Artist Opportunities

Become an NC Handmade artisan! We're featuring a wide variety of craft traditions on NC Handmade. Whether you're a potter or a quilter, we encourage you to apply to be an artisan featured in our marketplace.

Sweetgrass Artisan Mercantile is seeking consignments artists who create quality and dynamic fine art and crafts with emphasis on folk art, pottery, glass, textiles and jewelry. Preference will be for those in the NC or Blue Ridge Region.

The Actors Fund provides services and financial support to entertainment professionals facing personal or work-related problems. It is also a conduit for emergency financial assistance in times of pressing need or in response to catastrophic events.

The Artists’ Fellowship provides emergency aid to professional fine artists and their families in times of sickness, natural disaster, bereavement or unexpected extreme hardship. At this time, we are temporarily limiting relief and assistance applications to those qualified applicants who are dealing with immediate MEDICAL emergencies and their aftermaths. 

Since 1917, the Authors League Fund has helped professional authors, journalists, poets, and dramatists who find themselves in financial need because of medical or health-related problems, temporary loss of income, or other misfortune. Most of those we help suffer severe health problems but have inadequate insurance; some face eviction; many are older writers whose income has ceased through no fault of their own. The Fund exists to help professional writers continue their careers with dignity by providing no-strings-attached “loans” to pay for pressing expenses. Repayment of this emergency support is not required.

The Chatham Artist & Arts-Worker Relief Effort (CAARE) is available to performing, visual, or literary artists or arts-workers living in Chatham County, NC – and in need of financial assistance due to COVID-19 cancellations and closures. (For the purpose of CAARE, we define arts-worker as someone who earns some part of their income in the arts by making arts projects possible, including exhibition managers, artist managers, stage managers, arts nonprofit administrators, sound technicians, etc.)

Decisions will be made each Thursday, beginning April 9. Applications must be received by Tuesday at 4:59 p.m. to be considered by the CAARE committee for that week’s funding. Applications received after Tuesday at 5 p.m. will be reviewed the following week. Disbursements will be made weekly.

As artists attempt to maintain a sense of "business as usual" when things are anything but usual, Rhonda Wheatley discusses lessons in healing and wellness to manage the growing isolation, anxiety, and uncertainty we are all facing during this recorded workshop (via YouTube). Wheatley closes with a guided meditation.

If you're thinking about livestreaming for the first time during COVID-19, it can be hard to know where to start. Yara Travieso and Brighid Greene suggest using livestreaming less as a final product, and more as a way to continue a creative practice. In this recorded workshop (via YouTube), they assess different platforms and what to know when just getting started.
 

DGF provides emergency financial assistance to individual playwrights, composers, lyricists, and bookwriters in dire need of funds due to severe hardship or unexpected illness.

Do you have an unanticipated opportunity to present your work? Did you incur an unexpected expense that you didn’t budget for? The Foundation for Contemporary Arts offers Emergency Grants between $200 and $2,500 for visual and performing artists. They review applications once a month, so you can quickly take advantage of momentum or solve any budget errors. Rolling deadline.

The Blues Foundation established the HART Fund (Handy Artists Relief Trust) for Blues musicians and their families in financial need due to a broad range of health concerns. The Fund provides for acute, chronic and preventive medical and dental care as well as funeral and burial expenses. Throughout the year at various events the HART Fund provides free health screenings for musicians, with services including but not limited to checking blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, prostate cancer, Hep C, anemia, thyroid, kidney and liver testing via blood work. 

The Max’s Kansas City project provides emergency funding and resources to professionals in the creative arts.

The Rauschenberg Medical Emergency Grants program provides one-time grants of up to $5,000 for unexpected medical/dental/mental health emergencies. Emergencies are defined as taking place within the last six months (July 1, 2020 or later). The New York Foundation for the Arts partners with the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation to administer these grants, available to visual and media artists and choreographers who live anywhere in the U.S., its Territories, and the District of Columbia. Artists of color, artists with disabilities, and those living outside of the East and West coasts are particularly encouraged to apply.

This relief fund provides financial assistance to all types of career musicians and music industry workers who are struggling to make ends meet because of COVID-19.

Grant support, outreach, and engagement for social issues documentary film and other storytelling projects. Rolling deadline.

The Poetry Coalition, a network of 25+ poetry organizations coordinated by the Academy of American Poets, is pleased to announce the 2021–2022 Poetry Coalition Fellowships, which are paid fellowship positions for five individuals who will each assist a different Poetry Coalition organization for twenty hours per week over the course of a forty-week period. The five organizations hosting this year’s Poetry Coalition Fellows this year are the Asian American Writers' Workshop, Beyond Baroque, In-Na-Po (Indigenous Nations Poets), Lambda Literary, and Zoeglossia.

The Cape Fear Rising Fund supports Black, Latinx, and other folks of color in creative, community-based social justice projects that advance racial equality.  Individuals and community groups are eligible for this grant. Rolling deadline.

South Arts invites emerging and mid-career jazz artists to take your music to places it's never been and apply for Jazz Road Tours grants. Jazz Road Tours offer grants of up to $15,000 to develop tours into communities across the country.

South Arts' Jazz Road Tours offer grants of up to $15,000 for emerging and mid-career jazz artists to develop tours into communities across the country. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

As we advance Southern vitality through the arts, South Arts offers a limited number of Professional Development and Artistic Planning grants to nonprofit performing, visual, media/film, multidisciplinary and literary arts presenting organizations in our nine-state region with support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Funding up to $1,000 is available to support the professional development needs of Southern presenters/programmers/curators, strengthen program design, and increase organizational capacity. For the purposes of these guidelines, “presenters” are defined as organizations that present or host guest artists for engagements in their communities. These grants are very limited and awarded on a first-come/first-served basis, so early submission is encouraged. A dollar-for-dollar cash match is a requirement. Rolling deadline.

Open to organizations in rural communities of 50,000 people or less, the Express Grant program offers expedited awards of up to $2,000 supporting the presentation of touring artists. Applications accepted on a rolling basis.

The Individual Artist Career Opportunity Grant supports a milestone opportunity in an individual artist’s career that is likely to lead to substantial and significant career advancement. Grants of up to $2,000 are available to support opportunities taking place between April 1, 2021 and August 31, 2022. Applications are due at least 60 days prior to activities. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until this program’s funds are depleted.

For a new blog series celebrating the life of James Baldwin in Saint-Paul de Vence, we are soliciting submissions of articles, book excerpts and personal essays that address the elder Baldwin, from the years 1970 to 1987. 

The Writers' Workshop in Asheville invites writers to submit a memoir of 5,000 words or less.

Blue Ridge Motorcycling Magazine features personality profiles of interesting, attractive and successful riders in the Blue Ridge region, rides to interesting or historic places in the Blue Ridge, and business profiles/reviews of restaurants, breweries or wineries. Articles should be 1,200 to 2,500 words in length. Rolling deadline.

Seeking flash fiction and original short fiction for their online publication. Payment. Rolling deadline.

Gibson House Press seeks fiction manuscripts for their Fall 2019-Spring 2020 list.

The Writers' Workshop invites writers to submit work about a difficult experience in life, how you overcame this obstacle, and how you were changed by it. Winning stories will be chosen for originality and creative writing style.

The Writers' Workshop in Asheville invites writers to submit a humorous story (fiction or non-fiction) of 5,000 words or less. Use of witty, dry humor is encouraged. 

The Writers' Workshop invites writers to submit a short story or chapter of a novel of 5,000 words or less.

We are currently accepting micro and low budget projects that will be developed solely by LLeju Productions and Films. We do not finance the projects of other companies, nor do we accept animation, biography, or period pieces. LLeju Productions and Films believe that there are many talented individuals who are creating quality material that would be suitable for the production of motion pictures. Therefore, we strive to have an open and inclusive submission policy that does not require you to obtain an agent or a manager. Rolling deadline.

The Centifictionist is an online literary magazine that publishes powerful, compelling, and memorable international microfiction in 100 words or less. The Centifictionist publishes two online issues per year, a Spring/Summer issue and a Fall/Winter issue. All issues of The Centifictionist will include thirty pieces of microfiction in each issue, with each individual piece being 100 words or less. Rolling deadline.

Seeking entries for the Emerging Playwright Award. Cash award. Rolling deadline.

103.3 Asheville FM, Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, and Make Noise announce an opportunity for artists living in Western North Carolina (WNC) to create new short works for broadcast on the radio for "Black Mountain College Radio Art." We invite artists in WNC to propose projects that reflect the experimental and innovative spirit of Black Mountain College. The work does not have to be music and artists are encourage to take risks.

The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art seeks artist submissions for 'Community Chords', a juried group exhibition inspired by the work of Freeman Vines, a NC–based artist, luthier, and one-time blues musician who makes contemporary art sculptures and guitars.

Immersion is an interactive art space looking to create an innovative environment that will captivate the City of Columbia. To do this we need the help of all local creative individuals to help us fill our space with creative immersive artworks.

The Kennedy Center is seeking teaching artists to contribute to a library of arts-focused online lessons and activities for families and educators. The lessons and activities in the library should provide introductory steps that get young people (and the young at heart) interested in arts learning. 

Neighborhood Art Funds support collaborative art projects for Raleigh’s neighborhoods that support artistic and cultural exploration, connection, and understanding. 

Level I funds are open to neighborhoods and grassroots community groups, including groups of neighbors who are not part of an organization. These funds provide up to $250 for community-driven art projects that enhance your neighborhood.

Level II funds are open to organizations, groups, or associations that are currently registered under the Raleigh Neighborhood Registry. These funds provide up to $1,000 for projects that demonstrate community input and involvement and show that the project will benefit the neighborhood.

Roots Artist Registry is an online registry and directory of visual, performing, and literary artists. Listing fee.

The Schuylkill Center’s environmental art department accepts submissions of environmentally themed visual artwork. Entry free. Rolling deadline.

This program is a weekly online performance featuring Durham musicians. Tune in to the @downtownDurham Facebook page at 1 p.m. on Tuesdays to experience some of what you love about Durham and connect, virtually, to the downtown Durham community. 

Arts Access is pleased to offer this four-day online workshop, "Audio Describer Training 2021," from July 12-15 for individuals who are interested in learning to be audio describers.

Resource: Allied Media Projects cultivates media strategies for a more just, creative and collaborative world. Serving a network of media makers, artists, educators, and technologists working for social justice, AMP holds an annual conference and supports individual artists by offering fiscal sponsorship and financial management.

Art World Conference is a series of actionable, inclusive workshops and events, both in-person and online, focused on business and financial health to build and sustain careers in the arts. We believe financial health and sustainability for cultural producers is a social justice issue.

Programming includes panel discussions and in-depth workshops addressing many of the unique opportunities and challenges faced by visual artists, freelancers, and arts professionals. Topics range from sales, marketing, grants, taxes, managing debt, building credit, investing, and legal issues, to defining and asserting value, solidarity, new technologies, legacy planning, and growing and sustaining community. The emphasis of all programming is on personal and professional development and empowerment.

Resource: Arts + Public Life, an initiative of UChicago Arts, builds creative connections on Chicago's South Side through artist residencies, arts education, and artist-led projects and events.

Join Arts Access and curator and writer Amanda Cachia on June 17th for the workshop "Byte Size Learning: A Brief History of Disability and Art" to learn how disability and visual art intersect across history and inform our contemporary understanding of disability artistry. 

Offering professional development courses through their podcasts, Thriving Artist.

Need help finding a center of calm in this crazy year? Triangle ArtWorks will be launching Creative Centering on February 4, 2021 - a new bi-monthly online (for now) meditation collective open to anyone working in the arts in the Triangle.

Arts Access and VAE invites artists to join the Disabled Artists/Artists with Disabilities Group every Thursday at 7pm. Open to all disabilities and artforms, this group will share resources and provide mutual support, constructive criticism, and informal instruction.

Join Triangle ArtWorks for the workshop "Financial Record-Keeping for Artists" on August 7th, geared towards artists who sells their work but avoid looking at the numbers. You must know the numbers to grow the business, and this workshop is designed to help corral that information.

Resource: Knight Foundation works with partners who create or present art that engages, educates and delights residents in ways that reflect the rich diversity and identity of each community. The foundation endeavors to make art integral to communities by funding anchor institutions seeking wider audiences and by supporting grassroots initiatives of individual artists and organizations.

Resource: The Loveland CreatorSpace is a non-profit, members-funded and -operated, cooperative “makerspace” for engineers, artists, musicians and tinkerers of all kinds. Like a traditional “hackerspace”, the primary
objective of LCS is to provide a community-driven work shop that offers its members access to tools, machinery and classes to help promote creative engineering in Loveland and Northern Colorado.

Resource: National Arts Strategies (NAS) supports individuals, organizations, and the field to help realize the full potential of creatives in a time when that potential is most needed as a means of self-expression, to promote equity, inclusion and help support a more civil society. NAS develops market-leading education services for individuals who play a variety of roles in the arts and culture ecosystem: artists, cultural entrepreneurs, board members, staff members and executives.

As an artist or arts administrator, you have to balance a lot of different plates, from HR to shipping work, to collaborating and accounting. It can get overwhelming.

Triangle ArtWorks has partnered with artist, marketer, and project manager extraordinaire Mikki Stith to bring you a FREE video series on how to integrate project management concepts into your career so you can focus on making art.

The McColl Center for Art & Innovation presents Social Media: Messaging and Tactics, a hands-on, three-hour workshop for artists and creatives who already have a separate business page on social media and are looking to optimize their messaging and tactic for a greater presence, increased sales, and audience growth.

Resource: The Sustainable Arts Foundation is a non-profit foundation supporting artists and writers with families whose mission is to provide financial awards to parents pursuing creative work.

Join Triangle ArtWorks for the class "The Business of Art Licensing: Create - Licen$e - Repeat," which will help artists begin to see consumer products in a whole new way.  This class will learn about the art licensing industry and the layers of consultants, art directors and product developers who collaborate with artists to put their artwork on consumer products and  how you can get your artwork in front of buyers. 

Accepting applications for The Awesome Foundation Grants. The Raleigh-Durham chapter of the Awesome Foundation is a program of VAE Raleigh, with grants being funded with our amazing group of Trustees. Our chapter wants to fund creative ideas that are specific, public, and spark thought in a meaningful way for the Triangle community.

Resource: Women in Photography (WIP)is an innovative website that showcases the work of women artists. It focuses on exhibiting work outside of the traditional model of the commercial art world, allowing it to reach a global audience and to provide opportunities at no cost. In 2009 WIP launched the Grant & Mentor Program which awards funds and materials to support women artists.

The Town of Cary is looking for digital artists to submit 2D or 3D artwork that will be viewable through an augmented reality app, to be used by patrons throughout downtown Cary. Submissions are to be themed on “Cary’s Past, Present & Future”  in celebration of Cary’s 150 anniversary. 

Yoga Garden, in partnership with Main Street PIttsboro invite individual artists and/or collaborative teams of artists to submit design and installation proposals for a mural at 184 East Street in Pittsboro. Designs should reflect one or more of the following themes: cultural diversity, unity, harmony, nature, yoga & meditation, wellness, peace, Chatham County’s character/natural environment.

The Town of Van Wyck, SC with help of Sculpture in the Landscape wishes to lease, for one year, up to Three (3) large statement sculptures for $2500 each and up to Eight (8) smaller sculptures for $1500 each. They will constitute Van Wyck’s first annual PUBLIC ART IN VAN WYCK project.

The Stochastic Labs offers fully-sponsored residencies to engineers, artists, scientists, and entrepreneurs from around the world. Residencies include a private apartment at the mansion, co-working and/or dedicated work space, shop access, a $1k monthly stipend and a budget for materials. Rolling deadline.

Vermont Studio Center’s Displaced Artists Fund exists to assist visual artists and writers displaced due to natural disasters, climate change, or political turmoil or threat by providing residencies in a safe and supportive community of creative peers. Rolling deadline.

Offering various residencies and internships in printmaking, book arts, ceramics, and photography.

Showcase applications are now open for ArtsMarket 2021, a performing arts booking conference co-produced by the North Carolina Presenters Consortium and the North Carolina Arts Council. ArtsMarket will be held IN PERSON in downtown Durham, NC on November 8-10, 2021.

North Carolina Botanical Garden seeks submissions of outdoor sculpture for the 33rd Annual Sculpture in the Garden exhibit. 

Art Expressions invite artists to submit their work for consideration for their retirement community located in the Charleston, SC area.

DeBerry Gallery at North Carolina Botanical Gardens is seeking proposals for two-dimensional exhibits for their 2022 season for botanical art & illustration. Any 2D medium is welcome, with a focus on botanical art and illustration, nature portraits, and natural landscape subjects. 

Calling all artists (photographers, quilters, sculptors, new media and digital artists, etc.). Have your work exhibited at Durham County Library.

Eastern Carolina University's School of Art and Design invites alumni to submit one piece created within the past five years for inclusion in the 2021 Alumni Exhibition. To enter the exhibition, alumni must be a member of the Friends of the School of Art and Design.

Seeking North Carolina artists for potential opportunities. 

Individuals or collaborating pairs of artists/makers/creators working in 2-D mediums, performance and words, who live and work outside of the Twin Cities area of Minnesota are welcome to apply for a no-cost, 10-day residency. Individual artists or pairs of collaborating artists will be chosen. 

The Arts Council of Wayne County invites North Carolina artists of all levels to submit to their exhibition "Red, White, and Blue Show" An exhibition featuring fine art in conjunction with NC Freedom Fest.