As spring arrives, and governments outline their plans to bring us out of lockdown, March brings a number of exciting opportunities for artists. Here is ArtWeb’s roundup of the open calls, commissions and art prizes to apply for this month!
Open call: Contemporary Printmaking Prize 2021
Deadline: 7th March
Fen Ditton Gallery is launching its first open submission exhibition for contemporary printmakers. All shortlisted works will be displayed in an exhibition in the gallery, with the overall winner (who will receive a prize of £500) to be announced on its first night. Open to artists based in the UK, and practicing in the field of original printmaking, entries must be original prints that have been created in the last three years.
Open call: Society of Graphic Fine Art
Deadline: 10th March, midnight
Founded in 1919, the Society of Graphic Fine Art aims to promote and exhibit high-quality works in colour or monochrome that demonstrate good draughtsmanship. The Society is inviting artists to apply for its Centenary Exhibition Unlocked, which will be held in the Mall Galleries in July. Entries must be drawn by hand in pencil, pen, brush, charcoal, conte, or any forms of original printmaking, in colour or monochrome. Please note, computer-generated digital imagery or reproductions are not eligible for inclusion.
Commission opportunity: Big Local Gateshead
Deadline: 10th March, midnight
Big Local Gateshead is offering two commissions for an artist or arts organisation working in any discipline to deliver a programme of high-quality participatory art sessions over a period of up to 3 months. The organisation is seeking projects that would engage young people living in the Gateshead area, or those who have become socially isolated due to the coronavirus pandemic, and can offer funding of up to £2,820 per commission.
Commission opportunity: Participatory Illustration, Luton Council
Deadline: 11th March, 11:59 pm
Luton Council is seeking five illustrators or visual artists to work collaboratively with children and a creative facilitator to conceive, design and apply artwork to star-shaped park benches in five locations in Luton. Successful applicants will be awarded a fee of £2,000 for each commission, plus a materials budget of £150. The Creative Facilitator will be running a series of digital workshops with groups of children aged 2–7 years, which will explore the theme of ‘Places and Dreams’. Commissioned artists will be asked to join these workshops and transform the children’s ideas into high-quality designs for the benches.
Open call: BBA Artist Prize 2021
Deadline: 15th March, midnight CET
Entries are now open for BBA Gallery’s 5th annual Artist Prize, which is open to all artists over the age of 18, working in any medium, worldwide. All shortlisted artists will also be exhibited during Berlin Gallery Weekend 2021, while BBA is offering the overall winner a solo show in its gallery in Berlin in 2022, plus a cash prize of €1,000. A second prize of €500 with an online exhibition and a third prize of €300 plus an online show are also up for grabs.
Open call for Northern-based sculptors, Liverpool Plinth 2021
Deadline: 19th March, midnight
Applications are invited from sculptors who live and work in the North of England to display their work on the Liverpool Plinth 2021. The selected sculpture, which must be an existing work, will be displayed on site at Liverpool Parish Church, part of the city’s UNESCO World Heritage waterfront, from June 2021 to May 2022. The winning artist will be awarded a £1,000 prize, plus all delivery and installation costs.
Open Call for live-streamed dance works, TANZAHOi International Dance & Dance Film Festival
Deadline: 31st March, 11:59 pm CET
After a successful live-streamed film festival in 2020, TANZAHOi International Dance & Dance Film Festival will be returning to the format in 2021, bringing outstanding international dance productions to Hamburg via remote streaming. The festival is offering a grant of €4,000 for dance performances, which should be precisely choreographed, and bring a dynamic to the sequence that can only exist in filmed form. Artists must also be available to live-stream their performance during the festival, from the 3rd to the 5th September 2021.
Emerging Artists Residency Opportunities: Rame Projects CIC
Deadline: 31st March, midnight
Artist-led space Rame Projects, based on the Rame Peninsula in South East Cornwall, is offering three artist residency programmes to emerging artists. The first is open to artists based in Cornwall, the second to Devon-based artists, and the third to a UK-based emerging artist from an African diaspora; South, East or Southeast Asian diaspora; or ethnically diverse background.
The residences will last between one month and six weeks, and will include overhead costs for its studio space, which is located on a cliff top a short walk from beaches and local villages. The selected artists will also be offered a fee of £600, and a production budget of £150 towards materials and related costs. Artists will be asked to run two engagement workshops, for which they will be offered a fee of £175 per workshop, plus a production budget of up to £75, and will also receive curatorial and critical support from the Rame projects team and local arts professionals.
