joint statement.