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: January 22 The Baker Artist Portfolios were created to support artists and promote Greater Baltimore as a strong, creative community. The portfolios expose artists of all disciplines, living and working in Baltimore City and its five surrounding counties, to regional, national and international audiences. Prizes will be awarded to artists who exemplify a mastery of craft, commitment to excellence, and a unique and compelling vision. Click here for more information.
Deadline: January 22 The National Cherry Blossom Festival has is seeking local and national artists to submit creative designs for fiberglass and steel sculptures that will be installed at various sites throughout the Washington, DC area from March 20th, and will be on display at least until the end of April 2021. The exhibition will culminate with a Blossom Auction with proceeds from the sale of Sculptures supporting NCBF programs and community initiatives. Click here to learn more.
Deadline: February 1 Brooklyn Gallery is seeking submissions for Photography A Sense of Place, a juried exhibition that requires photographers to consider how Covid-19 has altered our perceptions of space. For more information, click here.
Deadline: February 1 This new family-friendly event sponsored by Guinness Open Brewery, will feature 60+ juried artists, live music and vendors, including local artists, emerging artists and regional musicians. For more information, click here.
Deadline: February 1 The Frederick Arts Council is commissioning artists to design and execute a mural on 101 W Potomac St, a property containing three connected walls on a property in Brunswick, MD. This property is in close proximity to a public art project in the midst of realization – the Brunswick Archway. Learn more here.
Deadline: February 12 The Windgate Artist in Residence Program (WAIR) in the School of Art+Design at Purchase College invites expressions of interest from contemporary artists and craftspeople working in the field broadly defined as applied design. WAIR is currently accepting applicants for Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 sessions. This program supports the development of new work by craft artists and designers that can benefit from the educational and financial support of this grant. Click here to apply.
Deadline: February 15 The Delaware Contemporary seeks applicantions for our 2021 onsite Artist-in-Residence program. Two emerging artists or art collectives will be selected for residency to occupy a 250+ sq ft. studio for one year, career mentoring and a cumulative exhibition. For more information, click here.
Deadline: until filled The Pyramid Atlantic Papermaking Associates are crucial to keeping the paper mill thriving, relevant and dynamic. This work-exchange position offers a unique opportunity to engage with Pyramid’s creative community, and work alongside professionals in a sharing/collaborative environment. For more information and to apply, 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 7 The Artists’ Gallery of Ellicott City invites visual artists (both 2D and 3D) to submit original work for a juried show. Accepted artwork will be on display on our website from March 1 to March 28, 2021 and offered for sale through our on-line store. Prize winning work will be displayed in our gallery for the month of March. Artists 18 or older living or working in the Maryland, DC, and Virginia area are eligible to apply. 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 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: February 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: 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: February 26 The Howard County Arts Council (HCAC) is seeking up to 12 artists to participate in its Ninth Annual Juried Public Art Competition for a temporary outdoor exhibit from August 2021-July 2022. The competition is open to all professional visual artists, aged 18 and older, with public art experience commensurate with this project’s scope. 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 10 Seeking all mediums for Alexandria Museum of Art’s 34th September Competition. All artists over the age of 18 – working in any medium – are eligible. All work must be original and must have been completed in the last two years (2019 or later). AMoA encourages artists working in video and other experimental media to submit entries for judging. Learn more 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: 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.
Pyramid Atlantic offers year-round workshops in printmaking, papermaking, book arts, and hybrids thereof. We offer multi-week, daytime, evening, and weekend intensives for adults in our fully equipped studios. As part of a robust and diverse schedule of offerings, we welcome unsolicited workshop proposals, and hope that you will consider applying! Workshop proposal reviews are ongoing, but for best consideration, submit class proposals by the following dates: 1/15 for Summer Workshops; 4/1 for Fall Workshops; 7/1 for Winter Workshops; 10/1 for Spring Workshops. Questions? Email Gretchen, Artistic Director, [email protected]
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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