Call for Submissions: Collective City Gallery Project 2027

Images (left to right, top to bottom): Awkamon Gallery, Dupont Rail Gallery, Red Head Gallery, and 2-303 Lansdowne

Collective City Arts | The Gallery Project 2027

Submission Deadline: July 31, 2026

After a successful first year, Collective City Arts is pleased to announce a call for submissions for the 2027 season of The Gallery Project.

For the 2027 season, Collective City Arts expands its offerings to include exhibitions for twelve artists/curators/collectives at four different galleries in Toronto. The galleries they will be working with include: Dupont Rail Gallery, Red Head Gallery, 2-303 Lansdowne, and Awkamon Gallery.

Since 2011, Collective City Arts has produced documentary videos about the storied history of Toronto’s dynamic artist collectives and the fluid spaces in which they exhibit. The Gallery Project is an important adjunct of support that Collective City Arts is able to provide to the local independent artist community working in the Toronto region.

Their definition of “Independent” includes artists that have a studio practice with output that is not represented by a commercial gallery or institution.

The Theme: None

For this call, there are no restrictions on the genre or medium of the artwork. Collective City Arts encourages applications from anyone, regardless of age, gender, colour, or creed, who has a serious professional commitment to visual artmaking and some exhibiting experience.

Please note that anyone who secured an exhibition during the 2026 season is ineligible to reapply for the 2027 season, but may certainly do so again for 2028.

The Invitation

Independent individual artists, artist collectives, and curators are invited to submit a proposal for a 2-week show for the 2027 season.

All submissions must be received by Friday, July 31, 2026 to be eligible for consideration.

Successful candidates will receive rent-free access to one of the contemporary exhibition spaces referenced above. Additionally, The Gallery Project will provide artists with promotional support for the exhibition, including a two-week campaign with Akimbo.

Selected shows will be staffed by an on-site gallery attendant provided by Collective City Arts from Wednesday to Friday during the run of the exhibition.

Exhibitors are required to attend the space Saturday and Sunday. All Exhibitions will be closed on Monday and Tuesday.

The Gallery Project Spaces

Awkamon Gallery is a new space in Toronto’s West Queen West neighbourhood for people to connect over art and craft. All art is also craft; all craft is also art. This gallery is founded to support artist showings, craft fairs, workshop hosting, and community events

Dupont Rail Gallery is a bright and modern exhibition space located at 1444 Dupont Avenue (West of Lansdowne). The 800 sq. ft venue features an open layout, gallery lighting, automatic garage-door, and full kitchen and washroom. Dupont Rail was The Gallery Project’s first home and they are delighted to be returning once again this year!

The Red Head Gallery, founded in 1990, is Toronto’s longest-running artist-run collective gallery and comprises 18 artist-members. The collective brings together established and emerging artists who are engaged in a wide range of contemporary practices, fostering an environment of critical dialogue, collaboration, and mutual support.

2-303 Lansdowne, the gallery consists of three distinctive exhibition spaces: The Window Space, which is street facing and publicly viewable 24/7; The Main Space, which is best suited for collectives or collaborative exhibitions; and The Project Space, which is best suited for solo shows. Track lighting is installed in all three exhibition spaces.

Criteria for Eligibility

Consideration is given to any artist living and working in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Proposals are invited from one of three categories of applicants:

Individuals: Artists may apply to present a solo exhibition.
Artist Collectives: Groups of people whose practice is combined are asked to choose one person as a representative of their proposal. To qualify as a collective, the group must supply evidence of a previous collaboration in at least one other venue.
Curators: Proposals are invited from those seeking to assemble a show of selected works. Applications must include imagery and text that provides a meaningful overview of the show’s purpose and intent, as well as a list of artists whose work will be featured.

Application Process

Applicants are asked to complete an Online Submission Form from the website.

A fee of $30 will be applied. This fee is necessary to cover administrative expenses. This may be paid for online and as part of your submission.

In addition to your application, please be sure to also include:

10 images of representative work from each individual artist proposal, or 20 images of representative works from any artists’ collective or from two or more artists chosen by a curator. Files can be no larger than 1 MB each image.
A curriculum vitae for each proposed Artist, along the Curator’s as well if applicable.
A brief outline of the proposed show (up 250 words).
Contact information is required from each applicant.

Please Note: All exhibitions are two weeks in length. Please make clear in your application if there are any times during this period when you would be unable to show. Also note that all applications are limited to a single show.

The Selection Process

Proposals will be evaluated by an independent jury of established arts practitioners, including one member of Collective City.

The 2027 Selection Committee