Frequently Asked Questions

Art Happy exhibitions are currently open to all artists based in the UK.

You don't need to be represented by a gallery, belong to an art society, be a professional, qualified, or full time artist, or have previously exhibited.

We're interested in the quality and suitability of the work, not the artist's CV.

No. Applications are completely free.

If you're selected for an exhibition, you'll pay a £50 exhibition fee to secure your place.

If you're not selected, you pay nothing.

Just one good-quality photograph of an example of your work.

Choose something that represents the style and quality of the artwork you'd like to exhibit.

You do not need to create or submit your four exhibition artworks before applying.

Each exhibition is curated.

We review the applications together and select artists whose work fits the theme and will help us create a strong, varied exhibition.

Selection for one exhibition doesn't guarantee selection for another, and not being selected doesn't prevent you from applying again.

We'll email you to let you know and give you instructions for securing your place.

You'll pay the £50 exhibition fee by the published deadline and then have until the artwork submission deadline to provide photographs and details of your four exhibition artworks.

If selected, you'll submit four original artworks for the exhibition.

All four must meet the size and other requirements of that particular exhibition.

Art Happy uses three artwork formats:

Original: 30 × 30 cm, 30 × 40 cm or 40 × 30 cm
Gallery: 40 × 40 cm, 40 × 50 cm or 50 × 40 cm
Statement: 50 × 50 cm, 50 × 60 cm or 60 × 50 cm

Each exhibition uses one format. Your four artworks must each be one of the dimensions specified for that exhibition.

Measurements refer to the artwork itself and exclude any frame.

Each exhibition has one artwork format and one selling price.

Original — sells for £300
You receive 60% — £180

Gallery — sells for £500
You receive 60% — £300

Statement — sells for £750
You receive 60% — £450

If the sale is also generated through your own Art Happy marketing link, you receive the additional 10% marketing payment, meaning you could receive:

Original — £210 total (70%)
Gallery — £350 total (70%)
Statement — £525 total (70%)

The exhibition format and selling price are published before you apply, so you'll always know exactly what your artwork will sell for and what you can earn before deciding whether to take part.

Yes.

Artwork dimensions are based on the artwork itself and exclude the frame.

You may include a frame with the artwork at no additional cost to the collector. If you do, you'll need to provide the required photographs and information so that we can make it clear in the artwork listing that the frame is included.

No.

Your artwork stays safely with you unless it sells.

Art Happy creates and hosts the online exhibition, but we don't take physical possession of the artworks.

We'll let you know that you've made a sale and provide the information you need to send the artwork to the collector.

You'll then package the artwork, arrange appropriate tracked delivery and communicate directly with the collector about dispatch, tracking and delivery.

You must arrange dispatch within three working days of being notified of the sale.

You'll be responsible for packaging the artwork appropriately and choosing a suitable tracked delivery service.

UK delivery is included in the collector's artwork price.

As the artist, you arrange and pay for the packaging and UK delivery of your sold artwork.

You should take this into account when deciding whether an Art Happy exhibition is right for you.

Art Happy charges the collector an additional international delivery amount at checkout.

That delivery amount is passed on to you and is separate from the artwork sale.

You arrange and pay for the actual delivery using an appropriate tracked service.

Because you choose and arrange the courier, you are responsible for dealing directly with the delivery provider if a parcel is delayed, lost or damaged in transit.

You'll also communicate directly with the collector about dispatch, tracking and delivery.

If a problem results in a cancellation, return or refund, Art Happy will administer that part of the transaction with you and the collector.

Art Happy processes artist payments 21 days after the exhibition closes, subject to completed delivery and any applicable cancellations or returns.

Everything due to you from that exhibition will normally be included in one payment.

If an individual sale is still unresolved, payment relating to that sale may be held until the issue has been resolved.

Where a collector has the right to return an artwork, the artwork will be returned directly to you rather than to Art Happy.

Art Happy will administer the cancellation or refund where appropriate, while you and the collector deal directly with the physical return of the artwork.

Full details are set out in the Artist Exhibition Terms.

No.

You do not need to be VAT registered to exhibit with Art Happy.

We will ask you to confirm your VAT registration status, and if you are VAT registered you'll need to provide your valid VAT registration number.

You must also tell us if your VAT status changes.

Absolutely.

You can apply for as many Art Happy exhibitions as suit your work.

Each application is considered separately and there is no application fee.

Yes.

There is no restriction on exhibiting more than once. If your work suits another exhibition, we'd be very happy for you to apply again.

When you take part in an exhibition, you'll receive your own unique Art Happy marketing link.

If a qualifying Art Happy sale is generated through your link, you can earn the 10% marketing payment — even if the collector buys another artist's work.

Your marketing link remains active for 12 months.

That means you can continue promoting Art Happy exhibitions and earning qualifying marketing payments even when you're not currently exhibiting.

We expect participating artists to help spread the word about Art Happy and their exhibition, but you don't have to become a marketing expert.

We provide free live online marketing training, together with a recording, to help you understand how to promote your work and use your marketing link.

Every artist selected for an Art Happy exhibition is invited to a live online marketing and business coaching session before their exhibition opens.

We'll look at practical ways to promote your work and the exhibition, how to use your Art Happy marketing link effectively, and how to make the most of the opportunity to get your art seen.

The session will also include practical business coaching for artists, with the opportunity to ask questions and get support with some of the wider challenges of building and selling your creative work.

The aim isn't to turn artists into marketing experts. It's to give you useful, practical ideas you can actually use — during your Art Happy exhibition and beyond.

If you can't attend live, a recording will be made available.

Because another artist making a sale doesn't mean you've lost one.

Art isn't interchangeable. A collector choosing another artist's painting doesn't necessarily mean they would otherwise have bought yours. They connected with that particular piece.

Art Happy is designed around the idea that artists can achieve more by helping each other reach collectors. If your marketing introduces someone who buys another artist's work, you can earn the 10% Marketing Payment. If another artist's marketing introduces someone who buys yours, you receive your normal Artist Payment plus a connection to a new collector that may last well beyond the current exhibition.

Helping another artist make a sale can be good for them, good for you and good for the wider community of independent artists.

They can be, but they don't have to be.

Collectors don't generally buy art as though they're choosing between identical products. Different work appeals to different people, and many collectors buy more than one piece of art over time.

The more people independent artists collectively introduce to Art Happy, the larger the potential audience becomes for everyone exhibiting.

That's why we've deliberately built cross-promotion into the Art Happy model rather than expecting every artist to market entirely on their own.

That's exactly what the Marketing Payment is designed for.

If the purchase qualifies under our Affiliate Terms, you receive 10% of the selling price even though another artist created the work.

So if you introduce a collector who buys another artist's £500 painting, the artist receives their £300 Artist Payment and you receive the £50 Marketing Payment.

Because one artist's audience can only reach so far. Together, artists can reach much further.

If 30 artists take part in an exhibition and each introduces their own audience to Art Happy, every artist has the opportunity to be discovered by collectors they may never have reached on their own.

We're not asking artists to promote their competitors. We're creating a network of people promoting independent art.

A collector who arrives because of one artist might fall in love with the work of another. That's why Art Happy rewards the person who made the introduction with the 10% Marketing Payment.

The more people we collectively bring through the door, the bigger the potential audience becomes for everyone.

Every Art Happy exhibition includes three prizes:

1st Prize — £100
2nd Prize — £50
3rd Prize — £25

Winners are selected before the exhibition opens and announced as part of the exhibition.

The FAQ gives you the practical overview.

Before taking part, please read the Artist Exhibition Terms, which contain the full terms governing applications, selection, sales, delivery, payments, returns and participation in Art Happy exhibitions.

Read the Artist Exhibition Terms