Ottawa Community Galleries 2027: Local Visual and Media Art Exhibition Proposals Close 5 November
The City of Ottawa's Community Galleries Program is inviting exhibition proposals for the 2027 season at Atrium Art Gallery and Trinity Art Gallery. It welcomes regional visual, photographic, media and interdisciplinary artists, collectives, curators and community arts organizations working across artistic media. The published deadline is Thursday 5 November 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. This is a local-region opportunity, not an unrestricted international call.
Who qualifies? The 150-kilometre rule
Applicants must live within a 150-kilometre radius of Ottawa. Artists should have developed their practice through formal study, an apprenticeship, mentoring, collaboration or demonstrable self-taught experience. They need a serious record of artistic work, public presentation and professional recognition. Applicants who have exhibited in either Atrium Art Gallery or Trinity Art Gallery during the previous three consecutive years cannot apply. The city will consider only one proposal per applicant, normally the first one it receives. Municipal employees and elected representatives are excluded.
Will digital or interactive work be suitable?
Although the programme states that all media are eligible, both galleries sit in public civic buildings which members of the public may enter without supervision. A new-media artist should therefore propose equipment, cables, sound, projected images or interactive elements that can be maintained safely without constant supervision. The city's peer jury weighs artistic merit, demonstrated professional commitment, regional relevance, innovation, proposal coherence, physical and technical feasibility and suitability for a highly public venue. The call is not specifically for immersive technology and does not promise to provide computers or projection hardware.
Deadline, notification and application planning
Applications received after 11:59 p.m. EDT on 5 November 2026 or submitted incomplete will not be accepted. The city says applicants are informed of results by email within three months. Its application interface does not save incomplete answers after a page is refreshed or closed: prepare project statements, artist CV, images, installation details and requested attachments before opening it. The official overview also contains older wording about the application opening soon alongside the current 2027 announcement, so confirm the live status of the web form before scheduling submission.
Organizer history and venue
This is a municipal programme operated by the City of Ottawa, not an anonymous private gallery. Its website documents 2026 installation views, gallery locations and the peer-assessment process. The programme deliberately brings professional art into publicly accessible civic buildings and welcomes work reflecting the Ottawa region's diverse communities. It is an exhibition proposal rather than a prize competition or guaranteed paid contract; ask the city about any artist fees, insurance, installation assistance and accessible exhibition arrangements.
Official source and application
Read the City's current overview, eligibility, assessment criteria and separate deadline pages from the Ottawa municipal domain. For eligibility: https://ottawa.ca/en/arts-heritage-and-events/funding-calls-and-opportunities/calls-and-opportunities-culture/community-galleries-call-proposals/eligibility . Submit only via the official form linked from the overview, and keep the application-confirmation email.
Independently researched on 21 October 2026. Before entering, consult the linked organizer page for the controlling rules and any changes to the deadline, fee or eligibility.