Application Requirements

Place des Arts (PdA) seeks exhibition proposals from local emerging artists and groups to exhibit in our three public exhibition spaces: the Atrium, Leonore Peyton Salon (LPS) and Mezzanine during our 2025/2026 exhibition season. In addition to physical exhibitions, virtual walkthroughs of each exhibition will be created and available for viewing on placedesarts.ca/exhibitions following installation for the duration of the exhibition.

ELIGIBILITY
Local emerging artists/groups meeting the following criteria are eligible to apply:

• Live in Metro Vancouver Region; if applying on behalf of a group, all group members must reside in Metro Vancouver;
• Committed to developing their artistic practice and body of work;
• Looking for support and resources to build their exhibition experience.
• Recent exhibiting artists/groups (i.e., artists/groups who exhibited or are scheduled to exhibit at Place des Arts between September 2023 – May 2025) are not eligible to apply for the 2025/2026 exhibition season. If applying on behalf of a group and at least one group member has exhibited at Place des Arts between September 2023 and May 2025, less than 50% of the artwork submitted can be made by those group member(s) who have recently exhibited at PdA.
• Artists who have participated/are participating in the 2023 and/or 2024 Positively Petite exhibitions are eligible to apply.
• Artists/groups may only submit one exhibition application per season.

PdA welcomes submissions in two-dimensional and three-dimensional mediums including, but not limited to fibre arts, sculpture, ceramics, painting, photography, printmaking, digital art, mixed media and drawing. All artwork(s) must meet the following criteria to be exhibited:

• Unique, original and made by the artist(s);
• A minimum of 10 artworks;
• Created within the past two years (i.e., dated 2023 or later);
  • Artists/groups may propose an exhibition in progress with the intention of completing the body of work, if accepted.
• Never previously exhibited at Place des Arts;
• Ready to hang and/or display.

BENEFITS OF EXHIBITING AT PdA

• Physical exhibition space;
• Curation and installation of the physical exhibition;
• Creation of a virtual rendering of the exhibition via Matterport;
• Promotion of the exhibition via Place des Arts’ regular channels;
• A hosted opening reception in conjunction with the other exhibitions opening at the same time;
• Personalized support throughout the exhibition process.

SELECTION PROCESS
All submissions will be reviewed and juried by Place des Arts’ Exhibition Committee comprised of a PdA board member and two (2) arts specialists representative of our community.

PdA is committed to upholding the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion in all that we do and to providing environments free from discrimination and harassment. To support our commitment, we will work to unlearn biases that may cause us to favour some individuals over others and ensure our Exhibition Committee is comprised of individuals of diverse backgrounds.

Decisions to engage Artists/Groups are based on the criteria listed below. At PdA, we see lived experience as a form of expertise and an integral part of an artist/group’s merit and knowledge.

The Exhibition Committee juries eligible submissions against the following criteria:

• Quality of artwork (i.e., composition and technical execution)
  • Does technical execution exhibit a solid understanding of the medium?
  • Is quality consistent across the entire submission?
• Cohesiveness of proposed exhibition concept/theme
  • Do the submitted images reflect the proposed concept/theme?
  • Is the concept/theme presented clearly?
• Originality of each artwork and of the proposed exhibition concept/theme
  • Does the artist/group contribute unique or new ideas to the discourse on the proposed concept/theme?
  • Does the artist/group use unique subject matter, materials and/or techniques?
• Artist/group demonstrates artistic ability and interest in developing as an artist
• Content/subject matter reflects Place des Arts’ community
  • Is the content/subject matter suitable for a public space and all audiences?
  • Is the content/subject matter relevant to our local and global communities?
  • Is the artist open to all ages community programming related to their exhibition?

All artists/groups will be notified of the status of their application by May 2025; all decisions of the jury are final.

EXHIBITION SPACES
Visit the individual exhibition pages at placedesarts.ca/exhibitions to view our current exhibitions in each space.

ATRIUM

• Viewing hours align with Place des Arts’ opening hours;
• Approximately 50 artworks can be installed comfortably in the Atrium, based on an average artwork size of 16” x 20”;
• Wall space and floor space are available in the Atrium;
• This is the only exhibition space for exhibitions of 3D work.

LEONORE PEYTON SALON

• Limited viewing hours; this space is a multi-purpose room used for a variety of arts programming. Exhibitions in this room cannot be viewed when the space is in use;
• Ideal room for exhibition-related workshops and programs;
• Approximately 30 artworks can be installed comfortably in the LPS, based on an average artwork size of 16” x 20”;
• Work that can be installed on the walls is ideal for this space; artwork requiring floor space or display cases may be considered.

MEZZANINE

• Viewing hours align with Place des Arts’ opening hours;
• Approximately 20 artworks can be installed comfortably in the Mezzanine, based on an average artwork size of 16” x 20”;
• Wall space and limited floor space are available in the Mezzanine; up to 3 display cases can be installed depending on the size and shape of the artworks and cases.

ACCEPTED ARTISTS

• If accepted, Place des Arts will issue an exhibition contract to be signed and returned by the artist/group and a meeting will be scheduled with PdA’s Exhibitions Manager thereafter;
• PdA has the sole discretion to reject any artwork(s) at any time prior to or during the exhibition;
• If accepted, the artworks may be available for sale;
• PdA will retain 30% of the retail price of any artwork(s) sold during the exhibition and within thirty (30) days after the exhibition end date.

Please refer to Exhibition Applications: A Guide for Emerging Artists for tips and guidance on completing your exhibition application.

Questions? Please contact:
Kim Correia, Exhibitions Manager
exhibitions@placedesarts.ca
604-664-1636 ext. 32