Looking Back at 2020: An End-of-Year Recap

By December 28, 2020Blog
Light blue background with swirls and text that reads: Looking Back at 2020: An End of Year Recap

“Normal” is not a word that would describe this year. Shifting to remote work, cancelling events, and changing schedules are just a few of the many ways we departed from normalcy in 2020. Despite the challenges, the CaFÉ team is sincerely grateful for the continued support from all of the artists and arts organizations who adapted to the times and did not let the arts community fall silent.

Thanks to this dedication, we have made several achievements that we are proud to celebrate. We released improvements to the juror scorecard, launched a brand new help center for administrators, and updated our artist site to be more secure. This year also marked our 15-year anniversary and while we were not able to celebrate in the way we imagined, we look forward to celebrating even more milestones in the years to come.

While we know 2021 will not magically make the hardships disappear, CaFÉ will continue to be a reliable resource for helping arts organizations connect with artists. We are also planning on celebrating new milestones as we implement even more updates to the site, including a fully revamped design of the CaFÉ administrator site!

Stay tuned for more information about that upgrade, but for now, take a look back at CaFÉ’s highlights from 2020. 

For a text-friendly version of CaFÉ’s highlights, click this link. 

Infographic showing the highlights for 2020. Ump further down in the blog for a text-friendly version.
  • 160,000+ active artists
  • 118 new organizations joined CaFÉ
  • 715 total organizations
  • 105 promotional e-blasts sent
  • 902 calls posted
  • 115,634 entries submitted
  • November was the month with the fewest call deadlines
  • January was the month with the most call deadlines

Top Call Types by Category

  • 402 Exhibitions
  • 190 Public Art
  • 91 Unspecified
  • 86 Competitions
  • 48 Photography
  • 23 Residences
  • 19 Festivals
  • 12 Award
  • 29 Other
  • 146 artists featured on Instagram
    • @callforentry
    • #WayOutWest
  • 562 customer support calls
  • 6,767 customer support emails

Written by Communications Coordinator Justine Chapel