Open Call: New art for New York

Launched as part of The Shed’s inaugural-year program, Open Call is a large-scale commissioning program for early-career, NYC-based artists. Representing disciplines from music performance, poetry, and puppetry to painting, sculpture, and video, Open Call exemplifies what The Shed does best in championing dynamic, innovative art of all kinds.

Open Call artists receive a commissioning fee of up to $15,000 depending on the scope of their projects, robust production support, and resources to further nurture their practices and expand their audiences. Admission is free to all Open Call events.

Requirements

By decentralizing the curatorial voice within the selection process, which challenges the gatekeeping tendencies common to arts institutions, Open Call realizes The Shed’s civic mission to be truly of, by, and for New York City. As in the four previous iterations, participants for Open Call’s fifth edition will be selected by more than 50 independent leaders across all artistic fields, including artists, cultural programmers, curators, producers, academics, and members of The Shed’s program team. Applications will open in the winter of 2026, with reviews and selections taking place in the spring and summer. Finalists will be notified in the fall of 2026.

The Shed will support selected projects with a commissioning fee of up to $15,000 per artist or collective. Over the course of the Open Call program, each commission will be co-produced and designed in collaboration with each finalist and The Shed’s artistic and production teams.

The program includes stewardship support to establish a clear development timeline, a customized accessibility plan, and in-kind presenting support toward the implementation and installation of the work on-site, including artistic and production support outlined in detail on the application.

Selected projects will be presented in either summer 2027 or summer 2028 in various spaces at The Shed. All tickets to Open Call will be offered to the public for free, making the program accessible, welcoming, and inviting for all New Yorkers.

Application Instructions

Applications to Open Call will be accepted via Submittable between Tuesday, January 13 and Tuesday, February 24 at 11:59 pm ET. There is no processing fee for The Shed’s Open Call application. Artists or collectives whose projects have been selected will be notified by fall 2026 and will be publicly announced by early 2027.