REGISTRATION INSTRUCTIONS CHECKLIST: DEADLINE = MAY 1st each year. [Save your work: 20-minute limit. “Submit” at the bottom – 2-minute warning = page turns pink] 1: MEMBER REGISTRATION (returning & new participants) A) Brochure description (3rd person - 25 words max) B) Artist’s Statement (1st person - 250 words max) C) Demonstrating box to be checked D) Upload brochure image (square) E) Choose your dates F) Choose your group (optional - must have leader’s permission) G) Read disclaimer H) Register - Choose payment option 2: MEMBER LOG IN A) Address where you are showing B) Add website/social media links C) Check handicap accessible if applicable D) Google map link (ask me to do it if you don’t know how) E) Artist’s bio (3rd person) F) Choose your categories G) Add 5 (min) - 8 (max) images for website H) You are done (unless you have to mail the check) See details of this process below: MEMBER REGISTRATION [Save your work: 20-minute limit. “Submit” at the bottom – 2-minute warning = page turns pink] (Written fields: work on a word document. Then: copy & paste: Do not use shortcuts) * = REQUIRED * RETURNING ARTISTS (Is all your information is correct?) ___ Enter your email address and Password (email Aline at optmst@icloud.com if you forgot) * NEW ARTISTS: ___ Enter your email address. ___ Create a Password (minimum of 6 characters). Step 2: Confirm Password. ___ CREATE ACCOUNT * BROCHURE DESCRIPTION - Written in 3rd person. Absolute maximum = 25 words * ARTIST’S STATEMENT - (NEW) ___ Max. of 250 words written in the 1st person: (differs from brochure description and web bio): A statement of how and why you create: where your ideas come from, how you execute your ideas, where you work (i.e.: plein air, in your livingroom, your studio, your dining room…), do you work from photographs (your own, other sources), what materials do you use, how do you physically create your work, what the public will be seeing in your space. ___ (optional) Check the box if you will be demonstrating how you do your work. ___* Image: Square format: NOTE: We recommend that you replace this image to give customers something new to look forward to. ___ Continue. ___* Choose your dates. ___ (optional) Join a group: (you must have permission to participate from the group manager listed on the website) ___ Continue ___* Read the disclaimer. By initialing this you are agreeing to all AOS standards. ___ * Choose payment option: (Check or PayPal.) ___ * Register & Pay Now (amount to be paid and address where to send check shows up here) * EDIT YOUR PROFILE - NEW & RETURNING ARTISTS: ___ * Address: where you are showing, not where you live if that is different. ___ Your website or FB page must be correctly written with prefix: http://www. Social media: Open [FB] page; double-click on browser search window. Copy & paste. ___ Handicap Accessible: check if appropriate. ___ Google Map link: Type your address on googlemaps.com, click share, copy & paste to create the link. ___ To embed a video, click on WHAT’S THIS for instructions. * WEBSITE INFORMATION ___* ARTIST BIO: 3rd person information about you. Be creative. No word limit. ___* CATEGORIES: Check as many as appropriate. ___* IMAGES: 5 (min) – 8 (max) showing the public what you will be showing.

Andover, Ashford, Bolton, Brooklyn, Canterbury, Chaplin, Columbia, Coventry, Eastford, Hampton, Hebron, Killingly, Lebanon, Mansfield, Plainfield, Pomfret, Putnam, Scotland, Stafford, Thompson, Tolland, Union, Willington, Windham, Woodstock, Sterling. This list is in our By-Laws.

If you live outside of the towns listed in the By-Laws, the only way you can participate is if you find a venue within these listed towns to show your works.

1: Go to Google Maps.com in your browser. 2: Type in your full address on the left. 3: Check to make sure the map is accurate. 4: Below your address is a blue image, and below that are four options. 5: Click on "share" option on the left. 6: Copy that URL 7: Return to your AOS page and using the pull down menu, paste that URL into the google map location. If you need help, email Aline at aosct@earthlink.net

To join a group, you must have permission from the person in charge of that group. You will find that information with each group listed below: At this time of year, while people are still registering, there may be more groups forming. If you want to start a group, contact Aline Hoffman: optmst@icould.com Ashford: Old Warren Post Office: 2 Pompey Hollow Rd. Contact Deb Gag: debragag@hotmail.com Chaplin: Library Annex: 132 Chaplin St, Contact Elizabeth Lindorff: elindorff1@gmail.com Coventry: Maple Brook Studio, 950 MainStreet. Contact: Aline Hoffman: bahoffman@earthlink.net Mansfield Library Group: 54 Warrenville Rd. Contact Blanche Serban, - blanche@serban-art.com Tolland: Artsake: 273 Tolland Stage Rd. Contact Jennifer Hopkins: artsakegallery@gmail.com Willimantic: 31 Moulton Court: Contact Gabe Zane: gabezane@sbcglobal.net.

The fee to participate is $135.00, as it has been for the past three years. To have a web presence without participating in the tour: $90.00. Web presence means that you agree to not have your work on display to the public during the five days of the tour.

Look for the handicap accessible icon on our website and our tour guide for the artists you want to visit, or call the artist in question. Some places are, some places are not. You will find phone numbers and email addresses of each artist on the brochure and here on our website.

Please check with each artist you are visiting. Some accept credit cards and/or debit cards, some do not.

To find this out, please contact the artists you are interested in visiting.

You are responsible for two different types of signs: Event Signs (belong to AOS) and Location Signs (belong to the artist). You are expected to pick up 2 - 3 Event Signs from your Region Manager in a timely manner and to place them in different locations, never all in one area (only one of these at the entrance of your space). Location signs have a blank yellow circle for artists to add their studio number and are to be placed where guests can easily see them - only on the days you are open. (Numbers may change each year.) If it is a hardship for you to pick up signs from the Region Manager in the town you are showing, contact Pat Ferguson at pat@patfergusonquilts.com to let her know that it is better for you to pick up from the Region Manager where you live. At the end of the tour: take in all signs from their various locations by the first Monday evening at the latest. Event signs are to be returned to your Region Manager within one week of the end of the tour. The signs with your studio number are yours to keep. Please update your number each year if it changes.

Yes. Find strategic locations for your three signs. If you live and show in two different areas, place your signs where you live.

Your presence is not required however it is highly desired. This is the planning meeting, an opportunity to be heard, to make suggestions, to consider changes. We do ask that you bring an example of your work to the Annual Meeting so that everyone can see what their peers are doing. This meeting is held at the Chaplin Senior Center in Chaplin, CT.

Yes. Participants are expected to have a working email address (or at least access to one), and to check it regularly. Participants are also expected to review and respond to messages (when a response is required) from any AOS Board Member in a timely manner. All emails from Peggy Church with !!AOS in the subject are directly related to the tour.

There are five choices for days open during the registration process, They are: 1. Open all five days. 2. Open Four days: Saturday and Sunday of both weekends. 3. The first weekend only - Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 4. The first weekend only - Saturday and Sunday. 5. The second weekend only

With our new easier to read and handle format, we still aren't sure if we should call it a brochure or a tour guide. Participating artists are expected to pick up their tour guides from their Region Manager in a timely manner. In past years each participant has been responsible for distributing 100 - 150 brochures.

Region 1: Stafford, Tolland, Union: Susi Kinsloe-Byers: pottingaround@gmail.com Region 2: Ashford, Eastford, Willington, Chaplin: Lynita Shimizu: lynita@shimizuwoodcuts.com Region 3: Pomfret, Putnam, Thompson, Woodstock, N. Grosvenordale: Barbara Lussier: babsart@snet.net Region 4: Danielson, Killingly, Plainfield, Sterling, Brooklyn, Canterbury, Hampton, Scotland: Anna Mancini: amancini58@frontier.com Region 5: Mansfield, Willimantic, Windham: Shauna Shane: fentonriver@yahoo.com Region 6: Andover, Bolton, Columbia, Coventry, Lebanon: Barbara Timberman: timberman@sbcglobal.net

Sponsors are usually local businesses who wish to support local artists. We cannot accept galleries or other businesses that display original art unless the artist(s) are paid participants of the AOS tour.

Yes. Sponsors cannot be galleries or other places that show the work of artists who are not paid participants of the Artists Open Studio Tour.

You would click on "Sponsors" on the main menu. This brings you to all the information you would need. At the bottom of that page you will find a downloadable form. If you do not have the ability to download that form, email me, Aline Hoffman, at bahoffman@earthlink.net to request this form.