Annual Calls for Artists

Each year, we release three calls for artists. One for our annual Positively Petite miniature exhibition, one for our upcoming exhibition season and one for our Community Exhibition. Watch this page and our social media channels for when submissions are open and for more details about applying to exhibit.

Questions about exhibiting at Place des Arts? Please contact our Exhibitions Manager.

Applying to Exhibit: A Guide for Emerging Artists

Download the PDF of this guide

About Exhibitions at Place des Arts

Place des Arts is proud to showcase the work of local emerging artists in our three public exhibition spaces: the Atrium, the Mezzanine and the Leonore Peyton Salon. Each season, we release a call for artists to apply to exhibit. A jury of qualified artists and a Place des Arts board member selects artists/groups from these applications to be scheduled in our upcoming exhibition program alongside annual exhibitions coordinated by Place des Arts and exhibitions from our community partners. New calls for artists appear on this page. Keep an eye on our website and social media channels for when submissions are open and for more details about applying to exhibit.

Helpful Tips for Completing your Application

Visit the space you are applying to exhibit in

When applying for an exhibition, if you aren’t familiar with the space, we recommend going to visit. Seeing the space gives you the opportunity to think about how your artwork will function in the context of the facility and gives you a better concept of how many of your works might fill the space. Visiting exhibition spaces also informs your artistic practice. Seeing the work of others is important for understanding where your creative practice fits into local and global communities.

Review the application

Review the application requirements and the application checklist. If there is anything within the call that you are unsure of or would like clarification on, email our Exhibitions Programmer at exhibitions@placedesarts.ca in advance of the application deadline.

The Application Form

• Ensure all required fields on the application form are complete. Consider that any sections left blank may leave the jury with questions about what you are proposing.
• What you include will be reviewed. If the application has space to include links to social media, but your Facebook profile doesn’t include any relevant information about your artistic practice, leave it out.

List of artworks

• You may only have a few examples of the work you are proposing to exhibit at the time you apply and that’s okay. However, be very clear in your list of artworks how many works are in progress and/or how many works you expect to complete if you were selected to exhibit. If you are only proposing to exhibit a total of 5 artworks but every exhibition space can hold at least 20 average-sized works, you might want to consider teaming up with other artists with similar artistic intentions to present a group exhibition (see Applying for a Group Exhibition below).

Writing Your Artist Statement

• The jury is likely reviewing several submissions, and your artist statement is a component of your application where you can highlight how your work is unique from the other submissions.
• If you do not have experience writing about your artwork, this can be a challenging task. Know that it may take some time to write, edit and re-write your statement to get it right.
• Below are some questions to consider addressing in your statement:
  • As an artist, what unique or new ideas are you contributing to the discourse on your proposed concept/theme?
  • Why do you make the work that you do? What is your approach to making art? What inspires you?
  • How does your concept/theme fit into our local and global communities?
  • Does your proposed concept/theme in your artist statement reflect the images you are submitting with your application?
• Once complete, review your statement to check for any errors and have a friend read through it and provide feedback on the clarity of your concept.
• For examples of Artist Statements, visit placedesarts.ca/exhibitions

Images

• While a digital image may not capture the details within your artwork, these images are the jury’s only visual representation of your artwork.
• Take advantage of the maximum number of images that can be submitted, if you only have 8 artworks complete for the application and you can submit 10 images, consider including a couple of detail images to highlight a specific texture or technique used.
• Photograph your work in natural light and crop your images to the edge of your artwork.

Overall Presentation of your Submission

• Consider the overall presentation of your submission, it is the first impression the jury will have about you and your artwork.
• If it’s possible to type your application and submit it digitally, there is less chance of your application being misread or misinterpreted by the jury. If you are handwriting your application, ensure it is legible.
• Once you have all the components of your submission, take some time to read through your full application package to catch any spelling mistakes and ensure you’ve completed all elements of your submission.
• The application form indicates the criteria the jury will use to evaluate submissions. Ask yourself if your application addresses each component of the evaluation criteria and revise any components if necessary.

Applying for a Group Exhibition

• If you are applying to exhibit on behalf of a group, think of the application as the voice of the group. It should be a cohesive reflection of a singular exhibition concept. While there may be 20 people in the group, a group submission will not be accepted as 20 individual applications.
• Components of completing a group application:
  • Application Form: as the individual submitting the application for the group, use your name and contact information on the application. All other details on the application form should relate to the group. For example, website and social media links should be the groups (if applicable) and the artist bio section should explain the background of how the group was formed and highlight any shared group goals.
  • Exhibition Outline: the outline of the exhibition concept/theme should highlight the common thread between individuals in the group and the proposed artworks. There should be a clear theme within the proposal on why the group is exhibiting together.
  • CV/resume: While you may want to share the accomplishments of each group member, use this component of the application to focus on what the artists have achieved together. Has the group exhibited together before? Share the group exhibition history.
  • Images and List of Artworks: take advantage of the maximum number of images that can be submitted. If the group is large, not all artists will have their work included in the application, so make sure the images submitted represent the styles and mediums that the group is proposing to exhibit.

What next?

Submitting to Place des Arts is one exhibition opportunity within Metro Vancouver for emerging artists. Be encouraged if your work is selected but if you weren’t selected, we encourage you to apply again. Either way, give yourself credit for submitting your work, it can feel vulnerable to put your artwork out into the world and have it judged.