Featured Opportunities

---

Youth-focused award recognising bold, experimental ideas in art, architecture and design addressing the climate crisis. Open to ages 16-30 including students in art, design or architecture programs, recent graduates (within 3 years), and early-career professionals (within 5 years of practice).

Individuals or teams up to 3 members can submit both fully realised projects and early-stage concepts like sketches, prototypes, installations or digital renderings. Submissions require 12-16 slide PDF portfolio, 300-400 word written statement, and optional 1-2 minute video. Finalists notified 23rd February 2026 and invited as guests to the GCDA Award Event in Miami during Climate Week on 18th March 2026 where winners are announced live.

Recognition includes feature in DASH Online Gallery, press exposure through partner media and climate design outlets, certificate and digital badge.

---

Liverpool Biennial and SEVENSTORE offer three £3,000 bursaries for emerging artists and creative practitioners in Liverpool and Merseyside (April-July 2026) whose practice is informed by experiences of children and young people. This includes artists reflecting on their own lived experiences as young people (past or present), exploring civic rights of children and young people, parents/carers/guardians, and those exploring wider global understandings of family and community.

Open to artists living or working in Liverpool, Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, or Halton who consider themselves emerging (self-defined—may include limited exhibition history, early-stage practice development, building public awareness, career gaps/barriers, or limited professional opportunities). Any visual art medium welcome including sculpture, painting, printmaking, audio, film, live art, illustration, or photography. No formal qualifications necessary. Not open to organisations, full-time students, artists outside UK, or previous Liverpool Biennial bursary recipients since 2021.

---

An international art competition open to artists of all ages and abilities working in any two-dimensional technique including painting, drawing, and printmaking. Artists can submit 1-5 artworks (with the 5th entry free).

There are 31 awards to be won including: First Prize of £6,000 plus £2,000 in Jackson’s art materials, five Jackson’s Choice Awards, eight Material Awards and Runners Up, Student and Amateur Awards, People’s Choice Award, and six Judge’s Choice Awards (each £1,000 in art materials).

Prize winners and shortlisted artists are invited to exhibit at two London exhibitions: Affordable Art Fair (6-10 May 2026) and Bankside Gallery (22-28 June 2026). The First Prize winner also receives a filmed studio interview and invitation to join the 2027 Guest Judging Panel.

---

£1,000 grants for people of colour (aged 18+) based in the UK for any creative project where £1,000 would make a significant difference. Open to individuals, duos, groups, or collectives of colour (not registered companies or charities) at any career stage. The fund supports creativity in all forms including poetry, paintings, fashion, zines, music, food, flowers, photographs, workshops, events, and more. Grants cover equipment, courses, time, materials, travel, and project needs. The fund won’t part-fund projects where £1,000 doesn’t cover the majority of costs, or where company running costs, marketing, or university projects are a large proportion.

Simple three-stage application: five quick eligibility questions, questions about you and your project (with rough budget breakdown showing how £1,000 will be spent), and voluntary anonymous monitoring. Applications assessed by independent judges reviewing approximately 900-1,100 submissions per round, awarding around 20 grants per round (1 in 50 chance). Judges prioritise a clear sense of who you are and why you’re doing this, realistic budget, and projects unlikely to get funding elsewhere.

Successful applicants asked to complete project within 6 months, share realised work (no fixed deadlines), and credit Grand Plan publicly. Rolling deadlines – Apply by 4th December ’25 for 22nd December result; applications after 4th December receive results on 20th March ’26

---

Newcastle Art Space invites artists to submit small-scale 2D works for OTHER WORLDLY, a group exhibition exploring the vaguely familiar yet eerily provocative. Running from 27th March to 19th April 2026, this salon-style show will feature selected works alongside larger installations and sculptures, creating dynamic contrasts between intimacy and immersion.

Open to all media including painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, ceramics, installation, and video. Works must respond to the “Other Worldly” theme (open to interpretation) and fit within 40cm × 40cm dimensions, including framing where possible. Selected artists announced 13th February 2026. Artwork sales incur 30% commission. Artists responsible for delivery and collection costs, with works not for sale marked ‘NFS’.

---

Public art commission for 1-3 artists to design and deliver integrated public art along Woodhouse Lane Gateway in Leeds city centre. Artists can propose bespoke street furniture (seats, cycle stands, bollards), additions to standard furniture (sculptural armrests, engraving), or additions to hard surfacing (inlaid pieces, engraving). Total budget up to £50,000 covers design fees, materials, fabrication, installation, travel and meeting costs for all commissions.

Artwork must be suitable for busy urban outdoor location, vandalism resistant, long lasting, easy to clean, inclusive and accessible. Materials could include stone, metal, bronze, durable plastics or UV resistant materials. Installation expected 2027. Ideally Leeds/Yorkshire based artists but not essential. Artists must carry appropriate insurance and collaborate with council and stakeholders.

Two-stage process: Stage 1 submissions (CV, portfolio with descriptions); Stage 2 shortlisted artists invited to interview with £100 expenses. Particularly welcomes submissions increasing representation of under-represented groups.

---

b-side invites artists working in any medium to propose new, temporary, site-responsive commissions for the 2026 festival on the Isle of Portland. This year’s theme, “That Other Place – A Portland Fair,” explores parallel worlds and alternate realities inspired by Portland’s historic Fair (which ran for 200+ years until 2001). Rather than recreating the past, b-side seeks work that reawakens the Fair’s experience in stranger, sideways ways—imagining a mirror-Island where weird echoes and “what ifs” come alive.

Part of the wider Common Lands programme examining connections to land, locality, and community, this strand asks: what happens when our current land isn’t working? How can we learn from otherness to create new lands where we might better live together? b-side welcomes proposals that stretch reality, play with parallel Portlands, invite interaction, respond to the Island’s stories and landscapes, and make imaginative use of site and atmosphere. Open to visual artists, performers, sonic explorers, digital creators, community weavers, and installation-builders at any career stage. Successful applicants receive commission fees up to £2,500 plus production support.