2025 Call for Proposals: Artist Shoeboxes

CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Artist Shoeboxes
ArtsWorcester, Worcester MA

Submission deadline: April 16, 2025
Notifications: early June, 2025

Click here for complete information on the call, including venue floor plans, the exhibition committee, and other helpful links.

  ArtsWorcester invites proposals for our 2025-2026 gallery season. With the exception of member-curated exhibitions, eligible proposals are evaluated by a panel of seven volunteers, all with extensive experience as curators, educators, collectors, and/or artists. All proposals are viewed anonymously.

  Help us make use of our moveable walls, or take over our “window gallery!” These walls can be used to section off a gallery into 3-5 smaller “shoebox” spaces each dedicated to one artist’s work. This opportunity is perfect for a site-specific installation or series that may not be large enough to fill an entire gallery space.

  Though these shows occupy a small area of a gallery and invite the creation of a unique environment, they are reviewed by the same committee with the same standards as solo exhibitions.

  If you plan to apply for a solo exhibition at ArtsWorcester in the future, bear in mind any work shown in a series/small installation show may not be shown here again. Our policy is, as always, never to show the same work twice. Please be mindful of future opportunities!

  New and traditional media, fine craft, and site-specific installations are all welcome. Although you may not have seen something done at ArtsWorcester before, that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. Our space and staff are flexible, and we look forward to artists pushing the boundaries of our four walls. Contact alice@artsworcester with any questions.
 

Submission requirements and guidelines

• Current ArtsWorcester membership is required for all artists involved in a proposal at the time of submission. If membership fees are a financial obstacle to participation, please write alice@artsworcester.org or ask in the galleries about the Pay It Forward Fund.
• All featured artists must have exhibited in at least one members’ or juried exhibition at ArtsWorcester in the past two calendar years prior to submitting an exhibition proposal.
• There is no geographic restriction on membership or for submitting a proposal, but artists must deliver and pick up all artwork in-person. Artists receiving solo shows must also be available to give an artist talk or equivalent public programming in-person.
• All submissions must be made electronically using Submittable. Hard-copy and email submissions will not be accepted.
• Artists may submit one proposal to each exhibition opportunity; however, artists will not receive both a solo exhibition and a shoebox exhibition in the same year.
• The committee prioritizes proposals from artists who have not had a solo exhibition at ArtsWorcester in the past three years, and proposals of work not exhibited recently in Central Massachusetts.
• Exhibited works must have been completed within the last five years at the time of submission (2020 onward) and not previously shown at ArtsWorcester.
• Artists under final consideration for solo exhibitions may be asked to bring in examples of proposed works for in-person viewing.
• Artists earn 60% on sales made through our galleries. Artwork does not have to be for sale, and your work’s salability will not be considered by the committee.
• While on view through ArtsWorcester, all artwork is insured for its market value.

What we need from you:

• An exhibition proposal, not to exceed 175 words, that describes the scope of your proposed exhibition. 
• Answers, each not to exceed 100 words, to the following questions: What one to three ideas, concepts, or experiences does this body of work communicate? What inspirations or traditions guided or influenced this body of work? How are the methods or techniques used important to this body of work? Does your proposal require any special installation needs?
• A CV or artist resume. Click here for examples of CVs for both gallery-based and public artists.
• 5 .jpg images/videos of works.
• Artists seeking a shoebox may also include 5 detail images or alternate views of three-dimensional work.