The Whitaker: Open Call for Artists

The Whitaker are inviting submissions for exhibition and commission opportunities for artists for our Visual Arts Programme for 2023 – 2025.

For the full open call, please visit: https://www.thewhitaker.org/blog/museum-news/exhibition-opportunities-at-the-whitaker/ 

Submission Deadline: 12pm, Friday 10th February.

We’re a unique Museum and Gallery in Rossendale, reopened in 2021 after a significant £2 million development and extension – and have recently been successful in securing National Portfolio Organisation status with Arts Council England.

We house a number of gallery spaces where we programme visual arts exhibitions from local, national and international artists.

The past year has seen exhibitions from international multimedia artist Aideen Barry, lead artist for European Capital of Culture – and we have shown challenging and surprising work from local North West-based artists including Paula Chambers, Harry Grundy, Martin Grimes, Ruth Murray, Liam Spencer and Jo Whittle.

We also hosted critically acclaimed group shows from the 62 Group as part of the British Textile Biennial, and a major group drawing show of local and international artists.

We have also supported emerging new graduates and annually advertise special exhibition opportunities for those artists.

We have a rolling programme of contemporary art exhibitions in our permanent Gallery 1 and Gallery 2 spaces. These exhibitions are usually 2 to 3 months in duration.

There is also the Corridor Gallery, off the entrance foyer, offering opportunities to display artworks in our very busy public spaces between the museum, shop and hospitality areas of our building.

We also commission artists for our Old Entrance Space. This unusual small space lends itself to a range of installations. We have had a free-standing cabinet designed with a mini museum collection, sound-based work, text-based work presented on the walls, items displayed on small tables, in cabinets, and film-based work shown on a screen in there.

We like to have artists spend time with us, getting to know the collections and developing new work over an extended period of time.

Recent residencies have seen outcomes including stone-carved poetry for our new garden, a bespoke ‘chandelier of objects’ suspended in our Old Stables space and a specially made animated film incorporating objects from our collection to be shown on our big screen.

Any professional artists, working in all disciplines, are welcome to apply.