Artist Opportunities, Spring Edition!

Celebrate spring and grow your art career by applying to some calls for submissions! We've compiled a list of upcoming opportunities for you to showcase your talents. Don't hesitate to apply – remember, Akin is cheering for you!

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"Just Us" Art Call

Call for Artists 
Deadline: August 4, 2024

StART’s fourth annual "Just Us" Art Call seeks mural project concepts highlighting social injustice, equity, and community engagement, particularly concerning Black and Indigenous peoples and other equity deserving groups. Artists committed to diversity and positive change are invited to submit proposals addressing historic and current social issues. Projects must be visible from a city street in Toronto and have property owner authorization. Selected projects may receive up to $5,000 for creation.

Mural by Donovan Searchwell and Labrona Lovegates. 29 Lower River Street, Toronto.

Read more and and apply here

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Ontario Arts Council

Artist Grants
Deadline: May 2, 2024

Skills and Career Development: Indigenous Arts Professionals and
Arts Professionals of Colour

This program supports Ontario-based Indigenous arts professionals and arts professionals of colour, or groups comprised of them, for skill-building and professional development opportunities. It funds various art practices endorsed by OAC, including study, mentorship, internships, apprenticeships, and artwork documentation, with a maximum grant of $10,000 for skills and career development.

Image by Jennifer Marquez @jamscreativephotography

Read more and and apply here

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Craft Ontario

Call for Exhibition Proposals
Deadline: May 27, 2024

Craft Ontario is currently seeking proposals for solo and two-person exhibitions to take place in the Craft Ontario Gallery, 1106 Queen St West, in the 2025 calendar year. 

More details and application here

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Ontario Arts Council

Artist Grants
Deadline: May and November 1, 2024

The John Fluevog Shoes Emerging Artist Grant is intended to help emerging artists develop their skills and increase the visibility of their artwork. The winner will receive $10,000 towards their artistic wThis program supports Ontario-based visual artists in creating new work, aiming to encompass diverse artistic practices and support excellence, regional activity, and various artists and communities. It offers three funding categories based on years of professional practice and public presentation of work: Emerging ($5,000), Mid-Career ($7,500), and Established ($15,000).

Find more details and apply here

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Vector Festival 2024

Artist Call
Deadline: April 19, 2024

Vector Festival is a digital media arts festival in Toronto, showcasing digital games and creative media. The flagship exhibition for 2024, curated by Miriam Arbus, explores migration, weather, geopolitics, and algorithms. Artists are encouraged to submit works reflecting the cosmic and interconnected theme. Submissions for the 2024 program are open, with the festival running from July 11 to 21, 2024, and exhibitions extending until August 10, 2024.

For more details and application here

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As always, we’d like to thank our incredible community for your continued support. Good luck!
Love, Akin

Artist Opportunities, Winter Edition!

Put yourself out there with these exciting opportunities and calls for submissions. To help, we’ve come up with a list of upcoming opportunities. It may be intimidating to apply, but remember, Akin is rooting for you!

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Toronto Outdoor Art Fair

Call for Artists 
Deadline: March 7th, 2024 
Fair Date: July 12-14, 2024 at Nathan Phillips Square 

Join Canada’s leading contemporary outdoor & online art fair, launching artists’ careers since 1961. This annual event has hosted many renowned Canadian artists, such as Edward Burtynsky, Barbara Astman, Joanne Tod and more at the early stages of their careers. The Toronto Outdoor Art Fair team is passionate about supporting artists and exceptional talents through awards, special programs and opportunities.

Read more and and apply here

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Craft Ontario

Call for Exhibition Proposals, 2025 
Deadline: May 27th, 2024

Craft Ontario is currently seeking proposals for solo and two-person exhibitions to take place in the Craft Ontario Gallery, 1106 Queen St West, in the 2025 calendar year. 

More details and application here

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The Fluevog Artist Grant

 Deadline: March 27th, 2024

The John Fluevog Shoes Emerging Artist Grant is intended to help emerging artists develop their skills and increase the visibility of their artwork. The winner will receive $10,000 towards their artistic work, a pair of Fluevogs and a heap of recognition within the best community of shoe fans ever!

Find more details and apply here

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Harbourfront Centre

Artist-in-residency in Contemporary Craft and Design
Deadline: March 8th, 2024

The Craft and Design Studio is the only career-oriented program and facility available in Canada offering an artist-in-residency in contemporary craft and design. Functioning as a training centre and incubator the Studio relies on a self-directed learning ethos, all with the goal of championing emerging Canadian artists.

For more details and application here

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We hope you have a cozy and creative winter. As always, we’d like to thank our incredible community for your continued support. Good luck!
Love, Akin

Grant Writing Tips and Tricks - Upcoming Grant Opportunities

Grants: they may not be a walk in the park, but they are an important part of many professional artist’s careers. Grants can afford you the time and space to take your practice to the next level. Here are some helpful tips to get you started. 

1. Tell your story

Put lots of thought into who you are and what kind of project you’d like to accomplish. What is the magic cocktail of experience that makes you the right artist for this project? Why now? What in your experience has prepared you to pull this off? Believe it or not, grant writing is storytelling. Don’t hide behind jargon and big, fancy words. Writing your story clearly and passionately is the best way to capture the panel’s attention.  

2. Don’t take it personally 

Easier said than done, right? If you aren’t chosen for a grant, try not to let it interfere with your self worth/sense of confidence as an artist. Ask for feedback from the grant panel, they’ll usually be happy to give it to you. Remember, your entire career doesn’t ever rest on one grant. Being able to keep up a steady routine of grant writing over the years will absolutely pay off in the end.

3. Turn the grant writing process into something more 

Essentially, the grant panel wants a business plan for your art project. They want you to know you’ve thought through every aspect; the themes, the timeline, the materials. If you take this process seriously, it shows! And whether you land the grant or not, you’ve finished a comprehensive plan for the future of your practice. 

4. Don’t go it alone! 

You should never be the only reader of your grant. It’s hard to look at your own work with eyes fresh enough to catch your own mistakes. You can ask a professional, a friend, a mother, or a studio mate to read it over. Choose your editor wisely, whoever they are, be sure they will give an honest opinion.

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UPCOMING GRANT OPPORTUNITIES:

Skills and Career Development: Indigenous Arts Professionals and Arts Professionals of Colour, Ontario Arts Council 

Deadline: May 4, 2023 

Description: This program supports Ontario-based Indigenous arts professionals and arts professionals of colour, or ad hoc groups and collectives made up of Indigenous arts professionals or arts professionals of colour for professional development and skill-building opportunities that advance applicants’ work and careers. It funds all contemporary and traditional art practices that are supported at OAC. Projects can include: study and training, mentorship, internship and apprenticeship and documentation of art work.

Find more details here

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Newcomer and Refugee Artist Mentorship, Toronto Arts Council

Deadline: April 24, 2023 

Description: Newcomer and Refugee Artist Mentorship program provides support for newcomer and refugee artists to develop their artistic practice and to further their integration and inclusion to Toronto. We define a newcomer as: an immigrant or refugee who has lived in Canada for less than 7 years; a refugee is a person who was forced to leave their home country and is now located in Canada.

The program provides funding for individual newcomer and refugee professional artists to be mentored (guided) in their chosen arts discipline 

The mentorship application is submitted by the newcomer artist with the mentor as the co-applicant. Both the applicant and the mentor must identify as professional artists. 

Find out more details here

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Craft Projects, Ontario Arts Council 

Deadline: October 25, 2023

The program supports craft-based practices through grants to Ontario-based artists, curators, ad hoc groups, collectives and organisations. The program has five categories:

• Research/Creation/Development – Emerging artists and curators: to help cover the costs of research, experimentation, creation, production and/or career development

• Research/Creation/Development – Mid-career artists and curators: to help cover the costs of research, experimentation, creation, production and/or career development

• Research/Creation/Development –  Established artists and curators: to help cover the costs of research, experimentation, creation, production and/or career development

• Research/Creation/Development – Collaborations: to help cover the costs of artists to collaborate on research, experimentation, creation, production and/or career development

• Connections: to help cover the costs of projects that connect Ontario craft with audiences and expand the public profile and appreciation for craft; programming that encourages craft-based critical discourse and curatorial practice; and activities that make connections within the Ontario craft community

Find more details here

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Black Arts Projects, Toronto Arts Council

Deadline: Applications accepting on an ongoing basis 

The Black Arts Projects Program supports arts projects by Black artists, Black artist collectives, and Black-led, Black-focused and Black-serving organizations. For the purpose of this program, “Black”  refers to African descendant people across the diaspora including but not limited to African Canadian, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Latinx, East African, West African, Southern and Central African, Afro-Arab, Afro Indigenous, etc. This funding program is intended to support the development, continuation, and  flourishing of Black arts communities.

Find more details here

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Visual Artists Program: Creation, Toronto Arts Council 

Deadline: Applications accepted on an ongoing basis 

Toronto Arts Council’s Visual Artist Program: Creation provides support to visual artists who have a professional independent art practice for the creation/production of new work or the completion of works in progress. Funds are intended to cover direct costs of creation/production, and materials. 

Visual Arts includes drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, mixed media, printmaking, performance art, installation and fine crafts and more. The Visual Artist Program: Creation does not include film or video makers- they apply to the Media Artist Program: Creation. 

Find more details here

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Writers Program, Toronto Arts Council 

Deadline: June 15, 2023 

Toronto Arts Council Writers Program supports the creation of new literary works or works-in-progress in the genres of fiction (including novels, short stories, children’s literature, graphic novels, etc.), literary non-fiction, poetry and oral traditions such as storytelling, dub, rap and spoken-word.

Find more details here