Call for Submissions: Nocturne 2025 Low-Sensory Project

Call for Submissions: Nocturne 2025 Low-Sensory Project at Point Pleasant Park, Kjipuktuk (Halifax)

Submission Deadline: April 7, 2025, 11:59 pm (ADT)
View full posting and apply online.

Founded in 2008, Nocturne: Art at Night Festival (Nocturne) is a free, independent, contemporary art festival in Kjipuktuk (Halifax). Annually, Nocturne brings 65,000+ people to the streets of Halifax and Dartmouth to experience art and celebrate the visual arts scene in Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia). This year Nocturne: Ground will take place from October 16-19, 2025.

Nocturne is currently seeking artists to participate in their 2025 programming through the development of a temporary public artwork that will be exhibited during daytime hours on Sunday, October 19.

Nocturne’s 2025 Festival Curator, Marite Kuus selected the theme Ground. For this year’s theme of Ground, artists are invited to explore physical, social, cultural and political aspects of the ground beneath us. Gardeners, mycologists, walkers, archeologists and geologists, roadworkers, settlers; we all have a different relationship with this space which we interact with daily, and applicants are encouraged to consider the multitude of possible meanings of this theme. Learn more about Marite and this year’s theme.

Founded in 2024, the Low-Sensory Project addresses the reality that the majority of art-at-night festival programming is often not sensory-friendly. For instance, projects often include bright lights, loud noises, and busy crowds. This call was designed to provide sensory-friendly programming as part of Nocturne, during daytime hours at one of the Summer House Gazebos at Point Pleasant Park on Sunday, October 19, 2025.

About the Location: Point Pleasant Park

Point Pleasant Park is a historic urban park located in the south end of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Spanning approximately 75 hectares, the park offers scenic views of Halifax Harbour and the Atlantic Ocean, as well as a network of wooded trails, open spaces, and historic sites. It is home to several landmarks, including the Prince of Wales Tower, the oldest Martello tower in North America, and various remnants of British fortifications. Popular for walking, cycling, and picnicking, the park is also a venue for cultural events and outdoor performances, including Shakespeare by the Sea.

1. Point Pleasant Summer House: Located at the southernmost tip of the Park, the Point Pleasant Summer House Gazebo sits adjacent to the Northwest Arm Battery. The gazebo is surrounded by greenspace and faces one of the main trails looking onto the Northwest Arm – a narrow inlet dividing the western side of the Halifax peninsula.
2. Cedar Walk Summer House: The Cedar Walk Summer House is positioned just west of the lower parking lot. Nestled between several smaller gravel trails, the Cedar Walk Summer House sits in a slightly more sheltered location.

Artist Fees

For the successful artist Nocturne pays an equitable CARFAC 2025 Public Art Fee Schedule, which includes material/production, accessibility, artist care, and travel.

Nocturne’s Programming Values

• Encourages proposals that reflect Nocturne’s core values as an independent, non-commercial, and contemporary art festival.
• Encourages emerging artists, creatives, arts workers, and makers to apply.
• Aims to support efforts that are exploratory, challenging, and critical in nature.
• Strives to create spaces that are welcoming, accessible, and safe for artists and visitors.

Encouraging Creatives and Artists:

• Encourages applicants to propose new work as well as projects that have been started or completed elsewhere.
• Encourages artists working in all mediums to apply.
• Seeks to view applicants from a lens of equity and aims to create space for equal opportunities.
• Encourages proposals for interactive and engaging installations.
• Is committed to decreasing barriers at Nocturne and do their best to ensure the venues and projects at Nocturne reflect those commitments.

Deadline to Apply: April 7, 2025, 11:59 pm (ADT)

Application Timeline

• January 15: Call for submissions opens
• January 28: Info session – Register here
• April 7: Call for submissions closes. The selection committee will review and deliberate.
• Mid May: The top three successful artists will be shortlisted to present their ideas to the selection committee.
  ◦  The three artists selected to present their project concepts will each receive an honorarium of $500.00.
• Mid-June: Shortlisted candidates will present their ideas to the selection committee.
• Late June: Successful applicants contacted
• August 1: Marketing materials due
• October 16-19: Nocturne 2025
  ◦  Low-Sensory Project: Sunday, October 19
• December 31: Deadline for final reports from artists

Applicants will be informed of any adjustments to this timeline.

How to Apply

Click here to see the full posting and to apply.

Nocturne: Art at Night
c/o Downtown Halifax Business Commission
1546 Barrington Street, Suite 104
Halifax, NS B3J 3X7
nocturnehalifax.ca
info@nocturnehalifax.ca

Facebook @NocturneHalifax
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Twitter @NocturneHalifax

Image credits and descriptions:

1) Quilted Canopies, by Shayla Bond and Anne Kobayashi. Low-Sensory Project for Nocturne 2024, October 20, 2024, Halifax Public Gardens. Image by Tara Nicholson. Description: A child smiling and wearing a red shirt plays in the middle of a large blue and white parachute on the ground, while several people hold up the handles of the parachute. The background shows an urban park with a large Nocturne sign between a gravel path and green field.

2) COLLECT/ive grief COLLECT/ive joy, Corrie Peters, October 15, 2023. Photo by Mayur Kakreli. Description: An outdoor gazebo is set up with colourful blankets, and people can be seen sitting and standing inside. To the right a picnic table is set up with various items. The Halifax cityscape and the Harbour can be seen in the background.

3) Quilted Canopies, by Shayla Bond and Anne Kobayashi. Low-Sensory Project for Nocturne 2024, October 20, 2024, Halifax Public Gardens. Photo by Signy Holm. Description: Four people smiling and holding onto the handles of a large white and blue parachute billowing above them. Greenery and another similar parachute is lying on the ground behind them.