Every week, we gather a variety of artist opportunities from the DC area and beyond. Find one below and apply today — good luck! Click here for recent opportunities posts, and submit your opportunity listing here.
Even during difficult times, creativity persists. Throughout this period of social distancing, we will begin our listing with opportunities that uniquely address the coronavirus pandemic—be they calls for art that specifically speaks to it, or virtual exhibits that are cropping up as a result of it. Some have definitive deadlines and others are more flexible, so be sure to check guidelines carefully. We encourage you to share these and other opportunities with your creative circle.
Deadline: May 23 This national exhibit seeks artwork that engages with the materiality of paint as a vehicle for producing meaning, particularly in the midst of pandemic and stay-at-home orders. The call is open to artwork in any media, with the proviso that some manner of “paint” should play an important role in the artwork as subject or media. This may include, but is not limited to, painting, pastel, printmaking, photography, collage, sculpture, fiber, mixed-media, new media, and installation. For more information click here.
Deadline: August 14 Artists are invited to submit works that represent the full gamut of how the global coronavirus pandemic and its associated social distancing has affected them. Fear, uncertainty, anger and doubt are certainly typical responses but we are also interested in evidence of the creative benefits of solitude and reflection and the time to process them. For more information click here.
Deadline: September 31 In response to COVID-19, Las Laguna Gallery has launched its first online exhibition of art in all media, “A Light in the Darkness.” All submissions will be accepted and posted in an online gallery. Click here to learn more.
Deadline: January 1, 2021 COVID-19 Artist Residency Project is an In-Place Residency that was launched in May 2020 to help creatives reframe their time during the Pandemic as an opportunity for self-exploration. The non-competitive residency is free to apply. All creative disciplines welcome. Learn more here.
The visual media organizations CatchLight, Dysturb, and The Everyday Projects are seeking submissions for visual art and storytelling that addresses key public health messages in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Formats can include: photography, video, cartoons/comics, graphic design, paintings, drawings, memes, and more. We will work with the selected artists to package the material for distribution on social media and for display in public spaces as murals and/or projections. For more information click here.
For tens of thousands of artists around the world, in a matter of weeks the novel coronavirus has caused the loss of exhibitions, projects, side gigs, and left much uncertainty behind. As we sit isolated at home and consider our fears and hopes for the future, this project is a challenge to confront ourselves by creating a self-portrait. A new artist will be featured weekly. For more information, click here.
The #ArtOfBaltimore campaign was launched to help support local artists and spark positive energy as we adjust to the economic and cultural impact of the COVID-19 virus. Selected works by local artists will appear on digital signage throughout Downtown Baltimore, and artist will receive a licensing fee and additional promotion of their work on DPOB social media channels. For more information click here.
In response to our extraordinary circumstances, the Willow Street Gallery is seeking artwork from local artists to showcase on our digital platforms for an online exhibition titled “Insider Art Fair.” This exhibition allows us at the WSG to continue our mission to provide a platform for local and emerging artists, and make meaningful connections while the community remains indoors and isolated. Click here to learn more.
Social Distance Gallery is posting BFA and MFA thesis exhibitions that are canceled or limited in access due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The digital exhibitions will be hosted on Instagram at @socialdistancegallery. Click here for submission instructions.
In response to COVID-19, Amplifier is launching an emergency campaign with top art curators and public-health advisors from around the world. They are looking for public health and safety messages that can help flatten the curve through education, and symbols that help promote mental health, well-being, and social change work during these stressful times. Click here for more information.
Deadline: May 12 There are two types of PAAM Grants available for non-profit organizations or local government: Planning Grants of up to $2500 support the community visioning process, artist selection process and artist honorariums for the development of artwork proposals; Implementation Grants of up to $10,000 support the fabrication and installation of a public artwork. The public artwork may be in any media, temporary or permanent, inside or outside, and free and publicly accessible to all. For more information click here.
Deadline: May 14 RAREculture Art Consultancy is looking for versatile skilled artists for commission. We are looking for artists that are well versed in working with charcoal, acrylic, watercolor, and oil medium. The job entails taking a pre-existing digital artwork file and creating it into a drawing or painting on paper or canvas at a given size. Click here to apply.
Deadline: May 12 Seeking a freelance artist to make a statement piece for a popular Brooklyn restaurant. We were forced to close for COVID-19 mandates and will have to scale our business down tremendously when we are allowed to reopen. As a result, we are doing a redesign and a rebranding that will help us stand out when we open, attract business, and show our new identity. The art piece is for our dining room and will be hung on a large wall. For more information click here.
Deadline: June 7 In this all-media group exhibition, the artwork delves into the human psyche to explore themes surrounding mental health and its relationship to your physical health. This exhibition will challenge common misconceptions about the topic as well as allow space for the selected artists to express their experiences, struggles, and triumphs through their work. For more information click here.
Deadline: June 30 As the impact of the city-wide art spaces and activities shutdown continues to grow, our artists need an alternative way to shine! Latitide Gallery is thrilled to announce that we are offering our IG platform to highlight and showcase artists and designers and to engage as many within the art community as possible. Click here to learn more.
Deadline: June 30 The Heckscher Museum of Art is now accepting entries for the 2020 Long Island Biennial, a juried exhibition featuring works by visual artists from Suffolk and Nassau Counties. The Biennial reflects the area’s thriving art scene by featuring artists that represent a considerable number of communities throughout Long Island. The exhibition offers Long Island’s emerging and established artists the opportunity to gain broader public awareness of their work. For more information click here.
Deadline: August 15 For the strange and unusual; visual intriguing; and mentally stimulating. Mobius Photo is an online platform dedicated to the curation of emerging and established photographers through competitions. Submissions are open for 3.5 month periods. Winners are announced 2 weeks after the closing date. Selected works live on the website for the following year. Click here to apply.
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Re-runs: These announcements have been posted here before, but it’s not too late to enter!
Deadline: May 18 Virginia, D.C., Maryland, and Pennsylvania artists, age 16 and older, are invited to go old-school and doe a twisted version of your favorite board game character; redo a piece or card from a game; or make something new with old games. Paintings, illustrations, drawings, sculpture, photography, digital media,mixed media etc are all acceptable. For more information click here.
Deadline: May 19 The Hopper Prize provides grants, visibility, and career-enhancing validation to artists who demonstrate a serious commitment to their work. Grants for $1,000 will be offered to five selected artists. The Hopper Prize is open to all artists age 18 and older working in any media. For more information, click here.
Deadline: May 20 VisArts welcomes artists ages 17 – 27 in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area to submit their application for NextGen 7.0. Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, this iteration of Next Gen will be held in an online gallery from June 10 – August 9, 2020. This will present a unique opportunity for aspiring artists with little to no experience to exhibit their work in a professional online gallery. For more information, click here.
Deadline: June 1 The Studio Workspace Residency is an opportunity for artists to create new work and fully immerse themselves in WSW’s supportive environment. We invite applications from artists at any stage of their careers. This residency gives artists the gift of time, an uninterrupted period to live and work away from the stresses of daily life. Artists may choose to work in any one or more of our studios: intaglio, letterpress, papermaking, screenprinting, darkroom photography, or ceramics. For more information click here.
Deadline: June 12 The Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture requests proposals from individuals, groups of artists or curators to present exhibitions in the Popcorn Gallery, Stone Tower Gallery and Park View Gallery venues at Glen Echo Park for the calendar year 2021. Learn more here.
Deadline: June 15 McLean Project for the Arts (MPA) currently seeks submissions for MPAartfest. Artists from throughout the mid-Atlantic region are encouraged to apply. Artists retain 100 percent of sales. Additional details can be found here.
Deadline: June 15 The Sculpture Center invites artists to submit proposals each spring for new projects to be presented in January 2021. Artists selected for the In Practice exhibition will receive an honorarium and production support. The level of production support will depend on the scope of accepted works and available funding. Click here for more information.
Deadline: June 17 We seek installations that will explore Eastern State Penitentiary’s history and evoke a broad range of emotions. We seek installations that will make connections between the complex history of this building and today’s criminal justice system and corrections policies. Click here for more information.
Deadline: June 26 The City of Hagerstown, in partnership with the Washington County Arts, is pleased to announce the second exhibition of Faces of Hagerstown, a signature public art feature of the Hagerstown Cultural Trail. Faces of Hagerstown is a large-scale outdoor photo mural gallery focusing on the human face and the truth of the Hagerstown experience. It will be located along the Hagerstown Cultural Trail in two prominent locations. For more information click here.
Deadline: August 3 There is beauty in all the waterways that surround us, but our climate is changing and perhaps our lives as well. The Virginia Beach Art Center invites artists from South Carolina to Pennsylvania to submit to our a showcase of all media artwork from the Mid-Atlantic that celebrates our present and warns of our future. For more information click here.
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Ongoing: These opportunities have rolling deadlines.
The Maryland Art Place (MAP) is working with Hotel Indigo in downtown Baltimore to offer rotating exhibitions in the hotel’s library and Poets Modern Cocktails and Eats restaurant. This opportunity is open to visual artists living or working in Maryland. ’s public art partnership projects (MAP), in partnership with Hotel Indigo, is pleased to announce an open call to artists. MAP will curate four exhibitions a year based on submissions entered through a rolling basis. Click here to learn more.
The Athenaeum Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia exhibits visual arts created solely by artists living or working in the region (DC, Maryland and Virginia) and strives to present visitors with a wide variety of excellent art and unique experiences. In addition to the shows curated by the Gallery Director, the Athenaeum Gallery invites artists and curators to submit show proposals. For more information, visit https://artist.callforentry.org/festivals_unique_info.php?ID=6876.
Deadline: Rolling. The purpose of the Creativity Grant Program is to strengthen the vitality and sustainability of artists and small organizations to maintain a strong and stable arts infrastructure in the State of Maryland. The Creativity Grant also provides opportunities to serve the growing needs of relevant arts projects and collaborations within Maryland communities. For more information regarding eligibility and funding timelines, please review the Creativity Grants Guidelines. For more information about the program, and to apply visit the Creativity Grant Program State of Maryland website.
Deadline: Rolling. Submit original works of art inspired by, but not necessarily representative of, an academic medicine experience from any perspective: caregiver, researcher, teacher, learner, or patient (for example, learning how to be a physician or scientist, caring for patients, exploring research questions, making a new discovery, being a research participant, teaching, or being cared for in a teaching hospital). The journal welcomes photography, sculpture, painting, textile work, and other visual media. Images may be cropped or resized to fit into the allotted cover space. Artists must also submit a related Cover Art essay as a narrative companion to the artwork, to explain the connection between the work and the “academic medicine experience.” The related narrative should be 250 to 600 words and is subject to editing. To apply for this opportunity, and to learn more, visit the Academic Medicine website.
Deadline: Open. The Awesome Foundation for the Arts and Sciences is a worldwide network of people devoted to forwarding the interest of “awesomeness in the universe.” Established in 2009, the foundation distributes $1,000 grants on a monthly basis to projects and their creators. The money is pooled from ten or more self-organizing “micro-trustees.” The chapters are autonomous and organized by the trustees around geographic areas or topics of interest. Apply on the Awesome Foundation website.
Deadline: rolling. Maryland Art Place (MAP), in partnership with Hotel Indigo is pleased to announce an open ‘Call to Artists’. As an extension of MAP’s annual IMPACT public art partnership projects, MAP is working with Hotel Indigo to offer rotating exhibitions in Hotel indigo’s library and Poets Modern Cocktails and Eats. This opportunity is available to visual artists living or working in Maryland. Maryland Art Place will curate four exhibitions a year based on submissions entered through a rolling basis. Guidelines and information here.
Deadline: Rolling. Peripheral ARTeries is looking for artists to be featured in the new special Biennial Edition of their art publication, that comes to its 10th edition. This opportunity is great for both established and early career artists who need a boost to their artist portfolio. The 10th edition will once again explore and show current trends and tendencies in Contemporary Art: Peripheral ARTeries cultivates a spirit of openness through a unique collaborative and participatory approach.Each artist may submit a maximum of three works or projects made in any technique: painting, drawing, video art, experimental cinema, fine art photography, experimental media, mixed media, installations, public art, performance. The call is open to all proposed kind of art and media capable of challenging the viewers’ traditional perspective on art itself. To submit, visit the Peripheral ARTeries website.
Artists works will displayed in the hotel’s gallery (220 S Union St, Old Town Alexandria) for a six-month period. Two-dimensional, framed works only. Artists will install the work using the hotel’s mounting hardware. Labels will be provided by the hotel. All sales handled by artist, no commission. Preference for local or locally influenced selections but not required. The space measures approximately 7’10” by 8’3.″ If interested, contact Kate Ellis, General Manager, [email protected].
Ongoing. Located in Studio 8, the New Project Studio is a community-focused arts incubator space that offers a short-term location to test new program ideas, spotlight underrepresented voices, and enhance community engagement. Projects rotate on a regular basis. For more information, clickhere.
Ongoing. The City of Alexandria’s Office of the Arts provides grants for nonprofit arts organizations as well as individual artists. See all current opportunities and online applications here.
Deadline: ongoing. Montgomery College, Rockville and Germantown Art Department is seeking proposals for its Artist-in-Residence Program, encouraging proposals that cultivate collaborative work between artists and students.
Deadline: ongoing. Foundry Gallery is seeking a few artists in the greater Washington, DC area. If interested in applying for membership please send up to five images (jpg attachments) and an email letter to: [email protected]. The oldest cooperative in Washington, the gallery holds monthly solo and members’ group shows at its beautiful space north of Shaw near the 9:30 Club.
Deadline: ongoing. Washington Printmakers Gallery is seeking artist members specializing in printmaking, photography and book arts. An active cooperative for over 30 years, the gallery holds monthly solo and members’ group shows in its lovely space in upper Georgetown. Distant and shared memberships are available. If interested in applying for membership please email [email protected].
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