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.
Opportunities in Response to COVID-19
Call For Entries, Art During the Time of COVID-19 – Arbutus, MD
Deadline: July 24 Art can heal, art can save lives, and art can bring us together even while we are apart. Oca Mocha invites submissions of your creative endeavors during the time of this pandemic. Email [email protected] with “OCA Mocha – Art During the Time of COVID-19” as the subject line for submission details.
Athenaeum Call For Entries for A Very Weird Time
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.
Las Laguna Gallery
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.
COVID-19 Artist Residency Project
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.
Call for Submissions: Queer Art Workers Reflect on Pride Amid COVID-19
Cognizant of the need to stay connected and elevate queer voices amid a climate of uncertainty, Hyperallergic is commemorating Pride Month by featuring one queer art worker per day on our website and asking them to reflect on what this time means to them. This series is meant to build on last year’s Queer Artists in Their Own Words. We encourage queer artists, curators, arts educators, filmmakers, programmers, conservators, and administrators from across the art world to join us. Click here to learn more.
A View From the Easel Call For Submissions
Temporarily, during the current COVID-19 pandemic, Hyperallergic is asking artists to share their experiences of their studios during times of quarantine for their “View From the Easel” section. For more information click here.
Artists Against an #Infodemic Call For Artists
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.
The Corona Portrait Project Call For Submissions
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.
Downtown Baltimore Partnership Call For Artists – Baltimore
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.
Insider Art Fair Call For Submissions
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 For Thesis Exhibitions
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.
Amplifier’s Global Open Call For Art
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.
Other Opportunities
Call For Submissions, American Muslim Futures – D.C.
Deadline: July 26 American Muslim Futures invites Muslim and allied / aligned artists of all mediums (visual, performing, literary, fashion, etc.) to help realize a country free of hate and oppression. We’re asking you to create the images, songs, poems, fashions, plays, performances, and cultures of this America free of hate and oppression. Up to 20 artists will receive $600 and be showcased in this official digital exhibit, opening portals for us to follow into a better tomorrow. Learn more here.
New Jersey Division of Taxation 2D Art Purchase – Trenton, NJ
Deadline: July 26 The New Jersey Taxation Building in Trenton is a newly constructed office building in the State Capital Complex, which will house the offices of the Division of Taxation. The State is seeking to purchase completed two-dimensional artwork for display in the new building. This call is open only to living New Jersey residents who are permanent residents of Mercer County, or maintain a permanent art studio address in Mercer County. For more information click here.
Calling All Emerging Artists, DC Design Week Poster Commission
Deadline: July 29 This year is a celebration of the creative voices in our community, and we want to hear yours. We’re commissioning up to five emerging artists to design a poster that we’ll print and sell on an online shop hosted by Cherry Blossom Creative. Having a final design isn’t required to apply! Learn more here.
Archival Call to Artists – D.C.
Deadline: July 31 Mehari Sequar Gallery is committed to documenting and remembering the recent global outcry against the oppression, violence and injustices perpetuated on the Black community and all minorities in the U.S. and around the globe. We are calling all creatives to contribute original digital content related to recent protests to honor the memories of victims of state violence. We would like to acquire your photographs, audio and video content, protest art, articles, news reports, op-Ed’s, diaries, and other digital memorabilia to mark this seminal moment through a digital archival exhibition. Click here for more information.
Open Call For Submissions, Black Life Matter Group Show – Brooklyn, NY
Deadline: August 1 Carrie Able Gallery seeks artist submissions for a group show on the Black Lives Matter movement. Work can be introspective artwork, protest art, documentary photography. All modes of expression welcome. free to submit please send 3 images with information about the work to [email protected]. Learn more here.
Creators Wanted For DC Design Week Maker Directory – DC
Deadline: August 5 DC is full of creators who craft art, jewelry, home goods, ceramics, furniture, and more. In September, we’ll be launching a directory of makers on dcdesignweek.org to help folks in our region (and around the world!) find awesome people doing awesome things. Whether you have an online shop or brick-and-mortar, we want to show the world the amazing things you make. If you’re interested, apply here.
Invitation to Artisans, Carroll Creek Kinetic Art Promenade – Frederick, MD
Deadline: August 14 Carroll Creek Kinetic Art Promenade invites regional artisans and teams of collaborative regional artisans living within 80 miles of Frederick, MD to submit their designs for review. By participating in Carroll Creek Kinetic Art Promenade, you’ll add to the vibrancy and beauty of Downtown Frederick and contribute much to its artistic fabric! Click here to apply.
Inspired By: Iconic Images Re-Imagined – Solomons, MD
Deadline: August 23 The Kay Daugherty Gallery at Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center will showcase artworks that reinvent and reconsider recognizable works of art and popular culture icons through a contemporary lens. Artists are encouraged to submit works that speak to contemporary culture, current events, or envision the “new normal.” For more information, click here.
See My Color: A Social Justice Call for Art
Deadline: August 30 The Women’s Caucus for Art of Greater Washington, DC invites members of the National Women’s Caucus for Art to submit artwork for a juried online exhibition titled See My Color, WCADC’s Social Justice Art Exhibition. “See My Color” will explore artists’ relationships with racial injustice, police brutality, and criminal justice reform through visual art. Click here for more information.
Open Call For Public Programs – D.C.
Deadline: October 1 Hamiltonian Artists is launching a new initiative of public programming, Platform, that positions the organization as a hub for conversation amongst practitioners. For the first season, now through the Presidential election on November 3, we invite artists, independent curators and organizers, organizations, and others to submit a proposal for a public program that specifically addresses racial justice, social justice movements and practices, collective action, and other conversations that intersect with the arts. Learn more here.
Re-runs: These announcements have been posted here before, but it’s not too late to enter!
D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities FY2021 Public Art Building Communities (PABC) Grant Program – D.C.
Deadline: July 17 The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) invites submissions for its fiscal year 2021 Public Art Building Communities (PABC) grant program from eligible individuals and nonprofit organizations, including registered DC Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) and designated D.C. Main Streets organizations. The PABC grant program awards project funding to support individual artists and nonprofit organizations in their effort to design, fabricate and install new temporary or permanent works of public art that connect artists and artworks to the community. Learn more here.
SEEN: 20 Years of Baltimore Music Photography – Baltimore
Deadline: July 18 SEEN: 20 Years of Baltimore Music Photography will highlight photography, as well as video, show posters, and ephemera that relates to the past 20 years of Baltimore music history. The show will feature local musicians and creators from all musical genres and backgrounds. The goal is to present a comprehensive and culturally inclusive overview of Baltimore’s vibrant music scenes from the year 2000 through 2020 by showcasing as many different genres, cultures, and forms of representation as possible. Learn more here.
Call to Artists: Paint It! Ellicott City 2020 – Ellicott City, Maryland
Deadline: July 23 Paint It! Ellicott City is an annual event that brings artists and spectators interested in the plein air tradition to Ellicott City. Both juried and open paint artists set up their easels around the historic district, enjoying a summer weekend as they capture the picturesque mill town and all its charms. The event culminates in an exhibit of juried artists’ work in our gallery, which features an opening reception and juror’s award presentation. For more information click here.
Call For Applications, Maryland State Arts Council’s Independent Artist Awards
Deadline: July 24 Maryland State Arts Council’s Independent Artist Awards (IAAs) recognizes achievement by Maryland artists making work independent of an institution or organization. In 2021 IAAs will recognize artists in the Visual/Media Arts. Learn more here.
Artist Relief Grants Call For Applications
Deadline: July 31 To support artists during the COVID-19 crisis, a coalition of national arts grant makers have come together to create an emergency initiative to offer financial and informational resources to artists across the United States. Click here to apply.
Call For Submissions: Outdoor Sculpture for Ramapo College of NJ Learning Commons – Mawwah, NJ
Deadline: August 3 Ramapo College of New Jersey is soliciting Expressions of Interest (“EOI”) from prospective artists to design, fabricate and install artwork for the Learning Commons at its Mahwah, New Jersey campus. The proposed artwork for the building is part of the New Jersey Arts Inclusion Program and is coordinated by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and Ramapo College. Learn more here.
Sea of Change Mid-Atlantic 2020 Call For Submissions Extension Virginia Beach, VA
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.
The Grand Exhibition, An Open Art Competition: Embodying Masonic Values – Philadelphia
Deadline: August 6 All artwork entries must display a visual interpretation of some aspect of Freemasonry in Pennsylvania, whether it be philosophical, historical, scientific, social, fraternal, charitable, architectural, etc. Selected artwork will be exhibited in the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia. For more information click here.
D.C. Commission on the Arts FY21 Art Bank Program Request for Applications – DC
Deadline: August 7 The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) invites submissions from qualified artists and District art galleries or District nonprofit organizations representing metropolitan artists for the acquisition of works of original two- and three-dimensional artworks for its Fiscal Year 2021 Art Bank Program. Award amounts vary; the total grant award will not exceed $10,000.The grant period is from October 1, 2020, to September 30, 2021. Learn how to apply here.
Call for Artists: Eighth Annual Eastern West Virginia Juried Exhibit – Martinsburg, WV
Deadline: August 12 The Berkeley Arts Council in Martinsburg, West Virginia announces the Eighth Annual Eastern West Virginia Juried Exhibit, to be displayed in the Berkeley Art Works Gallery. The exhibit is open to artists in all media who reside in one of the eight counties that compose what is known as the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. For more information click here.
Summer 2020 Surreal Photography Competition – Brooklyn, NY
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.
Call For Proposals: F.E.A.S.T. 2020 at VisArts – Rockville, MD
Deadline: August 30 F.E.A.S.T. (Funding Emerging Art with Sustainable Tactics) 2020 encourages artists, thinkers, and organizations to expand their everyday practice and create project proposals that address the theme of A More Than Human World. Imaginative, sustainable, and provocative projects that explore and make visible a more-than-human perspective are welcome! F.E.A.S.T. 2020 advocates for proposals that join art with social, cultural, political, economic, historic, and environmental dynamics. Imaginings, actions, performances, dance, theater, writing, visual art, walks, physical and virtual, analog or digital, and beyond. For more information click here.
Call For Entries, Aesthetica Art Prize 2020
Deadline: August 31 Since its establishment ten years ago, the Aesthetica Magazine Art Prize has provided a platform for artists across the globe to showcase their work through publication, exhibition, prize money and wider exposure. Aesthetica is looking for artists redefining the parameters of contemporary art. The Prize is open to multiple genres including photography, sculpture, installation, digital media, video, painting and more. To enter click here.
Council on Virginia Tech History Seeks Public Art for University’s Sesquicentennial – Blacksburg, VA
Deadline: August 31 The Council on Virginia Tech History has initiated a call for public art in preparation for the university’s sesquicentennial in 2022. The call, “Understanding Our Complicated Past and Reconnecting with Our Layered Histories: An International Ideas Competition,” seeks proposals for creative approaches to highlight how historically marginalized communities have shaped and will continue to shape Virginia Tech. The winning art pieces will be featured at the university’s oldest structures, Solitude and the Fraction Family House, which were part of the grounds of a former plantation owned by the Preston family. The Solitude House was occupied by the family, and the Fraction Family House is the only remaining structure for housing those enslaved by the Prestons. Proposals for all forms of art, from virtual to physical and everything in between, are highly encouraged. Learn more here.
Call For Entries, Practice What You Teach – Virginia Beach, VA
Deadline: September 1 Virginia’s K-12 Art Educators have an opportunity to show off their own artwork and vie for prizes worth a total of $2000! Virginia Beach Art Center is presenting this states-wide expression of loving what you teach. Learn how to enter here.
Greenwood Cemetery Artist-In-Residence 2021 – Brooklyn, NY
Deadline: September 2 This nine-month-long residency (January– September 2021) will offer one artist the opportunity to create a new project or body of work inspired by beautiful natural landscape, stunning monuments, and compelling history. The residency is open to emerging or mid-career artists residing in New York City and working in the visual and/or performing arts. Learn more here.
Call For Entries, Focus National Juried Photography Exhibition – Frederick, MD
Deadline: September 28 The National Juried Photography Exhibition is held biennially in November at The Delaplaine Arts Center as part of Focus, our month-long celebration of photography. All photographs, black & white, color, non-silver, computer-manipulated, digital, or pinhole are eligible. Learn more here.
Bennett Prize Call For Entries, Women Figurative Painters
Deadline: October 16 The Bennett Prize, created in 2018, awards $50,000 to a woman artist to create her own solo exhibition of figurative realist paintings, which will travel the country. The Prize will propel the careers of women painters who have not yet realized full professional recognition, empowering new artists and those who have painted for many years. The Prize will expand opportunities for the public, who may not be familiar with figurative realist painting, to learn more about the creative vision of talented women painters in this increasingly popular genre. Apply here.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts 2021-22 Fellowship Program – Richmond, VA
Deadline: November 6 The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship (VMFA) Program, a vital source of funding for the visual arts and art history in Virginia, is committed to supporting professional artists as well as art and art history students who demonstrate exceptional creative ability in their chosen discipline. Applications are now being accepted for the 2021-22 fellowship program. Click here to apply.
Call For Entries, Artist/Writers: Cover Art For Academic Medicine
Deadline: December 30 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.” Learn more here.
Ongoing: These opportunities have rolling deadlines.
Accepting Artwork for Curatorial Review by AIWA
The Alper Initiative for Washington Art features five exhibitions per year in the newly constructed first floor space in the American University Museum. We accept submissions, on a rolling basis, from Washington artists of all ages and backgrounds, and working in diverse media. The museum’s Director and Curator, Jack Rasmussen, will select curators who will review these submissions for potential use in Alper Initiative exhibitions. For more information click here.
Call For Entry Hamilton Arts Collective Guest Artist Exhibition – Baltimore
The Hamilton Arts Collective (HAC) and the Hamilton Gallery seek applications from artists for month-long Guest Artist exhibitions at Hamilton Gallery located at 5502 Harford Road, Baltimore, MD. The selected guest artists will be invited to exhibit a selection of their current work in Gallery I of the Hamilton Gallery. The Guest Artist exhibition is featured in Hamilton Gallery communications and will be promoted by the HAC and Hamilton Gallery. This is an open call to artists residing within 60 miles of Baltimore City. Baltimore residents are encouraged to apply. Click here to learn more.
Howard County Arts Council Quarterly Call For Artists – Ellicott City, MD
The Howard County Arts Council gallery program was established to enhance the public’s appreciation of the visual arts, provide a venue to exhibit the work of local, regional, and national artists in a professional space, and provide leadership in the arts by presenting a broad spectrum of arts in all media from both emerging and established artists. Artists, ages 18 and older, working in all media and styles including time-based and installation artists, are encouraged to apply either individually or as a group. Proposals from curators and arts organizations are also welcome. Click here to learn more.
Exhibit at Hotel Indigo Downtown Baltimore — Baltimore, MD
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.
Solo or Group Shows in Athenaeum Gallery – VA
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.
The Creativity Grant Program State of Maryland (MD)
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.
Artist/Writers: Cover Art for Academic Medicine
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.
The Awesome Foundation Accepting Applications for Art Projects
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.
Call for Artists: Maryland Art Place Seeks Proposals for Rotating Exhibition Partnership with Baltimore’s Hotel Indigo (MD)
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.
Peripheral ARTeries – Biennial Contemporary Art Publication
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.
Exhibit at Hotel Indigo (VA)
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].
The New Project Studio – Ongoing Opportunity (VA)
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.
Public Arts Grants & Opportunities (VA)
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.
Residency: Maryland
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.
Looking for artists: Foundry Gallery (DC)
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.
Looking for artists: Printmakers (DC)
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].