Ask Derek!

A: There are seemingly countless resources for finding public art opportunities online. Seeking out these lists is overwhelming and may leave you wondering how many opportunities you might not be seeing.

I’d like to share some resources that we use at Shiftworks, and that I use myself as an artist. Hopefully, this list can help add some clarity and focus in your search. Also, I’ll only be including resources that are totally free and do not require a membership or creating an account. Because who has the time or money for that?

Public Art Opportunities

For opportunities specific to public art, I may be biased, but I recommend first checking Shiftworks’ Artist Opportunity List because we do a lot of the work for you, scanning various local, regional, and national resources, and compiling them here. We are one of the few resources in the country that compile only public art opportunities and furthermore, only those that are free to use and do not require a membership. You can sign up for our mailing list and we will deliver a list of opportunities to your inbox.

Another public art-specific local resource is the City of Pittsburgh’s Public Art Hub which provides information on the city’s public art collection, new artist calls, ongoing public art projects, and more. In fact, many city and state governments post public art information on their websites. So, if you are interested in working in a particular area, take a look at government websites. A great example is the City of Seattle’s Office of Arts and Culture’s website.

National and International Opportunities and Resources

For a more broad spectrum of national opportunities and resources beyond public art, there are a couple great locally-based artist opportunity lists to explore that, as an artist myself, are my go-tos. First, is the Artist Opportunity Blog by Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. They do a fantastic job of compiling an impressively comprehensive list of opportunity types including exhibitions, residencies, fellowships, grants and awards from across the country. The Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council’s Arts Blog is also a great resource that posts arts-related employment opportunities that I explore regularly

Another primary resource for me is The Artwork Archive’s Complete Guide to the Best Artist Opportunities which has an impressive search component for finding specific opportunities from across the globe based on various filters including the types of opportunities (including public art); art mediums specific to the opportunity; specific locations; and whether the opportunity is free to apply, includes a stipend, etc.

There are a multitude of other resources that focus on international opportunities. Some honorable mentions include ArtRabbit, ARTENDA, and Artwork Archive.

Happy searching, and remember, if you find something you want to apply for and want additional advice, you can sign up for Office Hours with me.

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