Artist Opportunities - scroll down to see all current opportunities for artist members
Call for exhibition proposals
for the 2024-2025 season
Submission Deadline: April 10, 2024
Notifications: by early June, 2024
ArtsWorcester invites proposals for solo shows for our 2024-2025 gallery season. With the exception of member-curated exhibitions, eligible proposals are evaluated by a panel of seven volunteers, all with extensive experience as curators, educators, collectors, and/or artists. All proposals are viewed anonymously.
Solo exhibitions may be placed in our galleries in the Printers Building, our partner space at the Davis Art Gallery, or recommended for our corporate art program. Multiple exhibitions may be produced in the same gallery space (for example, two solo exhibitions simultaneously in the West Gallery).
Artist Shoeboxes and Member-Curated Exhibitions are opportunities for artists who are looking to produce compact installations or highlight a limited number of artworks. Member-Curated Exhibitions offer experienced artists the chance to curate, install, and promote small exhibitions of two-dimensional work.
New and traditional media, fine craft, and site-specific installations are all welcome. Although you may not have seen something done at ArtsWorcester before, that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. Our space and staff are flexible, and we look forward to artists pushing the boundaries of our four walls. Contact alice@artsworcester.org with any questions.
Proposals should be specific regarding presentation and installation plans. During installations of selected exhibitions, artists have the opportunity to work with and learn from our exhibition designers.
As part of this year’s call for solo exhibitions, we seek proposals eligible for the Marlene and David Persky Present Tense Prize, awarded to an artist whose work exemplifies new or innovative practices, conceptual strength, artistic risk-taking, and excellence in execution. In addition to a solo exhibition, the Marlene and David Persky Present Tense Prize winner receives an award of $1,000.
/// Download an informational packet about this year's call.
/// Submit by April 10
Artists interested in exhibiting as a small group should contact the gallery for more information. All questions can be directed to alice@artsworcester.org.
// Kara Patrowicz: Parallel Play (2023)
call for art
View Finder
a juried exhibition
Submission Deadline: April 2, 2024
Notifications: by April 10, 2024
Drop-off Period: April 25 - 28, 2024
Exhibition Dates: May 9 - June 16, 2024
Juried by: Sarah Montross, Chief Curator, DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum/The Trustees
Artist members are invited to submit to View Finder, a juried exhibition of landscapes and streetscapes of Worcester County, Massachusetts. Traditional and reimagined landscapes are welcome, as long as all submissions depict an exterior space located within the county. Participating artists do not need to live in Worcester County.
This is a juried exhibition, meaning that the juror will consider all eligible submissions and select some artworks to be shown at ArtsWorcester. All artist members may submit up to three pieces for consideration. Submission is free for ArtsWorcester members, and membership to ArtsWorcester is required. All media are welcome, including but not limited to painting, sculpture, photography, fiber, fine craft, digital art, and video.
View Finder will be juried by Sarah Montross, Chief Curator, DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum/The Trustees.
/// Learn more and submit here.
// Ella Delyanis, November Gold, pastel on sanded paper, 16" x 20", 2017
Online availability of professional development resources for artists has exploded in the last few years. Our Artists' Resource Page is a curated guide to the best free advice and training available, with a specific eye to the needs of emerging artists.
For larger, more strategic questions that artists members have as their careers advance, Artists' Roundtable events will provide opportunities to hear from practitioners, experts, and fellow members, and to get answers to individual questions.
coming up:
Saturday, February 24, 2024, 1:00-3:00 PM
What You Need to Know About Exhibition Proposals
In person, ArtsWorcester, 44 Portland Street
ArtsWorcester is calling for exhibition proposals for the 2024-2025 season!
Are you ready for a solo exhibition? What makes for an effective exhibition proposal, either at ArtsWorcester or elsewhere? What are the questions you need to answer, for the committee and for yourself as an artist?
Come talk with Nancy Burns, Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the Worcester Art Museum, and Toby Sisson, artist and Associate Professor, Visual and Performing Arts, and Director of Studio Art, Visual and Performing Arts at Clark University. Alice Dillon, ArtsWorcester Associate Director, and Juliet Feibel, ArtsWorcester Executive Director, will also field questions.
Learn the process for applying, what successful proposals have in common, and about what the selection committee looks for when reviewing submissions. Join your fellow artists, ask questions, and learn about what's new this year!
This event is free. Please register in advance. /// LEARN MORE.
Artists' Roundtables are free to current ArtsWorcester members, but may be limited in number of participants. If you have questions about your membership status, please call the gallery at 508-755-5142.
We thank the Melvin S. Cutler Charitable Foundation for for their support of artists' professional development.
call for proposals
Member-Curated Exhibitions
Rolling deadline
ArtsWorcester invites proposals for Member-Curated Exhibitions. Proposals are reviewed on a rolling basis. Member-Curated shows offer experienced artists an opportunity for artists to use their curatorial skills and gain independent, hands-on experience producing an exhibition. Located in ArtsWorcester’s Central Corridor, these shows include at least 3-4 artist members’ work, chosen by one curator. The curator may include their own artwork in the proposal.
Curators are responsible for communicating with participating artists, collecting, delivering, and retrieving artwork, providing an exhibition statement, and installing the exhibition in the Central Corridor. ArtsWorcester staff will be available for input on layout and to train the curator on the Arakawa hanging system.
Successful proposals should clearly state a curatorial vision for the space and the artists to be included. Curators should have experience working with ArtsWorcester and must demonstrate 6 their capacity to fulfill this leadership role. Proposals are welcome on a rolling basis, and will be evaluated by ArtsWorcester staff and volunteers.
All work must be wall-hanging and may not extend more than 12” from the wall. Artworks are hung on a secured Arakawa hanging system (track and wire) and D-rings. This space cannot accommodate free-standing or pedestal artwork. Further questions about what type of artwork is feasible in this space may be directed to alice@artsworcester.org.
ArtsWorcester calls for submissions to the Art@Work Lookbook. The Art@Work program connects area businesses with artist members through curated corporate art exhibitions. In addition to inspiring creativity in workspaces and engaging employees, clients, and visitors, the Art@Work program supports artist members with a stipend for each artwork on loan.
Clients range from real estate developers to biotech companies and insurance firms.
The lookbook offers clients a sampling of the type of work available for installations in their offices.
The call for additions to the lookbook will open twice a year, once in the fall and once in the spring. You will receive a notification of whether or not the submitted artwork will be included in the lookbook within three weeks of the deadline. If you are not selected for the lookbook, you are welcome to submit another body of work when the call reopens.
Inclusion in the lookbook does not guarantee placement in a corporate venue. You will be notified if a client is considering your work for a corporate exhibition.
Please review information about submission, artwork, framing, and artist compensation.
More opportunities are on the way!
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