We have curated a list of top call for entries, art prizes and artist contest directories that can help you find new opportunities to apply right now.
One of the things that make these websites a valuable online resource for beginners and experts is something known as the Call for Artists section. This is where you'll find listings of events such as contests, exhibitions, fairs and festivals, artists' residencies, and many others.
These events are terrific ways for artists to build confidence, advance their careers, deepen their understanding of art, extend their art world connections, and earn additional income.
With the sheer abundance of competitions, exhibitions, and other events available all over the world, there are a few things to keep in mind to keep yourself from being overwhelmed and to better your chances of winning a prize or a commission. Choose a call for entry where you believe your skill has the opportunity to shine the brightest. It's also important to choose the best of your artwork and take high-quality photographs of your pieces to submit with your application. Not to worry; these websites provide helpful guides on responding to calls for entries.
Don't see one you love? Let us know and we will be happy to review and consider adding it to the list.
Call for Entries
Connecting artists and photographers with art opportunities and call for entry events is the name of the game at C4E. Its fully-searchable directories are updated weekly, offering useful information on art calls and photography calls from all over the world. These range from artist residencies in Portugal and art fairs in Canada to competitions in China and juried exhibitions in the United States.
Registration is free for artists and photographers. Once you sign up, you'll receive access to monthly newsletters and listings that are available only to registered members. There are also helpful guides on various topics, including working with art galleries, copyright issues for visual artists, and how to become a successful fine art photographer.
C4E is owned and operated by Kodexio, an American software company. The team behind C4E is made up of artists, engineers, and technical personnel who combine art and technology to help advance the careers of artists and to promote art organizations' events. Visit at callforentries.com.
Artshow
The recipient of accolades from esteemed publications such as The Artist's Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and American Artist, it's no wonder Artshow is visited by thousands of artists and art lovers every single day. Opportunities for artists to showcase and promote their work are abundant here.
The Calls for Artists section of the website is teeming with information about online art contests, artists' residencies, and art exhibitions and festivals throughout the United States and in other countries as well. In the Tutorials section, artists of all skill levels can learn more about drawing, sculpture, watercolor painting, photography and digital art, and many more. Listings about art workshops, classes, and retreats all over the world are likewise available.
For a small annual fee, artists can become Associate Members on Artshow and use the website's considerable monthly traffic to promote their work, add to their online visibility, and increase sales. To learn more, head over to artshow.com.
TheArtlist.com
The recipient of accolades from esteemed publications such as The Artist's Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and American Artist, it's no wonder Artshow is visited by thousands of artists and art lovers every single day. Opportunities for artists to showcase and promote their work are abundant here.
The Calls for Artists section of the website is teeming with information about online art contests, artists' residencies, and art exhibitions and festivals throughout the United States and in other countries as well. In the Tutorials section, artists of all skill levels can learn more about drawing, sculpture, watercolor painting, photography and digital art, and many more. Listings about art workshops, classes, and retreats all over the world are likewise available.
For a small annual fee, artists can become Associate Members on Artshow and use the website's considerable monthly traffic to promote their work, add to their online visibility, and increase sales. To learn more, head over to artshow.com.
International Competitions
International Competitions is a fantastic online resource for artists. Living up to its name, it's a no-frills, no-nonsense website where artists and photographers of all skill levels can learn about art contests that are happening all over the world.
The contests can be sorted by their expiration dates, making it easy and convenient for artists to decide and plan their participation well in advance. Comprehensive information is provided for each competition, including contestants' age of eligibility, the maximum number of entries, whether entering is free or requires a fee, and of course, the prizes at stake. Examples of featured contests are the 2019 International Biennial Poster Design Terras Gauda – Francisco Mantecón Competition (€10,000 grand prize) and the Loewe Foundation's Craft Prize 2020 (€ 50,000 grand prize).
Established in 2014, International Competitions gets more than 5,000 views daily, and also lists contests in the fields of writing, film, and photography. Know more about today's great art contests at intercompetition.com.
Contest Watchers
Operating an extensive database of international competitions in several artistic disciplines, Contest Watchers is one of the top go-to websites for artists wanting to gain more recognition and win a prize or two. The listings, which are updated daily from Monday through Friday, are conveniently grouped into separate categories for easy navigation and reading.
The Open category contains contests whose deadlines have not expired. The Expired category features competitions whose deadlines have passed, while the Finished category lists the results of competitions. Contests are also grouped according to discipline: you can choose from drawing, sculpture, painting, photography, and many more. Yet another way to browse contests on the website is to filter them by type. There are listings for annual and biannual competitions, free-to-enter contests, students-only competitions, free contests, and competitions for grants, workshops, and residencies.
Macedonian engineer and designer Goce Mitevski created the website in 2009, with their 10 year anniversary in November 2019. It's a great way to find out which contests in the global art world are expiring soon. Visit at Contest Watchers.
EntryThingy
When it comes to staying on top of art contests near and far, EntryThingy doesn't disappoint. The website's Calls for Entry section is updated every five hours, listing various types of art competitions throughout the United States. The entries can be filtered according to month, region, state, and show type. These encompass everything from festivals and fairs to curated exhibitions at museums, galleries, art centers, and clubs. A map also provides a helpful visual of where in the USA the contests are being held or the locations of organizations that are accepting proposals.
Artists can upload their work to their EntryThingy gallery once they create an Artwork Management account. This makes it easier to add images to their applications to organizations that have placed calls for entries with EntryThingy.
Built by Christ Ritke with and for Barry Witt, the director of the Bonita Springs National Art Festival, the website also functions as a system to make it easier for event websites to manage calls for entries. Learn more at EntryThingy.
ArtCall.org
Creating a seamless call for entry management and jury system for art organizations might be what ArtCall.org is mainly known for, but it's a valuable resource for artists as well. For one thing, the Open Calls for Entry section of the website is a tool that artists should take advantage of if they want to learn about art contests and events where they can showcase their talent.
The listings are quite exhaustive, but filters make navigation much easier. You can browse contests according to U.S. states, Canadian states, and international designations. Or you can go through the lists by choosing from types of calls for entry. These include competitions, exhibitions, grants or fellowships, residencies, art festivals, and many more. Keep in mind, though, that some entries are exclusively for ArtCall.org members only.
Artists can sign up for a free plan, but several paid plans are also available that unlock more of the website's features. To know more about current art contests and ways to create a professional portfolio, go to ArtCall.org.
TheArtGuide.com
By combining a host of art organizations, galleries, and museums into a comprehensive online resource, TheArtGuide.com is a must-visit website for up-to-date listings of calls for entry for various events. These are updated daily and include art contests, festivals, and exhibits.
Filtering the events on the Calls for Artists section can be done in several ways: alphabetically by event, host gallery, or location. They can also be viewed according to the deadline for entry. Creating an artist account is free, but premium or paid memberships are also available. These can help artists increase their online visibility and promote their work to a wider audience.
Founded in 2010, the website also includes sections on featured art galleries and artists, information on exhibitions and other art events in the USA and abroad, and articles about art and artists in the Artalk blog. Visit at TheArtGuide.com.
Side Arts
If making art is your side hustle, then Side Arts is for you!. A global community of visual artists use Side Arts to promote their art and search verified calls for artists – exhibition and income opportunities.
Side Arts has come a long way from the small neighborhood club of visual artists that Todd Hedstand created in 2006 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Today, it's a bustling online community of artists and art lovers from all over the world. Every month, 200 new members join the community, where listings from more than 50 countries are featured.
More than a thousand entries can be found on the site's Calls for Artists section. These cover categories that include contests, exhibitions, grants and fellowships, residencies, teaching artist jobs, to name just a few. The listings can also be filtered geographically since the events are held not just in the United States, but also elsewhere in North America, as well as in Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and Africa.
Artists can sign up for a basic free membership, which comes with daily digest e-mails about new listings. Paid membership options include social media promotion, access to certain calls for artists, plus other perks. Click on over to Side Arts to learn more.
ArtDeadline.com
Established in 1994, ArtDeadline.com is a pioneering online resource for artists and art institutions. It's part of the Access Arts Network, whose print and digital publications provide immeasurable value for artists who are looking for opportunities to earn more and achieve greater exposure.
The website features thousands of listings, many of which are free to view. Navigating the calls for artists is easy as pie with the availability of filters such as competitions, grants and internships, festivals, residencies, and more. You can also browse the listings by category, e.g., painting, photography, sculpture, and digital art. There's also an option to view entries according to their cash or value awards.
While accessing the website to see a good number of calls for entries is free, getting a paid subscription provides great value. Subscribers gain access to exclusive announcements and listings, which are updated every hour. Head over to ArtDeadline.com to learn more about great art contests worldwide.
Artjobs.com
In addition to being an international job listing site for artistic types, Artjobs.com also features a comprehensive Open Calls section for the arts and creative fields. People from all over the world, including the USA, the UK, Europe, and Asia comprise the site's considerable daily traffic.
Categories such as Call for Artists, Call for Entries, Call for Submissions, and Competitions are worth a visit to learn about exhibitions needing pieces of artwork to display, contests and awards where cash and other prizes are at stake, and periodicals and books where artists' work can be published. There are also plenty of open calls for artists' residencies as well as calls for submissions to international art festivals.
Artists can register for free and be able to create an attractive portfolio--also for free--where they can showcase images of their best pieces. Head over to Artjobs.com to find out how.
Burnaway
With its headquarters located in the historic and beautiful city of Atlanta in Georgia, Burnaway is a digital magazine dedicated to highlighting the best art and literature from, in, and about the American South. The website is a valuable resource for creative types, including those in the visual arts.
Burnaway features a Call for Artists section that's updated monthly. Opportunities for artists include calls for submissions to grants and fellowships, juried exhibitions and competitions, and residencies. Calls for entries typically target artists living in the Southern States, though there are also plenty of events where non-Southerners can participate.
Other helpful features that the website offers to artists are a calendar of arts-related events in the South, in-depth coverages and reviews of exhibitions, and fascinating interviews with artists. The site is supported by organizations that include the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Bloomberg Philanthropies. Visit Burnaway to learn about Southern art and artistic events.
CuratorSpace
Billing itself as a project management service for curators and artists, CuratorSpace makes it much easier to manage events such as art exhibitions, contests, fairs, and many more. For artists, the website offers information on upcoming opportunities to participate in dozens of artistic ventures, most of which are located in the UK, but are generally open to international artists as well.
Browse the Call for Entries section and see multiple pages filled with listings by art galleries and art fair and festival organizers, as well as opportunities for funded artists' residencies and art awards and contests. Website visitors can sort the entries either by their deadline or their date of submission.
Registering for membership is free at CuratorSpace, and enables users to apply through the site, save their favorite searches and be reminded of approaching deadlines. Paid memberships are also available, which come with a slew of benefits including a dedicated artist profile and matches to relevant calls for artists. They also offer artist bursaries for personal projects, as well as public liability insurance. You can learn more at CuratorSpace.
callforentry.org
Finding calls for entries, applying, and managing entries is a breeze at callforentry.org or CaFÉ, a creation of the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF). More than 140,000 artists all over the world use the website to apply for calls for entries posted by over a hundred public art organizations.
The call listings can be sorted with various filters, making it easier for artists to find the events that interest them the most. Among the most popular categories are the awards and competitions with their considerable cash prizes, exhibitions that can give artists a chance to shine in the spotlight, and public art events that are valuable for the exposure they provide. Artists can also search the listings according to state. Side note: although the events are held in the USA, many of the listings welcome international participants. CaFÉ membership is free, and signing up allows you to apply to multiple calls for entry. Visit CaFÉ today to get started.
ZAPP
ZAPP is a project of the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) and was introduced in 2004 to make it easier and more convenient for artists to apply to American art fairs, shows, and festivals online.
The Participating Events section lists all art shows that use ZAPP. Browsing the hundreds of events here is easier with filters that sort them according to the start date, deadline, region, and event type. The listings also specify applicable fees and the number of applications that each event accepts. Calls for entries and artists listed on ZAPP cover art festivals, fairs, and exhibitions--many of them juried events.
Applying to art shows is as easy as ABC with a ZAPP membership. Registration is free and gives members access to the online application process that allows them to submit entries to multiple art events, directly upload images of their work for jury review, and be notified by e-mail of the status of their applications. Check out ZAPP to view listings for art fairs and festivals.
Dark Yellow Dot
Based in London, Dark Yellow Dot is dedicated to giving new artists and creative notices a leg up in the competitive world of commercial art. A look at the website's Opportunities section shows just how it does that.
Along with the monthly Artists of the Month call for entries--where the chosen artists get featured on the site's home page and promoted on its Instagram account--there are also opportunities for newb and seasoned artists alike to participate in local and international art contests, exhibitions, and fellowships. These listings are not as numerous as those that can be found on bigger sites, but they represent high-quality chances for artists to expose their work to a wider audience and perhaps win a good cash prize too.
Artists can submit images of their best pieces to the website for free, and signing up for the free newsletter allows you to get art open calls directly in your e-mail every Friday. Visit at Dark Yellow Dot.
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