Artist Opportunities
Find your next artistic endeavor! Submit a mural proposal or browse calls for art.
Organizations may submit a call for art to be listed on this page. To be featured, please send us an email with pertinent information including name of opportunity, important dates, image, and website with more details.
PROPOSE AN EXHIBITION
The Arts Council of Princeton’s Paul Robeson Center serves as a key resource for contemporary art in central New Jersey. Through thought-provoking exhibitions and related public programs, the Arts Council presents artwork with a broad range of aesthetic, social, cultural, and political themes.
The window for 2027 proposals has closed. Applicants will be informed of their status by December 2025.
Live for Today, Leon Rainbow
PROPOSE A SPRING STREET MURAL
The Arts Council of Princeton (ACP) is looking to collaborate with local and regional artists for our Spring Street temporary mural location. Our community-driven mural-making process supports the Arts Council’s mission of building community through the arts, and is open to everyone.
Spring Street murals are generally on view for 3-4 months. A stipend of $500 is provided for selected artists and some materials are provided by the ACP. The mural space, which is mounted MDF attached to the wall of the building, measures 32×8 feet.
Please submit your interest below. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis; ACP staff will be in touch if your proposal is to move forward.
Questions? Please email Melissa Kuscin.
Area Opportunities
TrashedArt Contest - MCLS
TrashedArt Contest
Deadline: Tuesday, March 3, 2026 at 8pm
Remake, Reuse and Renew the items you would recycle or throw in the trash into something unique and beautiful and rethink the usefulness of garbage. The contest celebrates Earth Day by encouraging patrons to turn ordinary trash into extraordinary art. Held annually in April.
Contest Guidelines
Adults and teens (ages 14 and up) who live, work or go to school in Mercer County are eligible to participate. The contest is limited to one entry per artist.
Entries must be original artwork and no larger than 2.5′ x 2.5′ x 2.5′ and no heavier than 10 lbs.
Entries must use a minimum of 75% recycled content — metals, paper, rubber, glass (please, no sharp shards), plastic, cloth. A recycled item is one that has been manufactured and would be otherwise thrown away. Non-recyclable materials such as glue, paint, tape, etc. are permitted. For the purposes of this contest, natural materials such as rocks, dirt, bones, and sticks are not considered recycled.
Entries will be judged on creativity, originality and artistic merit. Artwork will be anonymously judged by local artists and representatives of the Mercer County Library System to determine grand prize winners in first, second and third place. Patrons can vote for the “People’s Choice” awards in person and virtually on the Mercer County Library System’s website.
How to Enter
Entries must be dropped off between Tuesday, February 24, and Tuesday, March 3, 2026, to the Lawrence Headquarters Branch. All entries must be delivered before 8:00 pm on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. Tape a copy of the TrashedArt Entry Form to the back of artwork. To be considered for the People’s Choice Award, a photo, and photo release form must be submitted digitally below.
Entries will be on display starting Wednesday, March 4, 2026. All MCLS branches will also display photographs of this year’s entries, and patrons will have the chance to judge them for the People’s Choice Award.
Grand prize winners in first, second and third place, will be awarded and announced at the TrashedArt Contest Reception at the Lawrence Headquarters Branch on Tuesday, April 21st at 6:30 pm. Winners will have the opportunity to be featured on the MCLS “Behind the Books” podcast and featured on MCLS social media. Each branch will announce their “People’s Choice” award winners at the TrashedArt Reception as well. Please register online for the TrashedArt Reception at https://events.mcl.org.
TrashedArt entries must be picked up by 4:30 pm on Sunday, April 26. If prior arrangements have not been made, any unclaimed entries will become the property of the library. The Mercer County Library System is not responsible for any damage, theft, or loss to art entries.
*FREE* International Call for Art - Rochester Contemporary Art Center
*FREE* International Call for Art – 6×6
Walk-in Entries Due: April 4, 2026
Mail International Entries by April 1 / U.S. by April 7
Each summer Rochester Contemporary Art Center’s 6×6 exhibition brings together thousands of original artworks, made and donated by celebrities, international & local artists, designers, youth and YOU. Each artist may enter up to four artworks of any medium except glitter (2D or 3D). Artworks must be six inches square (15cm) and signed only on the back, to be exhibited anonymously. Participation is free. All artworks will be exhibited and for sale to the public for $20 each to benefit RoCo. Artists’ names will be revealed to the buyer upon purchase and all artworks remain on display through the end of the exhibition in July. Limit four artworks per school or school group (no limit for colleges).
Optional Theme: The City of Rochester Logo
This year, artists may choose to create a 6×6 featuring the City of Rochester’s logo. These “Flower City” artworks will be installed together on a dedicated wall as part of a community-wide celebration of this iconic graphic. This theme is entirely optional—as always, all 6×6 artworks will be accepted and displayed regardless of theme.
– NEW: The first 6000 artworks received will be exhibited in Gallery & Online. 6000+ will be exhibited online only. Send your art early to ensure in-gallery & online display.
– Artwork entry is FREE
– Drop off artworks at RoCo during normal gallery hours Wed-Sat 12-5pm/Friday 12-9pm until April 4.
or mail artworks by April 7 to:
Rochester Contemporary Art Center
137 East Ave
Rochester, NY 14604
USA
6×6 will be on view in person and online June – July 2026!
For more information:
Email us at info@rochestercontemporary.org
Call us at 585-461-2222
Visit roco6x6.org
#RoCo6x6 @RoCo137
coLAB Arts Artist Residencies - Heartbeat of the City 2026
2026 Heartbeat of the City
Public Art Artist Residency (8 Slots Available)
Deadline: February 13, 2026
Applications can be submitted using the form on the coLAB Arts website at https://www.colab-arts.org/hotc.
SUMMARY
coLAB Arts is requesting applications for eight (8) available artist residencies in New Brunswick,
NJ from artists in the New Jersey/New York/Pennsylvania region. Artists and artist teams will be
responsible for creating a temporary public art installation, to be installed at various locations
along a three-quarters of a mile route in New Brunswick as part of the city’s inaugural Heartbeat
of the City Arts Festival, September and October, 2026.
The Public Art Artist Residency will be for 10 months, from March – December, 2026, and will
include a free, private studio space with 24 hour access in New Brunswick, and a $10,000
commission to create a new public art piece.
coLAB Arts is seeking out artists who have a history of creating public art, including but not
limited to murals, sculptures, monuments, and landscape design and architecture that speaks to
cultural history, placekeeping, memorialization, and commemoration.
BACKGROUND
coLAB Arts, in partnership with the City of New Brunswick and other local and state
organizations, will be producing the inaugural Heartbeat of the City Festival in Fall 2026. The
one day festival will shut down three-quarters of a mile of Route 27 (Albany and French
Streets), which connects New Brunswick’s Downtown and Latine-majority Esperanza
Neighborhoods. The festival’s focus will be on supporting the development of a Central Jersey
visual art market between artists, galleries, and collectors, as well as soften the boundaries
between these two neighborhoods. The festival is made possible through a grant from the New
Jersey Economic Development Authority A.R.T. Phase 2 program.
Preliminary research about the festival route was conducted by coLAB Arts in collaboration with
the Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University-Bloustein School of Planning and
Public Policy. Please use this link to access the final report, which includes information about
potential site locations for public art.
coLAB Arts’ mission is to engage artists, social advocates, and communities to create
transformative new work. www.colab-arts.org
RESIDENCY INCLUSIONS
Artists who are awarded a residency will be provided free access to a private studio space for
10 months, March – December. Resident artists are required to utilize that studio space for at
least 3 days per week, and to participate in a monthly First Friday open studio and gallery
evening event every month through the end of the residency term with the first event on Friday,
March 6, and the last on Friday, December 4.
Selected artists will also receive a $10,000 stipend to use towards the creation of a new public
art piece that will be temporarily installed in New Brunswick, September and October 2026.
If awarded a residency, selected artists must carry general liability insurance and be able to
provide a certificate of insurance naming coLAB Arts as additionally insured.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) DISCLOSURE
coLAB Arts seeks original work created by the artist. It can be digital but not developed through
or with artificial intelligence (AI).
APPLICATION SUBMISSION
Applying artist and artist teams should submit a biography, CV (curriculum vitae) that includes a
list of previous public art and/or installation work examples, three (3) references, any available
press links, links to website and social media pages if available, and images of past public art
and non-public art.
Submissions are reviewed on a rolling basis. Early submission is encouraged.
Applications close on February 13, 2026.
Applications can be submitted using the form on the coLAB Arts website at https://www.colab-arts.org/hotc
Claybash: Hunterdon Art Museum Triennial Juried Ceramics Exhibition
The Hunterdon Art Museum is pleased to announce our second Triennial Juried Exhibition of Ceramics, Claybash. We invite artists and makers to submit work that explores clay as both material and idea. The form and content of your submission are entirely up to you. We welcome vibrant, thought-provoking interpretations—whether your work aligns with traditional notions of “functional” or “sculptural,” or ventures into new territory altogether. Surprise us. Challenge us. Show us what clay can be.
Location: Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, NJ
Exhibition dates: May 17 – September 6, 2026
Entry Fee: $45 for up to four entries. Entry fees are non-refundable.
Deadline for Entries: February 9, 2026
18th Annual Wayne Art Center Plein Air Festival
The Wayne Art Center Plein Air Festival and Exhibition are dedicated to enhancing the public’s appreciation of works completed in the plein air method while providing a venue for established and emerging artists to share their work with collectors and the public.
Wayne Art Center’s 18th Annual Plein Air Festival will take place May 3 through May 9, 2026 when 32 juried artists from across the country arrive to paint scenes within a 35-mile radius of Wayne, Pennsylvania including historic Main Line towns, rolling farm country, downtown Philadelphia and the Delaware and Schuylkill riverfronts. The work resulting from the 7-day competition will be exhibited at the Wayne Art Center Collectors’ Preview Party & Sale on May 9 and remains on view through June 20, 2026.
Juror Mark Boedges will choose participating artists from online entries and award cash prizes of $25,000.
Deadline: February 17, 2026 at 11:59pm
Application: https://waynepleinair.org/call-for-entries/
Point Pleasant Publishing: Artist Feature Catalogue
Quality Writing:
Besides the prestige of being published amongst some of the finest established artists in the world and gaining recognition with notable galleries and institutions, the main reason artists apply is because of the quality of our writing. Point Pleasant critical essays discuss the accomplishments, interpretations, process, and unique attributes by individual artists featured in the catalogue. The writing by Point Pleasant Publishing is 100% human-created content, absolutely no artificial intelligence used.
Eligibility Criteria:
Point Pleasant Publishing accepts experimental and alternative forms of visual art including photography, performance, video, film, installation, assemblage, collage, fiber, printmaking, light design, jewelry, fashion, & costume design, and analogue digital (no AI).
Artists are selected based on a variety of factors including their accomplishments, originality, conceptual impact, overall cohesiveness of portfolio, and aesthetic qualities of the art.
We especially encourage alternative / experimental artists to apply.
Deadline: Rolling
THE ADOLPH & ESTHER GOTTLIEB EMERGENCY GRANT
The Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Emergency Grant program is intended to provide interim financial assistance to qualified painters, printmakers, and sculptors whose needs are the result of an unforeseen, catastrophic incident, and who lack the resources to meet that situation. Each grant is given as one-time assistance for a specific emergency, examples of which are fire, flood, or emergency medical need.
To be eligible for this program, an artist must be able to demonstrate a minimum involvement of ten years in a mature phase of his or her work. Artists must work in the disciplines of painting, sculpture or printmaking. Each application will be reviewed by the Directors, who will exercise their discretion in considering it, and will determine the amount of each award. Applicants should note there is a set amount appropriated for these grants each fiscal year; once this budgetary limit has been reached, the Foundation will not be able to judge any additional requests on their merits.
Deadline: Rolling
MID ATLANTIC ARTS FOUNDATION FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMS
Administered by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, state fellowship programs provide funding for individual artists residing in Delaware and New Jersey to encourage and sustain these artists’ pursuit of artistic excellence.
Individual NJ-based artists must apply following the process outlined in the guidelines for New Jersey. At the annual deadline for these programs, a limited number of disciplines are accepted. All applications to these competitive programs are evaluated through a peer panel review process.
DEADLINE: Vary upon opportunity