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5 Tips for Maximizing Your Open Call Chances

As you may have noticed, we at HUG have been working hard to bring several Open Call opportunities to our artists over the past few months.

What exactly are open calls, and how can you maximize your chances of getting selected? Contrary to popular belief, getting selected through an open call is not completely down to luck. By approaching each open call you submit to with a game plan, you can actually better your odds of winning.

Here’s how.

What are open calls and why should you apply?

Art open calls are common in the industry and are a common way for galleries, exhibitions, grant providers, etc. to make various opportunities available to artists.

From an artist’s standpoint, getting selected by an open call can give them exposure for their work, opportunities to form new connections, and even win cash prizes. In fact, several artists have used open calls as a way to develop their careers successfully.

Tip #1: Don’t apply to every open call

While we always encourage artists to take a chance on yourself and to shoot your shot, be mindful that not every open call will be best suited to you and your work. Time is money, so make sure you aren’t wasting your time as well as that of others who are reviewing your work.

While every Open Call on HUG is free, many open calls out there require an entry fee, and that cost could very well add up over time if you are applying to every single open call you come across.

Tip #2: Do your research

Before deciding to apply to an open call, make sure to read through the details carefully to see if the theme matches your work and if you meet other eligibility requirements. Often, we see artists who fail to read the submission requirements making them ineligible from the outset, which is an easy mistake to avoid.

In general, here are some of the questions you should be asking yourself:

• If this is a recurring opportunity, who were the shortlisted artists and winners in previous years?

• What type of work is accepted, and does your work meet what the organizers are looking for?

• What are all the costs involved? Are there entry fees or other travel or transportation costs that you need to be aware of?

• How is the artwork selection done, and who is selecting the artwork?

Tip #3: Put yourself in the selectors’ shoes

Always put yourself in the position of people who will be looking at and curating your work.

At HUG, we make the curation process decentralized and community-driven, so anyone can participate in selecting the best work for each opportunity. This is a great opportunity to put on your curator hat, and see for yourself how difficult it can be to select a handful of artworks from hundreds or even thousands of submissions.

Because of that, make sure your submission stands out for the right reasons! Here are some tips:

• Make sure your work looks good: Submit work in the highest acceptable resolution, or if you are taking photos of physical work, make sure the lighting and angle do your work justice.

• Be clear and direct: If the application requires any supporting information, make sure that the description or statement you provide is clean and concise. Run it by a friend or family member to get a fresh perspective on whether your proposal is easily understandable.

Tip #4: Don’t miss the deadline

There is nothing worse than putting in the hard work to prepare for an open call, only to find out that you have missed the deadline. If you intend to apply to an open call, make sure you note down its deadline (including the exact time and time zone) in your personal calendar so you don’t miss it.

Tip #5: Don’t take rejection personally!

Rejection is part and parcel of everyone’s life and career - an artist is no exception. Always remember that rejection is redirection. Even if your work is not selected for this opportunity, know that another one is usually right around the corner.

At HUG, we often have multiple Open Call opportunities running at the same time, with new ones being added every month. We have already placed hundreds of artists in galleries worldwide in just the past few months, and you could very well be added to that list sooner than you expect.

Closing thoughts

While you will never be able to guarantee a 100% success rate in applying to open calls, they can become an incredibly valuable part of your development as an artist. If anything, they also help you to understand your work better, while providing a prompt, structure, and deadline for working on your art.

Lastly, make applying to open calls a part of your regular practice! Setting aside time every month or even every week to source opportunities can also help you plan ahead help you to organize your time and efforts more effectively.

In the News

Industry News

• Adobe will be opening up access to a range of generative AI features across its software, and also plans to raise prices while promising to pay contributors whose work help make the features possible.

• Business Insider reports on the potential of Web3’s potential impact on the music industry through improved artist compensation and innovative fan experiences

Tools and Resources

• Text-to-video AI generator Runway is introducing Director mode: a new update that allows users to choose the direction and intensity of their camera movement in outputs.

• Stability AI is launching a text-to-audio generative AI platform called Stable Audio, which users can use to generate songs or background audio for any project.

• Magic Eden makes buying and selling art less expensive through cNFTs, or compressed NFTs, which are set to reduce the costs of creating content through compression and off-chain storage.

Notable Creators

• Pace Verso, the Web3 art division of Pace Gallery, is preparing to launch an astrologically-infused NFT collection this fall in collaboration with multidisciplinary artist Peter Saville, musician Stephen Morris, and the Joy Division Archive.

• In partnership with Black Dove Art, renowned digital artist Bryan Brinkman announces his first solo show is set to debut in October at New York City’s NFT Gallery.

Artist Grants and Opportunities

HUG-exclusive

• 🛍 The HUG Print Shop is coming, and we want to license your art! We are sourcing art across 10 different categories with the help of esteemed guest curators like Amber Vittoria, Reuben Wu, Dave Krugman, Claire Silver, and more. Learn more and submit here.

• 🍷 Join the Medici Collection at Shibuya Crossing! Did you catch your news of the week? We are teaming up with patron of the digital arts Cozomo de’ Medici to bring 6 artists and 6 pieces from The Medici Collection to Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo. Learn more and submit here.

• 💵 Win a $500 grant for minting your work as an open edition on Magic Eden! Our friends at Magic Eden are giving a total of 10 $500 grants for creators looking to mint their work on the Solana blockchain as an open edition. Learn more and submit here.

• ☕️ Enter the Crypto Cafe with 3 incredible artists - POST WOOK, ALIENQUEEN, and Refik Anadol! Join Randi on her SiriusXM podcast where she interviews the leading thinkers in arts and technology. Learn more and submit your interest to join our conversations with the following artists:

  • Collage artist POST WOOK

  • Psychedelic artist ALIENQUEEN

  • Digital and AI artist Refik Anadol (who is taking over the Sphere in Las Vegas!)

• 💰 HUG is offering $500 USD grants to two artists each month in exchange for unminted artwork to raffle off to our community. Learn more and meet all our HUG Visionaries here.

Other Open Calls

• It’s all about big money and big names in this week’s Open Calls curated by HUG Artist Rebecca Rose. Learn more here.

• NFT NYC is returning in 2024, and they are looking for artists to be a part of their Community Artist Showcase, which saw over 4,000 artists apply last year. Learn more and submit early here.

• Show your art in Montreal with Suburbs Gallery by submitting to their open call here.

• Take Up Space is seeking queer & POC multimedia artists to submit unminted artwork for a curated drop on Zora exploring the theme of Technology of Togetherness. Select artwork will be included in the first-ever Take Up Space physical zine.

This Week’s Art Drops

Did you know that these are just 8 of 400+ art drops on HUG? Get a full list of this week’s art drops from HUG here.