Calling All Artists

Join us in celebrating Mesa Arts Center’s 10^th year at One East Main Street! There are many opportunities available for you to submit proposals. Let’s make the next 10 years even more memorable! Check out the details below to find out how you can participate:

Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum Opportunities
The annual 10 x 10 Benefit Show will offer a special opportunity in celebration of the Valley Metro Light Rail expansion to the Mesa Arts Center! Artists from Arizona and beyond are invited to create an original work of art using Valley Metro passes. The completed pieces will be on display at MCA Museum from October 6th through 15th and then sold at the sale on October 10th for $50 each. All proceeds benefit Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum exhibition and educational programs. 

Fee to participate: None

Want More Details? 2015 - 2016 Season Prospectus

Deadline: September 25, 2015 (by 5:00pm)

Festival Opportunities

Spark! is an immersive festival environment featuring participatory activities, music, original performances, art and more. Applicants are encouraged to think outside the box, exploring the use shadow, light or color to change the way the Mesa Arts Center campus is experienced. The outdoor festival begins at noon each day and will continue through 10 p.m. Each evening will feature spark! 

After Dark activities from 7p–10. 

Want More Details? Visit spark!
Deadline: August 7, 2015 (by 5:00pm)

Mesa Arts Festival will take place on Dec. 12-13, 2015 and features juried artwork from various mediums. All work must be original and created within the last 2 years. A new jury of arts professionals is impaneled each year to ensure the show remains fresh and to eliminate any favoritism or bias.
Awards: up to $1,000

Fee: Early Bird - $25, After Aug. 14 - $40 (plus booth and rental fees)
Want More Details? Mesa Arts Festival
Deadline: Early Bird - August 14, 2015, Final - September 25, 2015

Creative Catalyst Opportunities:

Creative Catalyst is an initiative of Mesa Arts Center founded in the belief that the arts not only build our social fabric, providing vibrancy and personal enrichment, but are critical ingredients for community and economic development. Creative Catalysts seeks to engage people Under 40 in envisioning, designing and implementing activities that will involve and delight their peers and the broader community with the creative life of Mesa, and will enable them to grow as community and arts leaders.

Phase 1:

Concepts for brief informal relatively short art experiences (15-60 minutes in length). With the idea of participants completing their engagement in one sitting or that enable people to participate as they wish over the course of an hour or two (engaging for a limited amount of time to add their piece to a larger process or artistic product, or in some cases being able to choose to stay longer and participate more deeply). These will be presented in places where people are gathering for other reasons.

Phase 2:
Phase 2 is looking for brief concept proposals for workshops that create interest in developing to achieve greater engagement in the arts for Under 40. Concepts should be for workshops of 1-3 hours that enable more in-depth engagement and learning (technique/skill development, exploration of community issues through art, connecting art to a specific place, collective art-making, etc.).
Fee: None

Want More Details? Contact Jennifer Gaustelum at jennnn.marie@gmail.com.
Deadline: Round 1 - July 31 (but continue to submit. There will be plenty of future opportunities)

OPPORTUNITIES IN 2016-17:

Dr. Ruth Tan Lim Project Room Proposals

The Project Room is a space dedicated to the exhibition of professional quality, contemporary artworks. Preference will be given to artist’s proposals that include the use of the space to create site-specific and/or exhibitions of new media (including film/video, sound, digital and/or web-based works) but does not prohibit work in traditional media.

Fee: $25 per proposal

Want More Details? 2015 - 2016 Season Prospectus

Deadline: Dec 18, 2015 (by 5:00pm)

North Gallery Proposals

The North Gallery is a space dedicated to the exhibition of professional quality, contemporary artworks. Its intent is to identify, recognize, and promote artists living in Arizona, with an emphasis on the Greater Phoenix/Mesa area, and/or artists who have a significant presence within the State.

Fee: $25 per proposal

Want More Details? 2015 - 2016 Season Prospectus

Deadline: Dec 18, 2015 (by 5:00pm)

37th ANNUAL CONTEMPORARY CRAFTS

Highlighting the finest in contemporary crafts from around the country, this annual crafts exhibition has become a benchmark of innovation and quality produced within traditional craft forms such as ceramics, fibers, basketry, metals, wood, glass, jewelry, and papermaking and book arts.
Awards: up to $2,000 and a a solo exhibition in the MCA Museum Project Room the following year.
Fee: $25 for up to four artworks.
Want More Details? 2015 - 2016 Season Prospectus
Deadline: Friday, Oct 16, 2015 (by 5:00pm)

2016 Print Calendar

Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum will produce its sixth annual limited edition calendar that will feature 12 original works on paper by emerging and established contemporary artists. Up to 48 artists will be invited and selected to produce a 50 print edition. Each print will randomly appear as a month in a calendar with no artist being repeated. The calendars will be sold for $200 each and all proceeds will be used to fund MCA Museum programming and exhibitions.
Fee: None
Want More Details? 2015 - 2016 Season Prospectus
Deadline: November 6, 2015 (by 5:00pm)

By: Christina Haase