Should I be entering open calls?

The short answer is, yes! As an early career artist you need all the exposure you can get and being chosen to exhibit might just get your work in front of the people who need to see it. The exhibition will be promoted and if your work is on display, or your name mentioned on social media, that will increase exposure for your work. However, not all open calls are equal. Some offer a greater chance of getting a foot in the door, but other, smaller, events might offer a greater chance of success which would, in turn, support your next application, so choosing what to enter and when is an important decision.

Are you eligible to enter?

Before you go too far with an application make sure you read the small print and find out if you’re eligible to enter. Many competitions have geographical, age or other restrictions. Don’t waste your time by falling at the first hurdle.

Look at the judging panel

If a competition or open call has a prestigious judging panel, even if you don’t get chosen, you’ll have your work seen by some of the top names in the business. They might even come back to you later with a totally different proposition if your work makes a good impression but didn’t make the cut for that particular exhibition or publication. And just getting your name out there and your work recognised might just make someone pause for thought next time they see it.

How well does the theme suit your work?

It doesn’t matter how prestigious the competition or how generous the prize, if your work doesn’t suit the theme of the open call then there’s no point in entering – unless of course you can write a stunner of an artist’s statement that can persuade the judges that your work does actually fit the theme.

Even when your work seems well suited, you’ll need to carefully consider what image or images to enter. You’ll need to be objective, read the criteria carefully, and choose what to submit wisely. If you’re selecting a series of images, make sure they work well together and follow a story arc that allows you to elaborate on why your work is suited to this particular competition. Your artist’s statement is also very important here, and unless it supports your entry, you’ll find it hard to make the cut.

How prestigious is the sponsor?

Big name call outs will attract huge competition, but there are plenty of well known host organisations running open calls. Just take a look at their social media for an idea of what kind of following they have, run through their website and see what type of things they do and who they partner with and you’ll soon get a sense of how big a deal their event is. It’s also worth looking at how past winners are doing and if the win made a big difference to their career. Weighing up all these factors is an important first step in deciding if an open call is for you.

How much does it cost to enter?

Some competitions have entry fees, others don’t and there’s no hard and fast rule about which you should enter, it’s all about what value an entry has for you. Assessing how appropriate your work is to the theme, how prestigious the competition or open call is, how much exposure you could potentially gain from it, and what’s it’s worth to you to get your work under the noses of that particular judging panel will all help you to decide if the competition entry fee is worth it for you.

Is a potential win the only reason to enter?

Not at all. The more people who see your work the better, so getting it in front of a judging panel can lead to other things you might never have thought of, even if you don’t get accepted for that particular call. You’ll also get good experience curating your work and writing an artist’s statement to support it. The more often you do this, the easer it gets, and, if you save all your entries, you’ll build up a catalogue of information about you and your work that can easily be taken out again at a later date and edited to fit another request.