Mayday: 23 Creative Opportunities To Get You Ready For Summer

Welcome back! We hope you’re well-rested after the bank holiday weekend (we saw Angels in America, ate loads of fresh fruit, and caught up on sleep). Before the next holiday hits at the end of this month, take advantage of these curated May creative opportunities. All of them expire before the last day of the month. Submit your best work and apply for jobs, projects, competitions, and exhibitions – bulk up your portfolio and your wallet. Start May the right way and save for summer holiday (we will, too)!

Tell your best story and win cash prizes and publishing opportunities with this international writing competition – open globally to all published and unpublished writers. Closes Wednesday, May 3.

Show your work in front of 900,000 people each week at the Canary Wharf Summer Screen. £5,000 – 7,000 commission for five short videos exhibiting the best of Canary Wharf’s lifestyle. Closes Wednesday, May 3.

Join this fun London-based team and develop websites for businesses and organisations (including Whitechapel Gallery London, Bristol Festival of Ideas, Little White Lies, and more). Closes Thursday, May 4.

Post a submission (video, sound design, or visual art) for a chance to be viewed in London and exhibited in Athens’ Platforms Project. Closes Thursday, May 4.

Send your feature fiction and documentary projects to the Edinburgh Film Festival and be exhibited as an exemplar in creative approaches to film distribution. Closes Friday, May 5.

Adorn the hoardings around a site in Putney as part of the Art on the Tideway programme. You’ll have the help of local community groups and create a beautiful perimeter along the Thames Tideway Tunnel. Fee is £6,100 (plus VAT). Closes Sunday, May 7.

Calling all students and recent grads! If you’re into photography and keen on a showcase, submit your work to this call! Four winners will be featured in a London group exhibition, published on BJP’s print and digital platforms, and receive expert advice on launching a photography career. Closes Monday, May 8.

Propose a positive change for London (art, design, architecture, city planning, creative tech, film, writing, social entrepreneurship) and receive up to £27,000 to make it happen. Closes Monday, May 8.

We need you to animate us: who we are and why we do what we do. Submit your showreel and we’ll commission you £3,000 to make a short animation that will live on our homepage and social media channels forever and ever. Closes Wednesday, May 10.

Lead workshops as part of an innovative education project for young people! Pays £4500 and travel + accommodation are provided. Closes Wednesday, May 10.

Imagine contemporary art as you’ve never seen it before – reflect on Baroque style and modern expression and submit your work (installation, paint, sculpture, photography, ceramics, and more) for a chance to exhibit your work in the Braga’s best museum. Closes Wednesday, May 10.

We’ve partnered with Create! Magazine for our monthly Meet Series: your opportunity for a full-page feature in printed publications, completely free. No pitching needed, just submit the work you’d like to see in Create! Magazine. We’ll do the rest. Closes Sunday, May 14.

Submit your visual art for a shot at a group exhibition – no submission fees, plus you can sell work (and keep every pound you make!). Closes Monday, May 15.

The Providence House’s building is being entirely redecorated over the next few months – if you’re a visual artist (or budding creative!) aged 18 – 25, you can be part of the process! Pays an hourly rate. Closes Monday, May 15.

Ensemble Perpetuo is hosting their first ColLABorator session this summer! Apply to take over an artsdepot space for rehearsals, workshops, and in-progress feedback sessions. This is a chance to grow your work and potentially include it in the ensemble’s 2018/19 season. Closes Monday, May 15.

Examine Brexit’s effect on English farms, the environment, and the economy. Selected artists will receive a cash-based honorarium (not including material fees) to carry out their project. Closes Monday, May 15.

Alchemy Film & Arts are seeking moving image installations for their new exhibition space on Hawick High Street (for year-round exhibition starting August 2017). Closes Sunday, May 21.

In association with FotoDocument, this award will grant a professional female photographer a cash prize and massive exposure for the initiation or completion of a compelling documentary photo essay. Closes Friday, May 26.

Submit your poetry, short story, flash fiction, or novel for a shot at up to £5,000 and to see your work published in the Bridport annual anthology. Closes Wednesday, May 31.

Earn up to 25,000 euros, an exhibition of your own, and a trip to the 2017 Art Prize (all expenses paid). Closes Wednesday, May 31.

Take your career past the first stepping stone and submit your work for a year-long contract with the Mardleybury Gallery, entirely free (wall space, cash prizes, vouchers and art materials also included in prizes). Closes Wednesday, May 31.

UK and Ireland-based playwrights are welcome to submit one unproduced, full-length play for £7,000 and a chance to be produced in the Soho Theatre. Closes Wednesday, May 31.

Enter fine art and photography competitions (or both!) with up to six works following the concept of portraiture (this can be loosely translated, if needed). There is £5,000 available for the Fine Art finalist and £2,000 for photography – up  to 60 finalists will also be selected for the Scottish Portrait Awards exhibition, and one individual will be awarded £3,000 for a portrait commission. Closes Wednesday, May 31.