Holiday Market Application FAQs

The 2025 Holiday Market is December 5-6, 2025. Participation in both Friday and Saturday is mandatory for accepted makers. The Holiday Market is held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Downtown Pittsburgh (1000 Fort Duquesne Blvd, Pittsburgh, PA 15222).

The application fee for the 2025 Holiday Market is $25. This fee is nonrefundable.

The application fee covers the administrative and associated costs it takes to jury a market with so many applications.

Applications will be open until July 23, 2025 at 11:59 PM (EST). Late applications will be not be accepted. No exceptions.

We receive many more applications than we can accept for every market. To keep the products sold at Handmade Arcade within the quality standards our shoppers expect, all of our markets are juried. The jury carefully evaluates each application against our 2025 Holiday Market Application Rubric. They also evaluate whether or not the applicant fits our definition of a handmade business and if they sell products at a variety of price points, as our shoppers expect. We recommend reviewing the full application and reading through the rubric very carefully before you apply so you know exactly how our jurors are evaluating you.

We define a “handmade business” as follows:

• You, the artist(s), created the original products.

• You did not use mass-produced, trademarked, or licensed items in your work.

• You did not use copyrighted designs that you don’t own in your work.

• Your products are at least 80% of your original creation.

• Your products are not made with purchased, downloaded, or copied images or designs.

Trademarked/copyrighted designs may include “references to (or content from) a celebrity, fictional character, designer, business, company, film, tv show, band, sports team, book, product name, or any other copyrighted, trademarked, or otherwise protected materials.” (Spoonflower, 2024) 

Fan art is technically copyright infringement. While fan art can sometimes be considered fair use, that's typically only the case for fan art that is created for non-commercial purposes like personal enjoyment. Using a celebrity's likeness for commercial purposes can be a violation of their right to publicity, which is another legal issue.

There are two primary reasons that Handmade Arcade has moved away from allowing trademarked/copyrighted designs at our markets.

• First, as our mission is to provide makers with professional development, we don't want to knowingly enable practices that could lead to makers dealing with legal issues related to selling copyrighted work.

• Second, while Handmade Arcade celebrates the incredible amount of talent and skill that goes into the creation of fan art, fan art is work that derives from and incorporates elements of someone else's work. While all art is, of course, derivative in some senses, we want to amplify the work of makers who are creating new characters, images, and art that comes from their imagination rather than the likeness or existing characters.

While it’s not required for makers to have an online presence to participate in our markets, it’s helpful for shoppers to view e-commerce or social media accounts for more images and information. If you provide links to your website and/or social media accounts, they should be active and show a representative selection of your merchandise.

• Accessories (Not Jewelry)

• Artwork*

• Bath & Body

• Children's Products & Toys

• Adult Clothing

• Housewares

• Jewelry

• Paper Goods

• Wood

• Ceramics

• Glass

• Other

*Handmade Arcade was founded as an accessible alternative to fine arts markets. Historically, independent makers, crafters, and artists NOT considered fine artists do the best at our events. However, if you make fine art and can reproduce your work into various mediums at an accessible price point, such as prints, on fabric or clothing, as stickers, etc., that’s typically a great fit for our markets.

If you are applying for the Artwork or Paper Goods categories, you must include pictures in your application that clearly showcase the products you will sell with your artwork (i.e. prints of your artwork, stickers, tote bags with your artwork, etc.)

Shared tables are allowed at our Holiday Market, but not our Spring Market. If you decide to apply with a friend for the Holiday Market, we suggest that you pair up with a maker whose work complements your own. That will give you the best shot at landing a booth at the Holiday Market. Details about applying with a friend:

• Co-applicants will be reviewed as one entry.

• Images must represent both applicants’ products.

• You are required to indicate a primary applicant who will receive notifications by email.

• Vendor space will be shared and listed together on the event map (e.g., Vendor 1/Vendor 2)

• All set-up needs for vendors sharing a space must be decided and planned between the vendors before the day of the event.

No. At this time, we do not accept food vendors, including chocolates, tea, honey, and candy. If you have specific questions regarding your products, please ask before you apply by emailing makers@handmadearcade.org. If you are a maker with both food and non-food products, we encourage you to clarify on your application that you won’t be bringing your food products to the market if selected. We also encourage you to avoid using photos with food products, including tea and honey, in your application so that the jury doesn’t think you are ineligible for the market.

We do have a few food trucks each year at our Spring Market, so feel free to email if you’re interested in bringing your food truck to that event.

Yes. We want to see how your applications change and how your techniques have grown! We encourage makers to reapply.

We also encourage you to attend our Application Information Session and/or Office Hours to make sure you understand this year’s Holiday Market Rubric before you apply.

Yes. We have an application fee waiver request form that you can complete. We don’t want our application fee to be a barrier for makers to be considered by our jury!

Yes. Some applicants will be put on a waitlist. Waitlisted applicants will be notified if a maker space becomes available in the category in which they applied.

Yes. On the application, makers can opt-in to receive feedback if they are not accepted.

Handmade Arcade has a jury who reviews all applications. Jurors can be participants of Handmade Arcade’s committees and groups, other market curators, artists from the community, etc.

Handmade Arcade staff members and board members are NOT members of the jury.

More application details for our 2025 Holiday Market guest jurors will be available soon.