Artquest, along with many other websites and independent organisations, list opportunities for artists. But how do you pick the one’s that are right for you?
Opportunities could take the form of
- Exhibitions
- Screenings
- Festivals
- Residencies
- Conferences
- Commissions
- Prizes and awards
- Professional development
These are often competitive, selected through an open call process. Many charge fees to apply. Others are driven by advertising fees paid to the listing website rather than quality.
It’s important for opportunities to offer a good deal for artists. Offering fees and adequate budgets for example. Not all opportunities do and often those that list open calls can’t or don’t vet what they advertise. The 2023 report by AN, Structurally F-cked highlights the issue.
Our research project Tender has identified fairer ways organisations can run open calls. You can read more about this here.
Opportunities and Artquest
We don’t rely on advertising income on Artquest, so can be more impartial about how we pick opportunities. This means we can focus on listing high quality opportunities that benefit artists. Read more about our policy on opportunities here.
We update our opportunities every month. Our staff sift through a huge selection of magazines, newsletters, emails and referrals. We research every opportunity we list for quality and fairness to applicants.
Opportunities are all different
Every artist works in a different way. It’s important you can determine what opportunities are right for your individual circumstances.
Every opportunity that you encounter as an artist is unique in detail. Each will have its own eligibility criteria, benefits, challenges and conditions. We detail here some points to consider when evaluating whether to apply.
Before you apply it’s important that you
- Are clear that you meet eligibility criteria
- Understand what the application procedure involves
- Know exactly what the opportunity provides
- Understand what is being asked of you if you get the opportunity
- Make sure the offer is suitable for your practice and what you need at this stage of your career
If in doubt, ask the advertising organisation for more details well in advance of the deadline.
Residencies
A residency is a period of uninterrupted time to focus on and develop your practice. Sometimes this comes with financial support. Each residency is unique so be sure you understand what it provides
A residency might provide
- a studio space and/or accomodation
- a fee, stipend or materials costs
- access to specialist collections equipment or staff
- professional development or pastoral support
A residency might ask for
- a fee to cover accommodation, materials and food
- the donation of a piece of work completed while there
- a public facing event, or workshop
International residencies in particular are highly competitive. but can be unsuitable for artists with families. Our Exchange network provides an alternative to international residencies. It allows any artist anywhere in the world to sign up and look for partners to swap with.
Read our article on residencies for a more detailed look at the subject.
Exhibitions and screenings
When any public platform shows your work, you
- increase your visibility
- build relationships with other artists and art world professionals
- build an audience for your work.
Not all exhibition opportunities are of equal quality, though. Some galleries ask for payments to cover costs. These could include
- venue hire
- invitation printing
- private views
- delivery of work.
Many open exhibitions are also an additional income stream for galleries. Even large galleries sometimes use them in this way. This makes many thousands of pounds out of artists’ application fees to support their other programmes. Some are still good opportunities for artists despite this. It’s worth researching past winners and what happened to them before applying. This will ensure you stand a chance of making the most out of them.
Most galleries will ask for commission to be paid on sales. Given the efforts and costs a gallery might put in to selling your work, this is standard practice. Make sure the level of commission they are looking for is right for you. See the interview with Rene Gimpel about relationships with galleries, including commission levels.
Some galleries, particularly publicly funded ones, will pay artists to exhibit their work. This is an important investment into your practice considering the time and money you have spent in getting it to this stage. Remember that your exhibition that benefits the gallery as well.
Remember that different kinds of gallery have different levels of resourcing. An artist led gallery will be able to provide less support that larger publicly funded space. Our Gallery Films introduce different gallery models and how they work with artists.
Some publicly funded venues may want you to run education workshops or a public talk. Negotiate pay for this on top of to any fee you receive for your exhibition.
Whatever kind of gallery you are working with, make sure you get any agreement in writing. If you can’t get a contract even an email, which covers what you’ve agreed, can help avoid problems . Open and honest communication is key to encourage trust throughout your relationship.
Public commissions
A commission is an opportunity to create a new piece of work. This will most likely be to some kind of material or themeatic specification. Commissions come with financial support for your time and materials. Many also bring some kind of public exposure for your work.
Each commission will be specific to the organisation you are working with and the work you make. Research and negotiate each commission(er). Often, commissions will advertise either the total budget or the artist fee. If possible, try to find out what the total budget for the project. You can better understand how much is available for materials and other costs, and where it may be possible to negotiate this. Commissioners make assumptions about the kind of project they are looking for, but are often happy to discuss the detail on budget spending once a project has been agreed.
A commissioner may want community engagement or social benefits rather than artistic excellence. Try to work out where the money for the commission is coming from. A hospital or school commissioning an artist will have a different measure of success than a gallery or local council. This can indicate to you what the ultimate aim of the project might be. Understanding this increases your chances of getting the commission. Especially if your work relates specifically to their aims.
One common issue that artists face in commissions is around who owns the final work. A commission agreement does not automatically entitle the commissioner to own the work. Commissioners may wish to purchase ownership work at the end of the process. This could be included in their agreement with you.
Prizes and awards
Prizes and awards sometimes come hand-in-hand with another opportunity. Examples could include
- an open exhibition where one of the exhibitors wins cash or solo exhibition.
- A residency that comes with a cash award
An award will usually be free of tax . Generally, cash that is awarded (where you didn’t ask for it) rather than applied for (like a grant) will be tax-free. Awards for open exhibitions are something of a grey area if you apply to be in the show in the first place. Work with your accountant to make sure – each circumstance will be different.
Again, check what the implications of receiving an award might be . You may be asked to
- conduct media interviews
- write an article about your experience
- Keep in touch with the organisation making the award for some time afterwards.
- Take part in evaluation
Awards can be partly a public relations exercise for some organisation. This can take time for you if you win, but also increase your audience and validate your work within the art world.
Professional development
Some organisations offer opportunities for professional development. This could be
- One to one, or peer mentoring support
- Talks and workshop programmes
- Professional networking and other useful career development
Before you apply, make sure that you understand what is on offer.
For any professional development you are considering
- See if/how much it might costs
- Find out who is giving it (and research them yourself)
- Ensure you have the time to make the most of it
- Try to find other artists who have taken part to gauge the impact on their careers.
General points to consider
To save your time, and the money only apply for things that suit your practice, your stage in career, and your aspirations for the future. Opportunities tend to be aimed at a certain level of experience, whether new graduates or more established practitioners.
For any opportunity you are considering applying for, do some basic research:
- Who has won the award in the past: are they at a similar career stage to you, and what did they do next?
- What kinds of benefits will this offer?
- Does it balance your immediate needs with your future potential?
- Do you have time to make a good application before the deadline: might it be better to wait for the next deadline?
- Is the work that you make – or want to make – suitable for the project they are looking for?
- If you got this opportunity, would you have time to do it: does it leave time for your other commitments and work?
- This will all help you consider: do you stand a fair chance of getting this opportunity?
Once you have got an opportunity, make sure you follow up any negotiations with a written agreement. Ideally this should be a contract, or at least an email. Anything you have in writing can is useful for settling disputes later.
See our comprehensive information on written agreements and negotiation skills. Also see our considerations on copyright and licensing. If it’s gone wrong, we have a first-stop legal information service too.
And if you don’t get this one…
Even if you don’t get selected, your work may pass under the noses of important art world figures. There might be influential artists, curators or gallerists who make up the panel. They may remember your work in the future.
Some adverts will publish who is on their selection panel or jury. If you research these people, you can strategically build their interest in your work. Making an application is one way of getting your work in front of a curator or artist you want to work with. It still has to be a good application, though, if you don’t want them to think you unprofessional.
Whatever opportunity you get, you’ll end up building your network of contacts through the people you work with. As with any new networking opportunity, it’s important to maintain relationships with them for your future benefit.
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