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.
Deadline: December 27 Contemporary Art Gallery Online encourages entries from all 2D artists regardless of their experience, education in the art field or where they may reside. This is an international competition and everyone is encouraged to participate. A group exhibition of all entrants will be held online at the Contemporary Art Gallery Online following the close of the competition for thirty days. There is no theme for this current art competition. Artists should submit their best representational and non-representational photographic and/or digital art. Learn more here.
Deadline: December 31 Earth Day Network is inviting artists and arts organizations around the globe to join with Earth Day 2020 by registering their work on our Artists for the Earth pages. Join a powerful movement of environmentalists to be a part of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22! Your art will be shared on a global network with reach of over half a million people. Artwork in every medium, in every genre is accepted: fine art, film, poetry, dance, theatre. Learn more here.
Deadline: January 4 Maryland Art Place (MAP) in Baltimore is offering a virtual internship for upper level college students, graduate students and recent graduates, The intern will be responsible for assisting MAP in a variety of ways, ranging from programming to administration, with opportunities for special projects depending on skills and professional interest. Duties include: performing research; assisting with gallery preparation and installation; photo/video documentation; coordinating events; gallery sitting; social media and community outreach. The ideal candidate is positive, professional, and reliable. Familiarity with Mac and PC platforms, Microsoft Office, Photoshop, and social media preferred. Interested applicants should email a cover letter briefly outlining their interest in the position and their educational and professional goals, along with a résumé to Caitlin Gill: [email protected].
Deadline: January 11 The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) announces that applications for the 16th annual Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize are now open. The prestigious competition awards a $25,000 fellowship to assist in furthering the career of a visual artist or visual artist collaborators living and working in the Greater Baltimore region. For more information, click here.
Deadline: January 15 For the 3rd Annual AnkhLave Garden Project Fellowship, a diverse panel of judges will select six AnkhLave Garden Project Fellows to create public art that will remain on site at the Queens Botanical Garden, as well as in an indoor gallery space as an interrogation of “art space.” For more information, click here.
Deadline: February 28 Second Street Gallery is now accepting proposals for solo and group exhibitions for Season 48 (2021-2022). The gallery welcomes proposals for consideration in works of all media – drawings, prints, photography, paintings, sculptures, installations, videos, sound, performance, and interdisciplinary projects. Exhibition proposals must be by and from living artists, who may be of both emerging and established reputation. To apply, click here.
Deadline: April 28 The VSA (Very Special Arts) Emerging Young Artists Program amplifies the voices of visual artists with disabilities through career development and professional empowerment. The competition seeks excellent work from emerging artists with disabilities, ages 16-25, residing in the United States. Fifteen winning artists are selected by jury. Grand Prize is $20,000, First Prize is $10,000, Second Prize is $6,000, and the remaining Awards of Excellence are $2,000 each. For winning artists, one of the submitted artworks will be selected for a national exhibition. Artists participate in professional development activities provided by the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Learn more here.
Deadline: December 23 VisArts has created a new Arts and Social Justice Fellowship Program for visual activists whose current research, curatorial or visual activist practice, and passion centers on social, racial, economic, and/or environmental justice. The year-long fellowship is an opportunity to explore how thoughtfully curated art, dialogue, communication, and collaborations between artists and communities can productively navigate political flash points, chronic systemic inequities, and entrenched perspectives to inspire change towards a more equitable, just, and inclusive society. Learn more here.
Deadline: December 27 The annual Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival is a competitive, juried event that is consistently rated as one of the best outdoor art festivals in the country, both for the quality of the artwork presented and for its exceptional artist hospitality. Mediums for submission include ceramics, digital and multi-media art/drawing/mixed media 2D, glass, jewelry, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture/mixed media 3D/Metal, textiles, and wood. To enter, click here.
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.
Deadline: December 31 Techspressionism 2021 is an online exhibition to be presented online at Techspressionism.com using the Kunstmatrix 3D exhibition platform. Entries will be limited to two-dimensional works (paintings, drawings, digital images, and prints) in which technology is utilized as a means to express emotional experience. Learn more here.
Deadline: December 31 CulturalDC, Foulger-Pratt, and DC Housing and Community Development Fair Housing Program are pleased to offer an opportunity for artists of all disciplines to live and create in the historic Eckington neighborhood near Alethia Tanner Park. The two-story units are 2 bedroom and 2 or 3 bathroom with a work space, flex/retail space, kitchen, and slop sink. Interested tenants must meet the income requirements of 60% Median Family Income (MFI), have a household of 2-5 people, and show a commitment to artistic practice and/or active participation in the arts industry and local arts community. Priority will be given to artists in need of housing who currently live or work in the District. Earliest move-in is in Spring 2021. Artists of all disciplines, ethnicities, races, genders, sexual orientations, abilities, religions, ages, languages, and backgrounds are encouraged and welcome to apply! Learn more here.
Deadline: January 3, 2021 Street art and graffiti have a deep connection with railroads, as works of art crisscross the nation on train cars, connecting artists with unknown new communities. As a reflection on railroads themselves, the B&O Railroad Museum, in partnership with the Creative Alliance, is seeking street art and graffiti art proposals that respond to the idea of connectedness, in our Baltimore community and as a nation. Four selected artists will have the opportunity to create a mural of their design on a train car at the Museum. Learn more here.
Deadline: January 4 For the 27th year of the Wharton Esherick Museum’s annual juried woodworking exhibition, we invite you to share innovative works of art, craft, and design that showcase wood and at least one other medium. Whether functional or sculptural, each submission should reflect the way Esherick worked across a vast spectrum of materials and practices as well as his outside the box thinking. We want to know how you might complete the phrase “wood and…” Learn more here.
Deadline: January 8, 2021 The Newark Museum of Art welcomes submissions to the 2021 New Jersey Arts Annual: ReVision and Respond. This open call invites a range of artistic practices- from traditional to abstract, from craft to new media– that explore the ReVision and Respond theme. The exhibition is open to any artist currently living or working in New Jersey. For more information, click here.
Deadline: January 8 Introduce your work to the world. Enter the most prestigious competition for creativity in illustration, the Communication Arts Illustration Competition. Selected by a nationally representative jury of distinguished designers, art directors and illustrators, the winning entries will be distributed worldwide in the Communication Arts Illustration Annual, in print and digital editions, and on commarts.com, assuring important exposure to the creators of this outstanding work. For more information, click here.
Deadline: January 8 Shenandoah National Park’s Artist-in-Residence program offers professional artists an opportunity to live and work in this exceptional environment for three weeks. The works completed during the program will serve, through the creativity of the selected artists, to deepen the understanding and appreciation of Shenandoah National Park. The Park’s Artist-in-Residence program is supported by a generous donation from the Shenandoah National Park Trust. For more information, click here.
Deadline: January 8 The Kay Daugherty Gallery at Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center will feature On Paper: Printmaking, Book Arts & Beyond. Selected work will highlight the expanse of printmaking and book arts as an artistic discipline. Techniques such as relief printing, etching, lithography, paper making, book binding, letterpress, collage and papercut will be explored. All works should showcase the unique process and craftsmanship that goes into each handmade paper, print, or collage. Learn more here.
Deadline: January 15 The Delaware Contemporary is accepting submissions for solo and group exhibitions to be held June 4 – August 27, 2021. In line with the regional focus of the opportunity, we are only accepting submissions within a 50-mile radius of Wilmington, Delaware. For more information, click here.
Deadline: January 15 We are seeking new works of art of any medium, two or three-dimensional, that celebrate nonconformity of black hair, but empower us to be who we were naturally made to be. What does it look like to embrace our natural identity, specifically our kinky, curly, coily hair without apology? How has nonconformity and hair influenced your work? That celebrates our hair to grow out of our heads naturally without shame or criticism. How has the complexities of our hair shown up in our practice, our work, our dialogue, our narratives? In line with the regional focus of the opportunity, we are only accepting submissions within a 50-MILE RADIUS of Wilmington, Delaware. For more information, click here.
Deadline: January 22 MiXt Food Hall (miXt) is a culinary arts incubator providing space, equipment, services, and mentorship to new food concepts in a community venue that encourages meaningful social engagement. Located in the Gateway Arts District at 3809 Rhode Island Avenue, Brentwood, Maryland, miXt seeks artists to paint 14 individual mini murals on seven cement columns within the communal food hall for public viewing. Learn more here.
Deadline, January 28, 2021 The National Portrait Gallery invites artists to submit portraits in any media for consideration in the sixth triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. Artists are encouraged to think about portraiture’s potential to engage with the social and political landscape of our time. For more information, click here.
Deadline: February 5 Target Gallery invites artists to submit their work for consideration to a new digital and in-person exhibition Those Spaces Between Us. This all-media group exhibition will explore concepts of liminal or transient spaces and how we occupy them or, conversely, how we do not. This exhibition will present an introspective view on how spaces can offer a physical embodiment of ambiguity and transition, creating a narrative how we as people move through them. For more information, click here.
Deadline: February 12 This opportunity is open to U.S. residents, 18 years or older, working in the following disciplines; painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, fiber, glass, ceramics, wood, metal, and mixed media. No photography accepted. For more information click here.
Deadline: February 21 This opportunity is open to artists 13–18 years of age who are residents of Maryland, Virginia, or the District of Columbia. Participants may attend public/private middle and high schools, or home school. Submitted artwork cannot have been previously exhibited at Montpelier Arts Center. Apply here.
Deadline: August 25, 2021 Artists who live or work in Virginia, Maryland, or the District of Columbia may submit a proposal for a solo show. A group of artists who live or work in the area may submit a proposal for a group show. A curator, living or working anywhere, may submit a proposal for a show featuring works by artists living or working in this area. For more information, click here.
2020 has been dedicated to the Year of the Woman in Maryland. Do you have an inspiring story about vital contributions of women-identifying people who are artists, arts administrators, or cultural workers? Perhaps an exhibition, performance or project featuring women? Share it with the Maryland State Arts Council for potential use in marketing and communications! Send your ideas to [email protected], and include “Year of the Woman” in the subject line. Satff will contact senders whose stories are selected for inclusion in future newsletters, eblasts, or social media postings. Learn more about Maryland’s year of the Woman here.
Busboys and Poets is looking for submissions from Maryland and Virginia artists as it expands to new locations in both areas. Submissions can include drawings, painting, photography, sculpture, mixed media, assemblage, fiber, quilts, etc. Art images reflecting life in the city, family, portraits, whimsy, abstraction, social uplift and life experiences within diverse cultures are encouraged for submission. For more information, click here.
This residency was designed to give emerging contemporary artists an online platform to create new work and explore their practice. Over the course of four weeks, artists will be encouraged to experiment and explore their concepts and move their work forward in the contemporary art world. Learn more here.
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.
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.
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.
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, click here.
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, click here.
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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