The New Art Center's Curatorial Opportunity Program (COP) is currently accepting proposals for contemporary art exhibitions involving two or more artists and at least one public presentation.

This open-call program supports independent curators by making possible diverse visions in a non-profit and alternative exhibition space. The program investigates contemporary culture through the visual arts, exhibits strong curatorial voices, and encourages the timely examination of new ideas and perspectives. 

Our 2,500-square-foot gallery is a converted church with a 25-foot vaulted ceiling. Curators of accepted proposals receive a 1,000 USD stipend as well as administrative, installation, marketing and PR support.

The New Art Center has a 35-year tradition of using its Main Gallery for group exhibitions curated by an independent curator. Since May 1991, we have continued this tradition through our Curatorial Opportunity Program's public call for proposals.

The COP furthers the New Art Center's mission to support the development of visual artists and cultivate a community that appreciates art. COP exhibitions and associated public programs are the foundation of our gallery education and outreach programs and enhance the learning available in our studio classes and workshops, which educate over 2,500 students annually and sustain a faculty of 40 professional artists.

Learn more and read our guidelines here. 

Click here to see previously selected COP shows.

Apply for our call on callforentry.org.

Interested parties are encouraged to attend our hands-on COP Workshop & information session on Thursday, October 15, 7–9pm at the New Art Center. Workshops feature presentations by curators about their projects and approaches to curating contemporary art, and invite participants to engage in dialogue about curatorial ideas while learning more about the Curatorial Opportunity Program.

About the workshop presenters
This workshop will feature curator Dina Deitsch and her student curators Lucy Wood Baird and Loretta Park. The panel will discuss their collaborative and artist curator approach as it relates to their recent exhibition, Bouncing in the Corner, presented at §üb∫amsøn and conceived by Baird and Park. It was the first of two pop-up group shows organized by students at Massachusetts College of Art and Design as part of the spring 2015 Curatorial Practices Graduate Seminar taught by Deitsch. Bouncing in the Corner featured eleven artists whose work addresses the unique space—literal and metaphorical—inhabited by the corner.

Dina Deitsch is Director of Curatorial Projects at Cambridge and San Francisco-based Goodman Taft, where she organizes artist commissions, publications, and public projects. She also serves on faculty in the graduate program at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She was previously Curator of Contemporary Art at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum and held curatorial positions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Williams College Museum of Art.

Lucy Baird holds a BA from Harvard University in Anthropology (2010) and a BFA from the Art Institute of Chicago (2012). She is currently pursuing her MFA in Photography at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, MA. Baird's work has been included in shows at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center and Filter Chicago, among others. She currently lives and works in Boston.

Loretta Park, also an MFA candidate at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, studied visual arts and art history at Bowdoin College, where she earned a bachelor's degree in 2011. Her work has been exhibited in Boston and around New England, as well as New York and New Jersey. Park tries to create work that is unapologetic and frank, while looking at other artists such as Jessica Stockholder and Elizabeth Murray for wisdom and inspiration. The idea of play is important for Park and she is always mindful of what Sol Lewitt once said: "Your work is not a high stakes, nail-biting professional challenge. It is a form of play. Lighten up and have fun with it."



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