Step Up 2012: Open Call for Emerging Artists
Deadline for Submissions: Friday, April 27, 2012

Hartford, Connecticut – Real Art Ways announces its annual open casting call for emerging artists who live and work in New England, New York or New Jersey. Step Up 2012 is a series of six solo exhibitions. The chosen artists will receive an exhibition at Real Art Ways’ galleries, an exhibition publication and an opportunity to participate in an artist talk in conjunction with the exhibit schedule. Submissions must be postmarked by Friday, April 27, 2012. For more information and submission guidelines, visit http://www.realartways.org/visualarts.htm#stepup12.

Providing support and exposure to emerging artists is one of the main objectives at Real Arts Ways. For the last seven years, Real Art Ways has held an open call for emerging artists as a way to showcase their work at a critical point in their careers. Eligible artists are those living and working in New England, New York or New Jersey who are no more than three years removed from a full-time educational program, or artists with less than five years of exhibition experience. If an artist does not fit either of these criteria, but feel that they can make a compelling case to be considered for Step Up 2012, they are welcomed to apply. The jury will determine their competitiveness based on review criteria. Artists working in all media are welcomed to apply. Applicants should be aware of Real Art Ways’ mission and our commitment to innovative, non-traditional contemporary work.

Although artists are permitted to submit work that is already being exhibited, the jury will place special emphasis on proposals that call for the creation of new work.

The jury will select work based on the following: the quality of the artist’s work, the innovation evidenced by the submitted work and proposal, the potential impact of the exhibition on the artist’s career and the economic and physical feasibility of the proposed exhibition.

This year’s jurors are Kate Gilmore (Step Up 2004 Alumnus and Artist, New York, NY), João Ribas (Curator, MIT, List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA), and William Villalongo (Lecturer at Yale and Artist, Brooklyn, NY).