Hey Metro Phoenix Artists, Here Are 15 New Visual, Theater, Dance, and Literary Opportunities

Take note if you're making visual or performance art in metro Phoenix: Several local venues are looking for artists who'd like to show their works. We found 15 such opportunities for Valley artists to get a head start with finding creative places to show off. 

"Of Land, Sea & Sky" Exhibit
Chances are you’re already familiar ASU’s Step Gallery and Northlight Gallery in the Phoenix warehouse district, but did you know there's also a community gallery on the ASU Downtown campus? That’s where ASU’s College of Public Service & Community Solutions will present an exhibition of works that “highlight the significance of land, sea, and sky to artists.” Artists are invited to submit paintings, drawings, photographs, and mixed-media works for consideration. The deadline to apply is June 24. Find more information on the ASU website. 

ASU Museum Ceramic Studio Tour 2017
ASU Art Museum’s Ceramic Studio Tour is one of the local art community’s most anticipated annual traditions, and it gets more interesting each year as new artists open their studios and invite guest artists to join them in giving art lovers a behind-the-scenes look at how various types of ceramics get made. The ASU Art Museum’s Ceramics Research Center is already looking for ceramic artists to participate in the 2017 tour, taking place Saturday and Sunday, February 25 and 26, next year. Artists can submit applications through June 30. Find details on the ASU Art Museum website.

Unstrung Poetry Magazine
Literary types watch for calls from all sorts of journals, including Phoenix’s own Four Chambers. But other publications are looking for works by local artists, too. Arizona Consortium for the Arts, an organization that dreams of building a new arts center here in metro Phoenix, publishes a magazine called The Blue Guitar. And now their magazine team is looking for poems to include in a 2016 issue of their poetry magazine called Unstrung. Writers can submit their poetry for consideration through July 1. Find more information on the Arizona Consortium for the Arts website.

Arizona Literary Contest
The Arizona Authors' Association is seeking both published and unpublished works for consideration as it presents the Arizona Literary Contest. Categories for published works include nonfiction books, fiction novels/novellas or short story anthologies, and children's literature. Categories for unpublished works include short stories, poems, articles/essays/true stories, unpublished novels, and new drama writing. Authors of selected works may receive cash prizes, publication in Arizona Literary Magazine 2017, or Pushcart Prize nominations. Submissions are due on July 1. Find more information on the Arizona Authors' Association website. 

Canal Convergence 2017
Scottsdale Public Art activates the Scottsdale Waterfront, located along a strip of the Arizona Canal, each year for a multi-day festival called Canal Convergence. The festival blends visual and performance art by local, national, and international artists. Next year’s festival happens February 23 to 26, and they’re already on the hunt for ways to activate canal paths, grassy areas, and the surrounding infrastructure with land-based temporary installations, interactive installations for the Marshall Way Bridge, shady installations for large open areas, social practice work, and various performances and activities. Artists can submit proposals through July 10. Find more information on the Scottsdale Public Art website.

Pandora Festival
In the midst of all those Broadway shows that make their way to the ASU Gammage stage, and offerings by Arizona’s own theater companies from Stray Cat Theatre to Arizona Theatre Company, local playwrights are keeping busy crafting new material they hope will find its way to the stage one day. Arizona Women’s Theatre Company is looking for new works by women playwrights in Arizona, as it prepares to present Pandora Festival: Secrets Revealed at the John Paul Theatre at Phoenix College from November 3 to 6. They’re accepting submissions of 10-minute, one-act, and full-length plays through July 15. Find more information on the Arizona Women's Theatre Company website.

Arizona Dance Festival
The metro Phoenix dance scene includes several festivals, from Breaking Ground presented by CONDER/dance to the BETA Dance Festival presented at Phoenix Center for the Arts. And there’s also the Arizona Dance Festival, which features works by emerging and established dance artists. Their next festival, presented by Desert Dance Theatre and the Arizona Dance Coalition, happens October 7 and 8 at Tempe Center for the Arts – so they’re looking now for individual and group performances in all genres and styles of dance. Submissions are due on July 15. Find more information on the Arizona Dance Coalition website.

“New Art AZ” Exhibit
Recognizing that people like exploring art both in person and online, Artisterv/Thermal Gallery is putting together an exhibition of works to be shown both through its online gallery and at the Walter Gallery. They’re looking for works in various media completed during the last year for their “New Art AZ” exhibition happening this September. Submission are due on July 15. Find more information on the Thermal Gallery website.

“Arizona Weather” Exhibit
There’s good reason to visit Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport even when you’re not planning to jump on a plane, because the airport has its own art gallery and terminals filled with display cases used for showing works by local artists. The Phoenix Airport Museum is looking for art that shows the diversity of Arizona weather – including torrential rainstorms, high winds, snowstorms, sunny days, and lightning shows – as they prepare for the “Arizona Weather: Dust Storms to Snowstorms” exhibit being shown September 17, 2016, to March 19, 2017, in Terminal 4, Level 3 display cases. Both two- and three-dimensional works in most media will be considered. Submissions are due on July 22. Find more information on the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport website.

Airport Sculpture Garden
The Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture Public Art Program has issued several calls related to modernization projects at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, including a call for existing sculptures to be placed in an airport sculpture garden. Up to five artists will be selected to provide works for this Terminal Three West Plaza project, and works chosen will become part of the city's art collection. Submissions are due July 29. Find more information on the City of Phoenix website. 

Frankenstein 200
The Frankenstein Bicentennial Project at ASU, which celebrates Mary Shelley's classic tale and the original writing "dare" that inspired it, has put out the call for submissions to the Frankenstein Bicentennial Dare — which includes both a short-fiction contest called Frankenstein 200 and a long-form nonfiction competition called Dangerous Creations: Real-Life Frankenstein Stories. Short stories can be 1,000 to 1,800 words long, and select stories will be featured on Frankenscape, a public geo-storytelling project hosted by ASU's Frankenstein Bicentennial Project. The deadline for Frankenstein 200 submissions is July 31 (but you have until March 20, 2017, for Dangerous Creations submissions).  Find more information on The Frankenstein Bicentennial Project website. 

New Plays and Musicals Festival
Once you've actually penned a musical or play, you're faced with the long journey of bringing that work to the stage. For local playwrights eager to begin that process, Phoenix Theatre has an annual new works development festival called the Caleb Reese Festival of New Plays and Musicals. The next festival takes place May 1-14, 2017 — and they are already looking for full-length plays, full-length musicals, short plays, and original songs. Submissions are due on August 1. Find more information on the Phoenix Theatre website. 

openAIR Residency
Interdisciplinary and collaborative teams whose work involves "a dialogue, merger, or collision of ideas" are invited to apply for a new residency program offered by a new works development group called [nueBOX], which is headed by ASU graduate Julie Akerly. The selected team will create a site-specific work to be performed outside on the Mesa Arts Center campus — and receive support that includes a stipend, rehearsal/studio space, feedback sessions, and documentation of their work. They're accepting applications through August 7. Find more information on the [nueBOX] website. 

Original Print Calendar 2017
If you’ve ever dreamed of showing your artwork at Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, now is the time to get after it. They’ve got several open calls just now for upcoming shows, and exhibition opportunities in different galleries at the museum. But the deadline approaching most rapidly is for their 2017 Original Print Calendar, which will feature 12 original works on paper by emerging and established contemporary artists. They’re accepting submissions through August 19 for the calendar. Find more information on the Mesa Arts Center website.

“In Stitches” Exhibit
Chances are, you’ve popped into Vision Gallery in Chandler without ever realizing that the City of Chandler also operates a gallery inside Chandler Center for the Arts, where several exhibitions are shown each year. Best known is its annual Art Quilts exhibition, which has been around for two decades now. It’s presented by Chandler Cultural Foundation and the Chandler Arts Commission. This year they’re looking for “seriously humorous art quilts” to be shown November 18, 2016, to January 7, 2017. Submissions are due August 22. Find more information on the Vision Gallery website.