Call for art

Full link to open call: https://tinyurl.com/j3f262SW

OBJECTIVE
BLUE COLLAR CRIME, as a show, produces work that highlights working class solidarity and seeks out humor, invention, pleasure, and irreverence in the instability of our current moment. The exhibition is borne out of a recognition that corporate interests operate by a different set of rules and profits at the expense of our collective well being. Private industry’s failure to contribute their share of taxes, destruction of the environment, stagnation of wages, monopolization of industry, and so forth. In short, their white collar crime has produced an increasingly precarious world with which our only response can be blue collar crime.

The exhibition BLUE COLLAR CRIME distinguishes itself from the existing connotations of blue-collar crime as less sophisticated or more violent than white collar crime. BLUE COLLAR CRIME learns its lessons as the bastard step-sibling to white collar crime; it is subversive, furtive, unpredictable, conspiratorial, and fugitive. It delights, confuses, and surprises; it is the absurd born from the absurd. Through the exhibition, we define BLUE COLLAR CRIME and a language of possibility from a place of uncertainty.

GUIDELINES
Artists may submit works of any medium that:

-Reimagines blue collar crime (for example, defying hostile architecture, starting an illegal garden in an abandoned plot, disrupting ATM’s, or even memes that uses humor to encourage dissent)

-Represents blue collar joy, and/or class solidarity

-Responds to white collar crime, or the history of white/blue collar crime

-Responds to the categorization of different colored, collared crimes

-Responds to any part of the objective

Artists may submit multiple works of any medium.
All artwork submitted must be ready to hang or install.
Artists outside of Los Angeles should be prepared to cover the cost of shipping.
Artists working in new media, film, or video may be required to use your own equipment for the exhibition.
Extra consideration will be given to pieces that are mischievous, fun, critical.

Salary: Not applicable 

Benefits: Selected artists will be included in a group exhibition titled BLUE COLLAR CRIME debuting in December 2025, presented by a gallery in Los Angeles (details will be provided for artists who are invited to participate in the show).

Education requirements: None 

Deadline to apply: November 15, 2025

Documents required to apply: Work Sample/Portfolio

How to apply: Visit our website

Fill out Google document

$4,500 & $1,000 Artist Grants

The Hopper Prize is now accepting entries for our Fall 2025 artist grants.

For this open call, we have increased grant amounts to $4,500.

We will be providing 6 grants totaling $13,000 USD.

2 artists will each receive $4,500 and 4 artists will each receive $1,000.

This is an open call, all media eligible.

Our open call provides you with a direct path to get your work in front of an international community of curators, artists, gallerists, and arts administrators.

We support artists working in all visual art media, from diverse backgrounds, in wide-ranging geographic locations.

Recent/Past California based grant winners include:
— J. Carino, Riverside, California (2025)
— Abdulhamid Kircher, Los Angeles, California (2023)
— Ville Kansanen, California (2023)
— Kira Dominguez Hultgren, San Francisco, California (2020)
— Elena Bajo, Los Angeles, California (2019)
— Mark Baugh-Sasaki, San Francisco, California (2019)
— Isabel Yellin, Los Angeles, California (2019)
— Maja Ruznic, Los Angeles, California (2018)
— Erik Parra, San Francisco, California (2018)

In addition to grants, 30 artists will be selected for a shortlist. Additional exposure is available via our online Journal as well as our Instagram feed, currently reaching an audience over 150k.

Deadline: November 11, 2025

Visit https://hopperprize.org to submit your work

Salary: $4,500 & $1,000 Artist Grants

Benefits: 2 artists will each receive $4,500 and 4 artists will each receive $1,000.

Education requirements: None 

Deadline to apply: November 11, 2025 

Documents required to apply: Work Sample/Portfolio

How to apply: Submit your work via our website

 

SUMMER * $1,800.00 Innovate Grants for Art + Photo

☀️ SUMMER 2025 OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS — Innovate Grant is thrilled to introduce our newly increased award amounts of $1,800.00.

Innovate Grant awards (2) $1,800.00 grants each quarter, to one Visual Artist and one Photographer. In addition, (12) honorable mentions (6 in art and 6 in photo), will be featured on our website and join a growing community of vibrant and talented artists. Innovate Grant’s commitment extends beyond the grant cycle by promoting the work of selected winners and honorable mentions into the future. For more information and to apply visit https://innovateartistgrants.org

Innovate Grant supports artists and photographers through quarterly grants. We’ve simplified the grant process, so that artists and photographers can focus on making their innovative work. The work should speak for itself and our application reflects that.

Innovate Grant awards:
+ 1 x $1,800.00 Grant to a Visual Artist
+ 1 x $1,800.00 Grant to a Photographer
+ 12 x Honorable Mentions

Explore the work of ALL Past Innovate Grant recipients and read their interviews at https://innovateartistgrants.org

How to Apply: Visual Artists and Photographers 18 years and older, from all around the world, are eligible to apply. All media and genres are accepted. All applicants retain the right to the work they submit. Apply today at https://innovateartistgrants.org

Category: Multiple disciplines and genres accepted
Deadline: Wednesday, September 10, 2025 – Submit by 11:59PM Pacific Standard Time
Region: US & International
Awards: 2 x $1,800.00 USD Grants // 12 x Honorable Mentions

Apply Online Today
https://innovateartistgrants.org

Salary: $1,800 grant 

Benefits: Innovate Grant awards:
+ 1 x $1,800.00 Grant to a Visual Artist
+ 1 x $1,800.00 Grant to a Photographer
+ 12 x Honorable Mentions

Education requirements: None 

Deadline to apply: October 9, 2025 

Documents required to apply: Visual Artists and Photographers 18 years and older, from all around the world, are eligible to apply. All media and genres are accepted. 

How to apply: Apply via link 

Co-Director, Stewardship

About NAPA: National Arts Policy Alliance (NAPA) is a new initiative, incubated within United States Artists, dedicated to building collective power among creative and cultural workers to win policy reforms establishing cross-sectoral economic rights for all. NAPA believe all workers in and outside the creative sector deserve economic rights, including material needs like housing and health care, the right to fair work and pay, income security, freedom of creative expression, access to economic opportunity, a clean environment, and the ability for individuals and communities to shape their economic futures.  NAPA is committed to strengthening the necessary infrastructure – local organizing capacity, advocacy and policy resources, and cross-sector alliances – to win systemic reforms grounded in economic rights and justice.

What NAPA’s Building: Over the next 12–18 months, NAPA will support the development of at least seven local Assemblies—networks of creative and cultural workers developing grassroots campaigns to win economic rights in their communities. These Assemblies will receive funding and organizing support to build out local action plans. NAPA will also build a peer learning cohort, host national training, and produce key research and policy resources to support these local efforts. NAPA hopes this work will culminate in a National Creative & Cultural Workers Assembly in Fall 2026, where NAPA will assess progress and publish a shared agenda heading into a new political cycle. During this initial phase, priorities include:
• Supporting 7+ local Assemblies to launch advocacy campaigns focused on economic rights and security
• Delivering 2-3 national trainings and convening a learning cohort of Assembly leaders
• Publishing 2-4 field-wide research and policy resources
• Hosting a National Assembly to align around a shared agenda and strategy
• Building relationships with allies in the broader economic justice movement

To make this vision real, NAPA is hiring its first three team members, hired in the following order:
1. Co-Director, Organizing (hired ASAP)
2. Co-Director, Advocacy & Policy (hired Fall 2025)
3. Co-Director, Stewardship (hired Winter 2025)

These Co-Directors will work in a distributed leadership model, with shared decision-making power and distinct areas of responsibility aligned to NAPA’s strategy. In year one, they will be accountable to the CEO of United States Artists or their delegated representative. Over time, as NAPA becomes an independent entity, accountability and reporting will transition fully to the NAPA Stewardship Committee.

Role Summary: The Co-Director, Stewardship is responsible for internal and external accountability, decision-making processes, and sustainable resource management at NAPA. This includes fundraising, communications with stakeholders, and organizational learning and reflection. This person ensures that the way we do the work reflects the values that guide NAPA.

Key Responsibilities:
• Lead external communications with NAPA community via website, social, and email
• Facilitate open meetings and participatory decision-making processes
• Manage internal communications, including documentation and transparency
• Lead quarterly learning, reflection, and revision processes, including KPI tracking
• Coordinate annual priority setting and resource allocation
• Steward NAPA’s values across all decision-making
• Lead institutional stakeholder outreach and fundraising effort

Desired Qualifications:
• Experience with participatory and values-based leadership
• Strong facilitation, internal communication, and coordination skills
• Track record of successful fundraising and stakeholder cultivation
• Experience with agile project management, learning, and iterative practices
• Deep commitment to economic and cultural justice
• Strong relationship-building skills across stakeholders
• Proven ability to work across diverse communities, geographies, and contexts, with a strong commitment to racial, gender, economic, and social justice
• Collaborative leadership style with experience in collective decision-making, coalition leadership, and distributed team structures
• Self-motivated with the ability to manage multiple projects, meet high standards, and hold self and others accountable
• Excellent communication skills, including clear and concise writing
• Deep belief in the power of cultural workers to drive change
• Priority given to individuals from NAPA’s core constituencies of creative and cultural workers

Salary: $80,000 – $90,000, annually

Benefits: One-year contract, with expectation of renewal. Total time commitment is negotiable with expectation of timely deliverables, this position may be structured as a part time with benefits or a contracted position.

Education requirements: None.

Deadline to apply: November 22, 2025

Documents required to apply: Resume, cover letter

How to apply: Send a resume and short letter of interest explaining your connection to NAPA’s mission and how your experience aligns with the role to jobs@unitedstatesartists.org. Applications will be reviewed by a Hiring Committee assembled from NAPA’s Co-Design Team. We look forward to hearing from you!

Co-Director, Advocacy & Policy

About NAPA: National Arts Policy Alliance (NAPA) is a new initiative, incubated within United States Artists, dedicated to building collective power among creative and cultural workers to win policy reforms establishing cross-sectoral economic rights for all. NAPA believes all workers in and outside the creative sector deserve economic rights, including material needs like housing and health care, the right to fair work and pay, income security, freedom of creative expression, access to economic opportunity, a clean environment, and the ability for individuals and communities to shape their economic futures.  NAPA is committed to strengthening the necessary infrastructure – local organizing capacity, advocacy and policy resources, and cross-sector alliances – to win systemic reforms grounded in economic rights and justice.

What NAPA’s Building: Over the next 12–18 months, NAPA will support the development of at least seven local Assemblies—networks of creative and cultural workers developing grassroots campaigns to win economic rights in their communities. These Assemblies will receive funding and organizing support to build out local action plans. NAPA will also build a peer learning cohort, host national training, and produce key research and policy resources to support these local efforts. NAPA hopes this work will culminate in a National Creative & Cultural Workers Assembly in Fall 2026, where NAPA will assess progress and publish a shared agenda heading into a new political cycle. During this initial phase, priorities include:
• Supporting 7+ local Assemblies to launch advocacy campaigns focused on economic rights
• Delivering 2-3 national trainings and convening a learning cohort of Assembly leaders
• Publishing 2-4 field-wide research and policy resources
• Hosting a National Assembly to align around a shared agenda and strategy
• Building relationships with allies in the broader economic justice movement

To make this vision real, NAPA is hiring its first three team members, hired in the following order:
1. Co-Director, Organizing (hired ASAP)
2. Co-Director, Advocacy & Policy (hired Fall 2025)
3. Co-Director, Stewardship (hired Winter 2025)

These Co-Directors will work in a distributed leadership model, with shared decision-making power and distinct areas of responsibility aligned to NAPA’s strategy. In year one, they will be accountable to the CEO of United States Artists or their delegated representative. Over time, as NAPA becomes an independent entity, accountability and reporting will transition fully to the NAPA Stewardship Committee. Role Summary: The Co-Director, Advocacy & Policy leads the development of research, policy, and campaign resources to support local Assemblies and national alignment. This role focuses on connecting NAPA’s network to ongoing economic rights efforts and producing tools to support the field.

Key Responsibilities:
• Lead stakeholder outreach to potential campaign and policy partners
• Map and build relationships with groups that are already doing research, advocacy, and policy work around economic rights, in and outside the arts
• Assemble and publish clearinghouse of relevant policy tools, data, and updates
• Produce new research and policy resources for NAPA stakeholders
• Track and share developments on key policy issues with NAPA community
• Support strategic alignment across local and national advocacy efforts Desired

Qualifications:
• Strong skills in policy research, analysis, and formulation
• Excellent communication skills, including clear and concise writing
• Knowledge of economic rights policy issues (e.g., housing, income security, labor rights) and stakeholders
• Ability to translate policy into accessible tools for organizers and advocates
• Demonstrated success crafting effective advocacy collateral, such as issue briefs, fact sheets, talking points, op-eds, and other forms of persuasive policy writing
• Experience working in or alongside campaigns and coalitions
• Strong relationship-building skills across government, institutional, and cross-sector stakeholders
• Proven ability to work across diverse communities, geographies, and contexts, with a strong commitment to racial, gender, economic, and social justice
• Collaborative leadership style with experience in collective decision-making, coalition leadership, and distributed team structures
• Self-motivated with the ability to manage multiple projects, meet high standards, and hold self and others accountable
• Deep belief in the power of cultural workers to drive change
• Priority given to individuals from NAPA’s core constituencies of creative and cultural workers

Salary: $80,000 – $90,000 annually

Benefits: One-year contract, with expectation of renewal. Total time commitment is negotiable with expectation of timely 3deliverables, this position may be structured as a part time with benefits or a contracted position.

Education requirements: None.

Deadline to apply: October 4, 2025

Documents required to apply: Resume, cover letter

How to apply: Send a resume and short letter of interest explaining your connection to NAPA’s mission and how your experience aligns with the role to jobs@unitedstatesartists.org. Applications will be reviewed by a Hiring Committee assembled from NAPA’s Co-Design Team.