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 at 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:

Vitrines 1 to 3 are on the north wall of the hall and vitrine 4 is on the south wall of the hallway.

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 and dimensions 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 culturecounts@oshawa.ca.

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 selected artists will receive an honourarium of $245 each.

The City of Oshawa invites applications from artists at all stages of their career, including emerging, mid-career and established artists. 

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.

All applicants must be 18 years of age or older. 

Employees of the City of Oshawa are not eligible.

Submission deadline: April 17

Artists notified: Week of June 1

Final artwork images submitted for review: June 29

Artist statement and exhibit plans submitted to staff: July 27

Drop off artwork: August 17 to August 21

Exhibit installation by City staff: August 24 to August 28

Pick-up artwork: February 1 to February 5, 2027

*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 culturecounts@oshawa.ca 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.

The City of Oshawa is committed to fostering an equitable and inclusive community that celebrates the diverse lived-experiences of our residents. We encourage submissions from artists from equity-deserving groups that have been historically underrepresented in the arts, including BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour), 2SLGBTQIA+ identifying individuals, people who are Deaf, and persons with disabilities, and strive to eliminate barriers to the meaningful inclusion of members of these communities.

If you have questions about applying, or require accommodations to participate in this process, please contact culturecounts@oshawa.ca.

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:

1. The content is not in conflict with any laws, City by-laws or policies;
2. The content does not conflict with the City’s values, vision or strategic goals;
3. 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;
4. The content does not contain material which could be considered inappropriate, discriminatory, hateful, violent, abusive, insensitive, culturally appropriative or otherwise offensive; and
5. 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. 

Personal information on this form is collected pursuant to Section 11 of the Municipal Act, 2001, S.O. 2001, c. 25 and will be used to administer the Call for Artists. Questions about this collection should be directed to the City’s Information, Access and Privacy Officer at 50 Centre Street South, Oshawa, Ontario, L1H 3Z7, by phone at 905-436-3311.