Visual Voices: Beyond Familiar
Ends on
Beyond Familiar
RFP Open: Friday, April 4, 2025
RFP Close: Monday, April 28, 2025
Artists Notified: Friday, May 9, 2025
Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning (JCAL) seeks applications from multidisciplinary artists to showcase original work in Beyond Familiar, an exhibition conceived and curated by Wanda Best.
Growth can involve an increase in width, length, or height, as well as a process of maturation or development. Beyond Familiar seeks artwork that interprets "growth" in a creative and lively manner that reaches outside your comfort level. The interpretation can be personal, observational, or represent a natural progression of change.
Visual representations reflective of the Pop Art movement—characterized by use of imagery from popular culture, such as advertising and everyday objects, often employing bold colors and simple forms—are especially welcome. Pop Art challenges traditional artistic norms, frequently incorporating references to mass culture and political satire. The goal is to see your unique perspective on growth. Go beyond your familiar boundaries. Please also note that this call is for visual arts only. Performance art will not be accepted.
Beyond Familiar opens at JCAL on Friday, July 25, 2025, and runs through Friday, September 13, 2025, as part of JCAL’s Visual Voices curatorial initiative. Artists selected for this exhibition will each receive a $250 stipend. This RFP opens on Friday, April 4, 2025, and closes on Monday, April 28, 2025. Submissions received after the RFP closes will not be considered.
Work will be reviewed based on quality and the completeness of the application. You may be contacted with follow-up questions regarding the nature of the work and intended manner of exhibition. Artists are responsible for transporting and collecting all artwork to and from the institution. JCAL reserves the right to not exhibit artwork that does not meet display criteria or does not align with the institution’s mission.
About Visual Voices:
Visual Voices is a three-year fellowship for emerging and midcareer visual arts curators. Through Visual Voices, curators identify and cultivate emerging talent; vet artist submissions; articulate the overall design aesthetics of exhibitions; coordinate transportation and collect and track artwork; oversee installation, deinstallation, and related tasks; collaborate with the JCAL artistic and administrative staff; and more.
Visual Voices reflects our leadership’s conviction that a diverse community isn’t defined top-down by a cultural institution, but rather by giving agency and power to a community to define itself.
Highlights from the first three-year cycle of Visual Voices include Jamaica-based curator Shenna Vaughn’s curated gallery at JFK’s Terminal 8, and Adrian Bermeo’s show featuring visual
interpretations of ancestral music. Exhibition themes also included Black resilience through an Afrofuturist lens; youth gun violence prevention; and music and visual art in the African, Latine, and Caribbean diasporas. The second cycle of Visual Voices begins later in 2025 and runs through 2027.
Eligibility:
• Solo artists only; no collectives or collaborations will be considered;
• NYC-based artists are encouraged to apply; priority is given to Queens based artists.
• Artists under 18 may participate with parental or guardian consent, with the minimum age being 13.
JCAL welcomes artists of all races, colors, religions, languages, gender identities, sexual orientations, national origins, ages, disabilities, and socioeconomic and marital statuses. Those who identify as part of underrepresented communities, and whose work centers on the artist’s personal experiences and observations, are especially welcome and encouraged to apply.
Application Materials (PDF or Word Only):
Only one application per artist will be accepted. A completed application must contain elements detailed below. Maximum file size is 100MB per file.
A. Artist Statement
Introduce yourself and your journey as an artist (500 words max).
B. Works for Consideration
Submit up to 10 individual works, that are original to you, as follows:
Title, date, medium of work, and dimensions of the work;
Short description of each work (100 words max);
Special exhibition directions, if appropriate, per work (100 words max).
C. Artist CV (optional)
Include a CV if you have one available.
This is a request to submit artwork only for possible exhibition purposes. It does not constitute an offer to purchase any artwork. JCAL does not offer feedback in any form on artist applications.