A selection of international open calls and opportunities for contemporary art related competitions, prizes, exhibitions, awards, proposals, and grants for artists, writers and curators.
This is an edited listing. We update this feature once a week on Fridays from a selection of submissions, newsletters, magazines and blogs. Our editorial team only select opportunities they feel offer a clear benefit to the submitting artists. To recommend an opportunity for listing, please fill in the form in the sidebar. We email around 19,500 art practitioners weekly with selected opportunities.
Take Me Somewhere is looking for a freelance Producer to work across their organisation and Tramway. The post is funded and supported by Creative Scotland for one year. The contract will encompass planning, development and delivery of a contemporary Live Art festival and an international dance festival, providing a 360 degree view of the inner mechanics of festival models across two organisations, and the opportunity to work closely with the much celebrated artistic community of the city. The fee is in the region of 23k - 26k, dependent on skills and experience.
Deadline 25 September 2020
Twitter: @TMSomewhere
Facebook: @TMSomewhere
Apply here
Screening Opportunity
‘All At Sea’ Film Project – Call for Submissions
Art Walk Porty calls for submissions for film shorts to its ‘All At Sea’ programme to be screened outdoors on Portobello Promenade, Edinburgh on Sunday 18th October.
Artists, filmmakers, animators working with film or moving image are welcome to apply submitting work created during or before lockdown, that relate to any of these ideas:
an environment for change post Covid-19;
a living enjoyment of our seas, oceans, waters & their edges;
the working sea: what it provides for, gives and produces;
the wild sea: as a metaphor for our recent uncertain times.
Keywords: eco-art, sea as voyage, sea as escape, sea as connecting place, sea ecology, sea industries, coastal erosion, rising water, salt water, wild swimming, living shores edges, in-flux, danger, chaos.
Deadline 20 September 2020
Art Walk Porty
Facebook: @artwalkporty
Twitter: @artwalkporty
Apply here
Exhibition Opportunity | Sponsored
“WHAT NEXT” PROJECT": open call for artists from Poland, Ukraine and United Kingdom
What will the future of humans be like in the dynamically changing world – in our ever more technologically advanced daily lives, at a time of global challenges, and in a reality full of opportunities that are as much fascinating as terrifying?
This question will be answered by artists from the UK, Poland and Ukraine. The winning submissions – photographs, installations, objects and sound projects – will be shown at exhibitions in selected European cities in 2021-2022.
The exhibition’s concept refers to The Futurological Congress by the Polish writer, Stanisław Lem, author of Solaris, among other classics of science fiction. The questions posed in the book 50 years ago are not losing pertinence, as most of them remain unanswered.
Deadline 24 September 2020
Adam Mickiewicz Institute
Facebook: @InstytutAdamaMickiewicza
Twitter: @InstytutAM
Apply here
Exhibition Opportunity | Sponsored
The National Brain Appeal: A Letter in Mind Open Call
Get involved in this year's art fundraiser. There's no better time to show your support for an NHS charity and to get creative using a simple envelope as your starting point. The theme is 'Everyday Things' - which is particularly relevant during this extended time at home for us all! Artworks will be exhibited at gallery@oxo, Oxo Tower Wharf on London's Southbank from 5-8 November, priced at £85, and will be anonymous until sold and the exhibition ends.
Deadline 25 September 2020
The National Brain Appeal
Facebook: @TheNationalBrainAppeal
Twitter: @BrainAppeal
Apply here
Artist in Residence
VIA Arts Prize 2020
The VIA Arts Prize is the UK’s only Ibero-American-themed arts prize. Artists of any nationality residing in the UK are invited to submit an original artwork specifically inspired by Ibero-American arts and culture. As a response to the challenges presented by the Covid-19 outbreak, the 2020 edition of the VIA Arts Prize will take on a special format.
The 30 shortlisted works will be exhibited online at the VIA Arts Prize official website from November 2020. Three cash prizes of £2,000, generously provided by Itaú, will be awarded to the jury committee’s first, second and third choices. A cash prize of £1,000 will also be granted to the winner of the ‘People’s Choice Award’. The four winners will also be awarded a joint exhibition in the Embassy of Brazil’s Sala Brasil in 2021.
Deadline 27 September 2020
VIA Arts Prize
Facebook: @viaartsprize
Twitter: @viaartsprize
Apply here
bOlder 2020/21 is a talent development programme for Greater-Manchester based contemporary visual artists aged 50+, funded by the European Social Fund Community Grants Scheme. Participants must be unemployed or economically inactive.
Participants will take part in a programme of individual and collective development, including 1-to-1 sessions with Castlefield Gallery Director Helen Wewiora and Castlefield Gallery Curator Matthew Pendergast, coaching sessions with a qualified artist coach, professional development workshops and support towards their costs of up to £250.
Deadline 28 September 2020
Castlefield Gallery
Facebook: @castlefieldgallery
Twitter: @castlefieldgall
Apply here
Poplar Union are inviting proposals outlining your creative response to the theme: ‘looking out, looking in, looking up’.
This is an open call out to celebrate and showcase the creativity of their communities; both those who do and do not consider themselves ‘artists’. Applicants should respond to the theme as naturally and instinctively as possible, though the work should be timely and in some way a response to the state of the world today.
The programming team will select 15 submissions to receive a micro-commission of £150 each to put towards the creation of the work. The artists selected will also receive guidance and support from the programming and marketing team at Poplar Union in developing their piece.
Deadline 30 September 2020
Poplar Union
Facebook: @poplarunion
Twitter: @PoplarUnion
Apply here
With thanks to the Arts Council England's Emergency Response Fund, we are are looking to work with creative practitioners to help us define, develop and design new ways of fulfilling our mission.
We are offering four commissions to Nottinghamshire-based artists across any creative media to explore both their own practice and our goals of community engagement, and to produce new work that can be celebrated as part of the Nottingham Festival of Science and Curiosity in February 2021. At least two of the commissions will be offered to artists in the early stages of their careers.
The value of each commission is £2,250 inclusive of expenses and materials.
Deadline 30 September 2020
Ignite!
Facebook: @WeIgniteFutures
Twitter: @IgniteFutures
Apply here
Prizes and Awards
House of Prints 2020 Graduate Bursaries
As part of House of Prints commitment to support artists and promote printmaking, we are delighted to be partnering up Double Elephant Print Workshop, Hot Bed Press and Thames Side Print Studio and offer three bursaries to art graduates of 2019 and 2020 – which include a cash award of £350 and a package of access/courses from one of our partner studios.
Deadline 30 September 2020
House of Prints
Facebook: @prints.house.uk
Twitter: @house_of_prints
Apply here
Prizes and Awards
London Writers Awards 2021
The London Writers Awards is Spread the Word’s annual writer development programme for London-based unpublished prose writers from backgrounds currently under-represented in publishing.
The Awards focus on four genres of prose writing: literary fiction (including short stories), commercial fiction (for e.g.: crime, science fiction, romance), narrative non-fiction and YA/children’s.
The Awards is for London-based prose writers who identify as being from a background currently underrepresented in publishing. We consider these backgrounds to be:
– Disabled
– LGBTQIA+
– Working class
– Writers of colour: Black, Asian, Arabic, Mixed-Raced and Non-white Latinx
Writers are selected through a free and open application process. The programme is for writers who are committed to developing their work, their craft and their career.
Deadline 30 September 2020
Spread the Word
Facebook: @spreadthewordwriters
Twitter: @stwevents
Apply here
Competition
Publication Project Open Call
The Body in Algorithms - a publication project led by Georgia Perkins and Ashley Middleton - invites artists, writers, performers, healers, scientists, technologists, et al., to submit work related to the body in coded systems: technological, sociological, economical, political, or otherwise.
Deadline 30 September 2020
Zero Corners
Facebook: @ZeroCorners
Twitter: @ZeroCorners
Apply here
Exhibition Opportunity
Call for Sculptors / Artists for Fresh Air Sculpture 2021
We are now accepting applications from artists / sculptors for Fresh Air Sculpture taking place 13 June - 4 July 2021. The show takes place in the extensive organic gardens of The Old Rectory in Quenington, Gloucestershire and promotes the work of emerging and more established artists. We are looking for fresh and exciting larger scale pieces that are suitable for exhibiting outside. Artist bursaries of between £250-£1,000 available.
Deadline 30 September 2020
Facebook: @FreshAirSculpture
Twitter: @freshairsculpt
Apply here
Artist in Residence | Sponsored
The Muse Gallery Residency Program 2021
Since 2004 The Muse Gallery has supported a residency program offering recently graduates subsidised studio space, a gallery to show and the means to cultivate both client and industry connections. Each year we host a group show, awarding the residency positions to a few successful artists.
We invite applicants to submit work for a group show; all disciplines, with a BA minimum qualification from the previous two years. Artwork is then reviewed by our panel. For applications, we require: a short statement, a CV and 10-15 images as JPEG. All work is to be submitted as a linked folder (Dropbox etc.).
Deadline 30 September 2020
The Muse Gallery
Facebook: @TheMuseGallery
Twitter: @Muse_Gallery
Apply here
Artist in Residence
Call for Artists and a Scientist in Residence
Aalto University is a community of bold thinkers where science and art meet technology and business. We are seeking two artists and a scientist to work together in the Aalto Biofilia – A Base for Biological Arts in the Aalto University, Finland for four-week-period in February-March 2021.
This residency gives artists and a scientist an opportunity to realize artistic work in a fully equipped laboratory dedicated to bioart and to meet researchers and doctoral students of Aalto University and Department of Art in the Aalto Otaniemi Campus. We hope artistic work reflects critically upon technical manipulation and exploitation of living systems, biological beings, other species, and/or the biosphere at large. The aim is to create artwork(s) in relation the explored themes.
We welcome applications from artists and scientists, as a duo, as a group, or individually. For each we offer a compensation up to 5000 euros covering living costs during the residence and some of the cost of production and show.
Deadline 30 September 2020
Aalto University
Facebook: @aaltouniversity
Twitter: @aaltouniversity
Apply here
Exhibition Opportunity | Sponsored
Call for Entries: ING Discerning Eye Exhibition 2020
The ING Discerning Eye is calling for entries for its 2020 edition. The show gives artists the opportunity to showcase their work in a unique virtual exhibition and win a range of prizes, including the ING Purchase Prize, worth £5,000.
The ING Discerning Eye 2020 is open to all artists resident in the UK. Artists may register to enter up to six works for consideration by the Selection Panel. Entry fee for each submission is £10.
All accepted works will feature in the ING Discerning Eye 2020 online exhibition from the 18 November to the 31 December 2020. It will showcase the artists’ shortlisted works with commentary and introductions by the selectors, including David Remfry RA and Beverley Knight, as well as a new platform for viewers to buy the artwork directly. All exhibiting artists will be included in a fully illustrated print catalogue. Awards will be given out to the winners in a virtual prize giving.
Deadline 1st October 2020
Twitter: @ParkerHarrisCo
Facebook: @ParkerHarrisCo
Apply here
Competition | Sponsored
2021 Miami University Young Painters Competition
2021 Miami University Young Painters Competition for the $10,000 William and Dorothy Yeck Purchase Award. Open to U.S. artists, aged 25 -35. Year 2021 is for Representational Realism paintings only.
Juror: Kelly Baum, the Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon Polsky Curator of Contemporary Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY NY.
Awards: $10,000.00 Yeck Purchase Award; 2nd Place, $2500.00; 3rd Place, $2000.00. Exhibition dates: January 25 – March 1, 2021.
Entry fee: $25.00
Deadline 1 October 2020
Hiestand Galleries, Miami University
Facebook: @MiamiOHArt
Twitter: @MiamiOHArt
Apply here
Prizes and Awards | Sponsored
Manorama Young Printmaker Award 2020
Manorama Young Printmaker Award invites application from Indian artists and artist residing in India under the age of 35 years. The winner of IPMH will receive financial support of INR 50,000 & a 4 – week fully funded residency (including travel & accommodation) in the print studio at Artbuzz Studio, Delhi to develop a new body of work. The residency will take place between the months of Jan – August 2021 (unless otherwise negotiated).
Two runners will be given gifts sponsored by Ravi Engineering works. Other 23 shortlisted artists will be showcased on our online gallery/shop.
The award ceremony will take place at Artbuzz Studio, during the residency period, between (Jan – August 2021). The exact date will be announced in mid December 2020. All applicants will be invited to attend the award ceremony.
Deadline 1 October 2020
India Printmaker House
Facebook: @indiaprintmakerhouse
Apply here
Exhibition Opportunity | Sponsored
Call for Entries: Royal Institute of Oil Painters Annual Exhibition
Artists are invited to submit work for exhibition alongside members of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters at their Annual Exhibition 2020. The ROI seeks work in oils and is the only national art society devoted to oil painting.
This year’s mini-theme is ‘Reflections’, which can be interpreted literally or otherwise, “giving the artist an opportunity to create a site-specific painting or perhaps a piece that has a more contemplative focus” (Tim Benson, ROI President). Selected works on the theme will be hung together as a special display within the show. N.B. The theme is optional, one aspect of a larger exhibition, to which oil paintings of all subjects, in any style, are welcome for consideration.
The exhibition offers several cash prizes and awards, open to all participating artists.
Submission fee: £18 per work (or £12 per work for artists aged 35 or under), which includes Free Admission to the exhibition (normally £5).
Deadline 2 October 2020
Royal Institute of Oil Painters
Facebook: @mallgalleries
Twitter: @mallgalleries / @InstituteRoi
Apply here
Commission
The Digital Forest Artist Commission
Grizedale Forest & Signal Film and Media, with support from Art Fund, are seeking a socially engaged digital artist/collaborative to create a new, online participatory artwork responding to Grizedale Forest in Cumbria in the North West of England.
We welcome applications from artists working in any discipline, and/or with a crossdisciplinary practice but we expect artists to have a commitment to, and track record in, using digital media and the online/virtual space in their practice, as well as experience of, and the passion for, working in a socially engaged and /or participatory way.
Artist fee: 3000 plus accommodation, travel and production fee of £1000.
Deadline 5 October 2020
Signal Film and Media
Facebook: @SignalFilmMedia
Twitter: @Signal_Films
Apply here
We are looking for a diverse group of London-based emerging artists under 30 to produce new work with the help of industry professionals intended for broadcast on the BBC.
This opportunity is offered as part of New Creatives, a nation-wide series of commissioning opportunities developed by BBC Arts and Arts Council England for emerging artists who work with audio or moving image. Alongside New Creatives, the ICA is offering additional opportunities, events and workshops as part of the ongoing programme, In Production.
Deadline 5 October 2020
ICA
Facebook: @icalondon
Twitter: @ICALondon
Apply here
Prizes and Awards | Sponsored
£60 free driving credit for ArtRabbit readers with Zipcar for Business
Museums and galleries may be closed, but the essentials still require you to step out the door. Sign up to Zipcar today and get a year of free membership with a bonus £60 driving credit to make up for reduced public transportation services and get your groceries, head to work or help out a neighbour with ease. More information for ArtRabbit users here.
Exhibition Opportunity | Sponsored
Group Show in NYC: Open Call
apexart invites creative individuals, regardless of experience, to submit a 500-word proposal for a group show to be held at apexart in New York City.
Anyone, from anywhere can submit. There are no fees involved at any level. Creative people who have interesting exhibition ideas, trained and student curators, artists, writers, and creative individuals, regardless of experience level, background, or location can apply.
Deadline 31 October 2020
apexart
Facebook: @apexartnyc
Twitter: @apexart
Apply here
Artist in Residence
Exhibition Proposal Open Call: 'Atmospheric Colour'
We are inviting submissions from curators, artists, collectives or groups of artists to propose an exhibition of contemporary art on the theme of ‘Atmospheric Colour’, using any form of visual arts practice, including 2D and 3D work (we are currently unable to accept moving image work for display). The exhibition will tour London Borough of Hounslow Libraries.
The project should offer an accessible way of looking at colour for audiences of varying levels of knowledge about art and colour, and different cultural experiences of what colour means.
This brief has been devised in consultation with the CPP Hounslow Visual Arts Programme Exhibitions Group, which includes library staff and members of the Hounslow Community.
A fee is available for the selected project.
Deadline 2 November 2020
Creative People and Places Hounslow
Facebook: @CreativeHounslow
Twitter: @cpphounslow
Apply here
Artist in Residence
Designers in Residence 2021
»Designers in Residence« is directed towards young designers especially in the areas of jewellery, fashion, accessory and industrial design. Interdisciplinary working methods are welcome. In total there will be three scholarships for a three-month working phase at the EMMA Creative Center in Pforzheim. The scholarship holders will have access to fully equipped workshop workplaces as well as coworking desks in the EMMA Creative Center.
Deadline 15 November 2020
Emma Kreativzentrum, Pforzheim
Facebook: @emmapforzheim
Twitter: @emmapforzheim
Apply here
Exhibition Opportunity
Sonica Glasgow 2022 Open Call
Cryptic is inviting Scottish based artists to submit existing sound installations and/or live music performances with visuals to be shown at Sonica Glasgow which returns for its sixth edition from 10 - 20 March 2022.
We are looking for existing innovative and creatively ambitious sound installations and live music performances with visuals which require no further development. All Scottish based professional artists, regardless of age or stage in their career, are welcome to apply. Artists who are currently in higher or further education are not eligible.
Deadline 26 November 2020
Cryptic
Facebook: @glasgowcryptic
Twitter: @crypticglasgow
Apply here
Prizes and Awards
Wolf Suschitzky Photography Prize 2020
The Austrian Cultural Forum London invites emerging photographers based in Austria and the UK to participate in a prize in tribute of the late Austrian émigré photographer Wolf Suschitzky.
For our second edition of the prize we invite submissions by emerging photographers on the theme of ‘Life in 2020’.
There are two prizes available:
1. An Austria based winner will receive a two-week ACF London residency + €500 cash prize
2. A UK based winner will receive a two-week Vienna/Salzburg residency + €500 cash prize Both residencies will be offered in 2021. The winners will be invited to show their work at the ACF London in an exhibition in spring 2021.
Deadline 30 November 2020
Austrian Cultural Forum London
Facebook: @acflondon
Twitter: @ACF_London
Apply here
Polish publishing house Dwie Siostry invite you to participate international competition for an illustrated children's book project CLAIRVOYANTS 2020 – a contest aimed at authors, illustrators, graphic designers and all book lovers. The main prizes are 2500 euro and book publication.
The aim is to launch the process of creating beautiful and valuable books for children and to discover talented artists and give them chance to become known on the book market. The purpose, to prepare a project (draft) of an illustrated children’s book in Polish or in English language.
Deadline 15 December 2020
Dwie Siostry Publishing House
Facebook: @DwieSiostry
Twitter: @Dwie_Siostry
Apply here
Exhibition Opportunity
Challenge for photography on the age of COVID-19
scopio Challenge for photography on the age of COVID-19 The challenge is to create a visual narrative that is grounded on your daily life experience in this difficult moment of isolation because of the COVID-19 crises. Our interest is a contemporary photography project documenting the personal and emotional experience of life under the restrictions imposed by COVID-19, which may mean photographing one’s intimate space or immediate urban surroundings and rethinking this new reality confronting what is happening and the feelings that this situation creates on all of us.
Deadline 31 December 2020
scopio
Facebook: @scopioeditions
Twitter: @scopionetwork
Apply here
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