For Artists

Exhibition Proposals
Acquisition Proposals
OAC Exhibition Assistance Grants

Exhibition Proposals

If you are an artist and wish to submit information on your work for consideration for exhibition or acquisition, please consider the following:

Proposals may be emailed to the curatorial team at: exhibitions@artgalleryofhamilton.com. They should include, as attachments:

• Cover letter (or in the body of the email) – a brief introduction and artist bio
• Artists’ statement (250 words or less)
• Your Curriculum Vitae / a list of your previous exhibition and related experience
• Approximately 10 images (jpgs preferred, or a pdf with images); plus the title/year/medium/dimensions for each. Video and sound can also be sent as links to Vimeo etc. These can be a combination of previous and current work.
• If all the above can be included in a single pdf, that is ideal.

Decisions are made by the curatorial team. You will be contacted if your proposal is being considered for exhibition. We endeavour to respond to all applicants within six months; however we do receive a large volume in submissions and apologize in advance for any delay. We will dispose of submission materials appropriately.

Acquisition Proposals

The AGH gratefully accepts offers of donation of original artworks from artists, donors and companies or corporations. This is normally carried out in the form of a written offer of donation, complete with particulars for the piece, as well as a visual document. The curatorial team, which includes the President/CEO, internally considers the merit of the work and its relevance to the institutional mandate, collection policy and to the existing permanent collection.  Should the work be deemed an appropriate fit for the collection, the Curators decide to present it to the Acquisition Committee, which meets twice annually.

Occasionally, the AGH is able to purchase artworks from artists or their representatives. The same process applies as for donations: an artist or gallery may make a proposal for consideration by the curatorial team, and then the Acquisitions Committee. Or, the curators will propose a purchase based on their research. All purchases are very thoroughly researched, and take into consideration institutional priorities such as regional relevance and diversity.

For further questions on Acquisitions, please contact Andrea Howard, Interim Collections Registrar: Collections@artgalleryofhamilton.com.

OAC Exhibition Assistance Grants

The AGH is a third party recommender for the Ontario Arts Council Exhibition Assistance grant program. Each year, the competition opens in late June, and funds (between $500-$2000) are recommended on an ongoing basis until depleted. Artists living in Zone 3 (which includes Hamilton and Toronto), are eligible to apply. For details on this program, please visit the OAC website: http://www.arts.on.ca/grants/exhibition-assistance

Applications are now open for the 2024-2025 application year. Funds will be distributed on a first-come first serve basis.

Applications may be submitted to the Curator of Contemporary Art at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, via the Ontario Art’s Council’s NOVA system: https://grants.arts.on.ca/s_Login.jsp

The AGH curator logs in and is able to view applications there; applicants may also view facts on our program, such as whether the AGH has any funds left to recommend at a given point in the year.

For more information on NOVA, visit: http://www.arts.on.ca/grants/general-granting-information/nova-user-guide