Artist Calls

The City of Oshawa is situated on lands and waters within the Williams Treaties Territory, home to seven First Nation communities of the Michi Saagiig and Chippewa Anishinaabeg, who have cared for and maintained these lands from time immemorial and continue to do so to present day. Learn more.

Each year the City of Oshawa is proud to offer arts, culture and heritage programming in alignment with Oshawa's Cultural Strategic Plan, Culture Counts: Oshawa’s Arts, Culture & Heritage Plan.

This call provides increased support for local artists by providing an opportunity to exhibit artwork in a City operated facility.

The exhibition space consists of four locked display cases in the Council Wing hallway of City Hall.

The measurements for the locked vitrines are listed below:

Vitrine 1: Length – 70 inches, Depth - 22 inches, Height - 95 inches
Vitrine 2: Length – 103 inches, Depth – 22 inches, Height – 95 inches
Vitrine 3: Length – 103 inches, Depth – 22 inches, Height – 95 inches

Vitrine 4:

The vitrines are equipped with an exhibition hanging system installed at 72 inches in height.

Applicants will be asked to submit the following:

• Artist’s contact information
• Artist statement and biography that includes your connection to the city of Oshawa (max. 300 words)
• Letter of intent (including photos of artwork proposed for exhibition, included in one document)
• Three examples of past work (included in one document)
• CV (optional)

If you experience difficulties with the submission form please email your submission to [email protected].

A selection committee will review the submissions. The selection committee may consist of representatives from the City’s Cultural Leadership Council, Public Art Task Force, and/or City staff.

The applicants selected will be chosen based on specific Selection Considerations outlined in the Public Art Policy and select Guiding Principles as outlined in the Public Art Master Plan:

• Quality of art
  • Craftsmanship
  • Creativity
  • Innovation
• Overall quality
  • Originality of design
  • Intrigues viewers and stimulates imagination
  • Artist reputation (demonstrated and related experience)
  • Condition of the artwork
• Submission
  • Compliance with guidelines outlined in the Call for Artists
  • Ability to meet deadlines
  • Submission is complete

The City of Oshawa invites applications from artists at all stages of their career, including emerging, mid-career, and established artists. Artists do not need to be working professionally full time in the arts and culture field.

This call is open to local artists. Local is defined as someone who was born in, resides in, or has a significant connection to Oshawa, or an Indigenous person with a connection to the traditional territory that Oshawa now occupies.

The applicant must be 18 years of age or older.

Employees of the City of Oshawa are not eligible.

Submission deadline: May 9, 2025

Artists notified: June 23 to June 27, 2025

Final artwork images submitted to staff for review: July 28, 2025

Artist statement and exhibit plans submitted to staff: August 25, 2025

Drop-off artwork at the Arts Resource Centre: September 22 to September 26, 2025

Exhibit installation by City staff: October 6 to October 10, 2025

Pick-up artwork: January 27 to January 30, 2026

*The timeline may be subject to changes.

Complete the online application form.

If the files exceed 14 MB (4 MB artist statement/artist biography, 4 MB letter of intent, 4 MB examples of past work, and 2 MB for CV), artists are asked to email [email protected] and use an external file share program.

The artists selected will be required to enter into a contract with the City of Oshawa to exhibit their works. If the City and a selected artist cannot agree on the terms of the contract, the selection committee may, at the City of Oshawa’s sole discretion, choose another artist to exhibit their works.

No artist shall have any rights against the City arising from participation in this Call for Artists or submitting an application for the City of Oshawa’s consideration.

By submitting an application for the City of Oshawa’s consideration, artists hereby release and hold harmless the City of Oshawa from any and all actions, charges, claims, costs, damages, demands, liabilities, losses, suits, proceedings, costs and expenses pertaining to the artist's participation in the Call for Artists.

By submitting an application for the City of Oshawa’s consideration, artists agree that all decisions of the City and its employees in relation to the Art & Culture in the Hall exhibition are final and binding. Artists also agree that the selection of the winners by the selection committee is final and not subject to any right of appeal or review.

By submitting an application for the City of Oshawa’s consideration, artists represent and warrant that they have read and understood and agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions.

The City of Oshawa and its partners/agents will not be responsible for insurance coverage of the works of art while they are on display.

The City of Oshawa will not facilitate sales of the artwork. The artwork may not be sold during the exhibition period.

If you have questions about applying, or require accommodations to participate in this process, please contact [email protected]. 

We are happy to provide support and advice related to the application to make this call as accessible as possible to applicants.

All projects must meet certain requirements. The following content guidelines must be adhered to for Artwork:

• The content is not in conflict with any laws, City by-laws or policies;
• The content does not conflict with the City’s values, vision or strategic goals;
• The content does not conflict with goals as outlined in key strategic plans, including the Diversity and Inclusion Plan and the Culture Counts: Oshawa Arts, Culture & Heritage Plan; and
• The content does not contain material which could be considered inappropriate, discriminatory, hateful, violent, abusive, insensitive, culturally appropriative or otherwise offensive.
• The content should be suitable for audiences of all ages, and should not include content involving references to drugs, injury, obscene gestures, and/or crude content.