The Masquerade organization is part contest and part meeting place for body painters and face painters. It is also a meeting grounds for people from the event line of business who seek good make up artists and body painters for their events.The Masquerade organization has many contacts with the world's best body- and face painters, both domestic and international. The Masquerade manifestation is unique in it's kind in Holland. There is no other event in Holland of this sort and calibre as the Masquerade. At no other event in this country do so many international body painting- and face painting artists come together as in Venlo during the Masquerade.

THE MASQUERADE AWARD

The Masquerade AWARD is an international body painting- and face painting contest. Around 30 body painters from Europe and the crème de la crème of Europe's face painters will compete for the Masquerade Award. In view of the Masquerade's international character this contest is already well thought of by the artists and connoisseurs of both of these art forms. Yearly the organization strives to invite the reigning world champion body painters from the three categories to exhibit their art during the Masquerade. Because of this there is very close co-operation with the organization of the word championships in Austria. The Masquerade is a member of the European Body Paint Federation contest and is headed by the organizer Bert Verstappen.

BODYPAINTINGS

The body painting artists will work in an open area. The public will be able to watch the painters at work. At the end of the afternoon the fantastic creations will be shown to the big public in the form of a small but sometimes very spectacular show. The body painters will be also be judged by an international jury. Naturally, each visitor will be able to photograph these beautiful creations.

FACEPAINTINGS

The face painters will also work in an open area. At the beginning of the afternoon, they may display their face paintings in the large auditorium. With the aid of large video screens, even the visitors at the back of the auditorium will be able to view the beautiful face paintings. The paintings will be judged by an international jury. The photographers will have ample opportunity to photograph the face paintings.

The Theme of this year is... Games

The body- and face paintings lend themselves admirably for photographic ends. The organization of the Masquerade will therefore pay a lot of attention to making it possible to photograph the creations during the body painting as well as afterwards as soon as the creation is completely finished. With the professional aid of recognized photographers, special attention will be paid to the theatre in Venlo so that it will be furnished in such a way as to ensure numerous possibilities to photograph the creations. The photographs taken may not be used for commercial ends without written permission of the Masquerade organization!