Call for Submissions: Nocturne 2026 Beacon Projects

Nocturne 2026 Call for Submissions – Beacon Projects

Submission Deadline: Monday, March 10, 2026, 11:59pm (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: Embodied City will take place from October 15–18, 2026.

Programming Values & Guidelines

• Encourages proposals that reflect Nocturne’s core values as an independent, non-commercial, and contemporary art festival.
• Encourages proposals that are interactive and engaging.
• 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.
• Is committed to decreasing barriers, and do their best to ensure the venues and projects at Nocturne reflect those commitments.
• Seeks to view applicants from a lens of equity and aims to create space for equal opportunities.

About this Call

Nocturne is currently seeking artists to participate in their 2026 programming through the development of temporary public artworks that will be exhibited during Nocturne’s signature night-time art experience taking place on Saturday, October 17.

Nocturne’s 2026 Festival Curator, Annalise Prodor selected the theme Embodied City to inform this year’s festival. In Annalise’s words, “to question what it means to be embodied in urban environments can offer relief and create opportunities to engage lived experience more directly. Embodiment, or tuning into the body’s sensory experience, can spark creation, connection, and change through art, collective practice, and site-specific interventions”.

For this year’s festival artists are invited to explore this theme within their proposals. To learn more about Annalise and this year’s theme, visit here.

Eligibility

• Artists working in any discipline are encouraged to apply.
• Nocturne accepts proposals from local, regional, national and international artists.
• Artists must respond to the festival theme.
• We are looking for temporary public artworks that will be part of our signature night-time art experience on Saturday, October 17, 2026, from 6pm to midnight.
• Projects may include installations, performances, participatory works, multimedia/audio/screen-based work, and more.
• Artists are required to participate for the entire 6-hour duration of the festival, with appropriate breaks scheduled between performances as needed.
• Nocturne is primarily an outdoor festival. Artists should plan for the various weather conditions that could be a factor.

How to Apply

Please review the full Call for Submissions and complete the submission form. Applicants are encouraged to work offline (ie. in a word document, etc) and collate all support materials until you are ready to submit. Submit your completed application form before the deadline of Monday, March 10, 2026, 11:59pm (ADT). Applicants are strongly encouraged to review the Frequently Asked Questions on this page prior to applying.

Please note, for accessibility purposes, Nocturne will also accept proposals via phone, video, or audio file as needed by the applicant. Please get in touch via email at info@nocturnehalifax.ca to arrange this submission type. This process will take approximately one hour, and it will include a recorded interview that takes place between an organizer or committee member and the applicant to go through each section of the application together. The conversation will be recorded and shared with the jury via video or transcription.

Attend the Info Session
Wednesday, January 28, 2026, 6:00 – 7:00pm (ADT)
Register here

Nocturne will host an info session for applicants via Zoom to help you prepare your application. Attendance is not mandatory. The info session will also be recorded and made available online.

Application Timeline

• January 16: Call for submissions opens
• January 28: Applicant Info Session (hosted virtually)
• February 28: Application Open Studio (in-person)
• March 10: Call for submissions closes.
• Early May: Successful applicants contacted
• August 1: Marketing materials due
• October 15–18: Nocturne 2026
• December 31: Deadline for final reports from artists

Applicants will be informed of any adjustments to this timeline.

Questions?

If you have any questions, please email info@nocturnehalifax.ca or contact the team members below. We are happy to assist applicants anytime.

Signy Holm (she/her)
Programming Coordinator
Signy@nocturnehalifax.ca

Melany Nugent-Noble (she/her)
Executive Director
Melany@nocturnehalifax.ca

Annalise Prodor (she/her)
Festival Curator
Annalise@nocturnehalifax.ca

Nocturne: Art at Night
nocturnehalifax.ca
info@nocturnehalifax.ca
c/o Downtown Halifax Business Commission
1546 Barrington Street, Suite 104
Halifax, NS B3K 3X7

Instagram @NocturneHalifax
Facebook @NocturneHalifax
LinkedIn Nocturne Art at Night
BlueSky @nocturnehalifax.bsky.social

Image credits and descriptions:

1) WHAT WILL THE WORMS THINK OF ME? by Bethany MacKenzie (featuring DARTMOUTH GEESE ON VACATION by Eastern Front Theatre). Photo by James MacLean. For Nocturne: Ground, October 18, 2025. Description: An outdoor, night-time photo showing two people dressed in white goose costumes playing with a pile of several large, soft worm sculptures. They are placed on a patch of green sod which has been situated on a wooden boardwalk and five people are standing behind them watching with amusement.

2) Untitled (Clock – Piece) by Susannah Haight. Durational performance. For Nocturne: Ground, October 18, 2025. Photo by Ginger Yu. Description: A dancer is posed on their knees with their left arm above their head. They are kneeling within a large circular pile of soil encircled in stones. There are large black speakers around the circle and they appear to be inside a concrete parking garage.

3) Different Shoots, Same Roots by Jeighk Koyote. Interactive installation. For Nocturne: Ground, October 18, 2025. Photo by Tarek El Wazzi. Description: An outdoor night-time photo showing a group of 12 people posing for a polaroid photo in front of a stand of three fake aspen trees with bright yellow leaves. Seven of them are standing, and five are crouched in front of them, all smiling at the camera. The person taking the photo wears a white puffer coat and green toque, and they are sitting on a stone bench leaning back. To their left there is a cork board showing various polaroids of other people in front of the trees.

4) Real Estate Agent vs. the Angel of History by Emma Chapman-Lin & Charlie MacLean. Video projection and installation. For Nocturne: Ground, October 18, 2025. Photo by Ginger Yu. Description: the image shows the skeleton of a very tall, unfinished apartment building with a large projection on a concrete wall. The projection shows the figure of a floating puppet character with a caption reading “of moments of collapse and folded-in over each other!”. There is also a red crane to the right of the building, and the sky in the background is very dark with dark gray clouds.