May is set to be an exciting month for African visual artists with a range of grants, residencies, and competitions available to support their creative endeavours!
These opportunities provide a platform for artists to showcase their work, build their portfolios, and receive financial support to further their artistry.
With the various opportunities available, artists from all disciplines and backgrounds can find a program that aligns with their interests and goals.
In this blog, we will explore some of the most promising grants, residencies, and competitions available to African visual artists in May, and provide insight into the application process and requirements.
Whether you are a painter, photographer, sculptor, or digital artist, this is a chance to elevate your career and share your vision with the world.
GRANTS
Fundación Botín Art Grants
The Hopper Prize
The Hopper Prize was established to provide grants, visibility, and career-enhancing validation to artists who demonstrate a serious commitment to their work.
They accept submissions for grants through a bi-annual open call. Each grant cycle is juried by a new team of contemporary curators who select grant winners on the basis of artistic excellence and the promise of future potential.
They view the field of visual art in its broadest and most inclusive sense and therefore make their awards available to artists working in any media.
Amount: $3,500.00 x 4 Artists &$1,000.00 x 8 Artists
Deadline: May 16, 2023
Application Fee: $40 for 10 images
You can learn more about this grant and apply here
The Lumen Prize
The Lumen Prize celebrates the very best art created with technology through a global competition.
Now in its 12th year, it has distributed more than US$100,000 in prize money and created opportunities with partners worldwide for artists who have been longlisted, shortlisted or won Lumen Awards.
The Lumen Prize for Art and Technology is open to artists from around the world.
Amount:11 award categories this year, with a prize fund of $14,500. Shortlisted artists are eligible for the Lumen Gold Award with a $4,000 cash prize and there is a free-to-enter Student Award with a cash prize of $500.
Deadline: May 26, 2023
Application Fee: $42 for 2 submissions
You can learn more about this grant and apply here
RESIDENCIES/FELLOWSHIPS
BRIClab Contemporary Art Residency 2023-24
The BRIClab: Contemporary Art track offers visual artists space, feedback, and resources to develop and advance their practice.
This year’s open call is focused on the theme All My Relations.
They seek artists whose practices embody and recognize interdependence and interconnectedness in process and/or product.
This theme is inspired by the work of disabled artists and activists, and honors Indigenous communities who use the term All My Relations to acknowledge our interdependence with one another and the planet.
They envision this theme including but not limited to:
- – Work that recognizes history or lineage.
- – Work made in kinship, collaboration, or community.
- – Practices that involve teaching, learning, and sharing.
- – Processes that provide access in creative ways for audiences and viewers.
- – Projects that make visible the often hidden networks of support and care that are essential for artistic creation.
Stipend: $2,500 for individual artists
Deadline: May 8, 2023
Application Fee: $5
You can learn more about this residency and apply here
The Kitchen Curatorial Fellowship
As one of New York City’s oldest nonprofit alternative art centers (founded as an artist collective in 1971 and formalized as a 501c3 in 1973), The Kitchen is dedicated to offering emerging and established artists opportunities to create and present new work within, and across, the disciplines of dance, film, music, theater, video, visual art, and literature.
Recognizing its longstanding legacy for innovation, The Kitchen remains devoted to fostering a community of artists and audiences, offering artists the opportunity to make—and for audiences to engage with—work that pushes the boundaries of artistic disciplines and strengthens meaningful dialogues between the arts
and larger culture.
This eight-month Curatorial Fellowship provides the opportunity to work closely with The Kitchen’s curatorial staff and a wide range of artists working across varied disciplines.
The Kitchen encourages applications from early career arts professionals who have a broad interest and experience in experimental approaches to contemporary art practice across the disciplines.
The candidate must be flexible to assist with interdisciplinary projects and intrigued by The Kitchen’s history and program in this pivotal moment of growth and change. They will be a highly self-motivated individual with strong writing, organizational, and interpersonal communication skills, as well as a keenness toward detail and time management.
Ability to prioritize effective communication around varied projects in a fast-paced work environment and comfort in managing simultaneous timelines is a top priority. Familiarity and interest in contemporary artists working in time-based media is a plus.
Stipend: $7,500 stipend
Deadline: May 15, 2023
Application Fee: Free
You can learn more about this fellowship programme and apply here
COMPETITIONS & EXHIBITIONS
RPS International Photography Exhibition
The RPS International Photography Exhibition (IPE) is the world’s longest-running photography exhibition.
Everyone is encouraged to participate in the annual open call, including new, emerging and established photographers worldwide, and everyone can submit one image for free.
Prize:
IPE Award / £1000 and 1-year free membership to the RPS
Under 30s Award / £1000 and 1-year free membership to the RPS
Exhibition Tour / 100 photographs will be selected for the touring exhibition, opening at the RPS Gallery, Bristol & lots more!
Deadline: May 8, 2023
Application Fee: Free for 1 image entry.£18-30 for up to four more images.
You can learn more about this exhibition and apply here
Art@Climate2030 Art Competition
This year’s Art@Climate2030 art competition, with the theme of climate, is in line with Gothenburg’s and Europe’s efforts towards Agenda 2030.
The international competition is open for submission of entries from 28 February 2023 and closes on 15 May. Thereafter, the winning entries will be voted on the platform until 15 August.
Out of the 50 entries that made it to the finals during the public voting, a professional jury will then select 10 winners. The competition period will also include exhibitions where selected entries will be presented.
The competition is open to anyone who is interested in art and feels that they can contribute a design that is in line with its purpose. In connection with the entry, the artist will have the opportunity to talk about the artwork, its background and inspiration.
Award: €1,000 and good international publicity x 10 winners
Deadline: May 15, 2023
Application Fee: Free
You can learn more about this competition and apply here
TERAVARNA “7th OPEN” International Juried Art Competition
TERAVARNA announces their “7th OPEN” International Juried Art Competition. All visual artists from around the world are invited to submit their best artworks on the theme for inclusion in the exhibition. All types of art styles may be submitted, including both 2D and 3D works, painting, sculpture, digital, printmaking, fibre, photography, graphic, mixed media, as well as experimental and installation works.
Prize: $3,500 in guaranteed unrestricted cash prizes will be given out to 75-100 winning artists.
Deadline: May15, 2023
Application Fee: $10 non-refundable entry fee for each artwork
You can learn more about this competition and apply here
Chimaera Gallery AI: The Next Evolution Online Exhibition
Artificial intelligence quickly transforms every aspect of society, notably in art and biotechnology. With the advent of generative data and machine learning algorithms, scientists can train computers to identify patterns and trends in vast amounts of data much faster than ever. AI has given artists new tools to work with and has changed how they think about their work. As AI continues to evolve, its impact on the world will likely only grow.
Chimaera Gallery is seeking art submissions from artists working with artificial intelligence to address concepts and themes relating to the relationship of humans to our natural (and quickly evolving) world.
Prize: Undisclosed
Deadline: May 15, 2023
Application Fee: Free
You can learn more about this competition and apply here
Chateau Gallery Call for Entry: Abandoned
Abandoned is an exhibition exploring abandoned and rediscovered objects, spaces, and structures.
A popular genre in the photographic world is the trend of urban exploration (“urbex”) — the exploration of abandoned or forgotten places to document the narrative of those who lived or worked there. Through the captured image, we can glimpse the ephemeral nature and memory of ourselves and our surroundings and preserve them before being lost to time and place.
What do these structures and objects convey about society as we leave them to decay? What is the essence of time and place, and what-or whom-are we abandoning?
Abandoned is an international juried group exhibition open to artists ages 18 and older.
All two-dimensional, conventional, and non-traditional images (alternative post-production processes, etc.) with a subjective analog or digital photographic base are welcome for submission.
Prize: Curator’s Choice, Director’s Choice, and three Honorable Mentions will be awarded and featured in the online gallery
Deadline: May 15, 2023
Application Fee: Free to apply
You can learn more about this competition and apply here
Artwork Gallery: International Digital Exhibition
In this exhibition, Artwork Gallery seeks to explore what Power is.
Is it a physical meaning, or is strength something internal? Does being strong mean having an advantage over someone and being the first, or is it about willpower when a person has almighty patience and goes step by step to his goal? Does power have gender, man’s superiority over nature, or do time and age affect power?
Everyone has their own truth. Let’s think about the meaning of power and show our own vision in this exhibition!
Artwork that can be submitted for this exhibition includes: painting, drawing, sketch, collage, mixed media, digital art, photography (as a static image), animation or video (can be a link to YouTube).
The exhibition is open to international artists.
Prize: Certificate of Participation + Digital Catalog
Deadline: May 20, 2023
Application Fee: $5
You can learn more about this competition and apply here
We hope you found this list helpful! Don’t forget to share with your friends who might also be able to apply to these opportunities 🙂
Also, connect with us across our platforms to be informed when we share new opportunities for African Creatives.