EXHIBITION PROPOSAL GUIDELINES

GUIDELINES

As Filter Photo is dedicated to serving and supporting the contemporary photography community, all exhibition proposals should relate to photography, photographic materials, or lens-based artwork. This definition is purposefully open-ended; moving-image work, installations, and performances related to photography may all be included in proposals. Artists, curators, and collectives are all welcome to submit proposals. For example, a single artist could submit a proposal for a solo show, or a collective could submit a proposal for a large group show.

PROPOSAL MATERIALS

Proposals will be accepted online via Submittable. Only proposals submitted in this manner will be considered. We recommend that you make use of the gallery floor plan in developing your proposal and include any layout plans in your proposal narrative. This is especially true for proposals that include site-specific installations and multimedia elements. Please add any proposed related programming to your proposal such as artist talks, performances, etc if you see them as relevant to your proposed exhibition.

In addition to contact information, applicants will need to provide the following materials and pay a submission fee of $25.

A proposal narrative describing the exhibition/curatorial statement and related programming (500 words max)
A brief bio for the applicant(s) and, if possible, for all the proposed artists
A CV for the applicant(s)
10 - 12 sample images. These should be in JPEG format, sized 1000 pixels on the longest side, and titled by last name, initial of first name, and image number (e.g. DoeJ_1.jpg). Images should be of artworks intended for exhibition, but a small number of prior installation images may be included if the applicant thinks they may be helpful to the review panel.
Links to videos and other multimedia content, no more than 5 minutes in length (if applicable)

STIPEND

In order to defray exhibition costs, Filter Photo offers a small stipend to accepted applicants. This amount is calculated based on recommendations by the Working Artists and the Greater Economy organization (W.A.G.E.), scaled to match Filter Photo’s budget. As a small nonprofit with an annual budget of significantly less than the required $500,000, Filter Photo cannot meet W.A.G.E.’s recommendations for a base level stipend. Nevertheless, Filter Photo strongly supports W.A.G.E.’s initiatives and believes that it does well to support the spirit of the organization’s effort. Filter Photo looks forward to increasing this amount as the organization grows. Sample stipends are listed below, exact amounts are subject to change based on Filter Photo’s operating budget.

Solo Exhibition: $350

Two-Person Exhibition: $175 each

Group Exhibition (3-4 Artists): $90 each

INFORMATION FOR ACCEPTED APPLICANTS

Applicants will be notified of the panel’s decision in late January. Accepted applicants will work with a Filter Photo staff member to determine the exhibition’s date, layout, and other details.
Artists are responsible for all shipping costs to and from the gallery for their exhibition.
Any revenue obtained from sales of artwork on display will be split between Filter Photo and the artist, with the artist receiving 70% and Filter Photo receiving 30% of the final sales price. This split will apply to works sold directly through Filter Photo.

Submit Your Proposal Now!

EXHIBITION ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Doug Fogelson – Artist & Filter Photo Board President

Doug Fogelson studied at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Columbia College Chicago. His works are exhibited with esteemed galleries and museums and included in collections such as The J. Paul Getty Center, Los Angeles; The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; Center for Creative Photography, Tucson and Staatliche Museum für Fotografie, Berlin. Fogelson has been recognized by The Brooklyn Rail, Photo District News, and AfterImage among others. Aside from creating art Doug founded and directed Front Forty Press, an independent arts focused publishing imprint, has taught in the Photography Department of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and currently serves as President of the Board for Filter Photo.

Shana Lopes – Assistant Curator of Photography, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Shana Lopes, PhD, is an Assistant Curator of Photography at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. She has organized exhibitions on cyanotypes, the 1906 earthquake, Atget, Wright Morris, and Eikoh Hosoe. She is the co-curator of Constellations: Photographs in Dialogue, which pairs recent acquisitions with existing work from the collection, and A Living for Us All: Artists and the WPA. Most recently, she organized Sightlines: Photographs from the Collection, on view now. Over the past fourteen years, she has gained curatorial experience at the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Arizona, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Allison Peters Quinn – Director of Exhibition & Residency Programs, Hyde Park Art Center

Allison Peters Quinn is a curator, educator, and writer based in Chicago. Her work over the past ten years has been focused on projects that address intersections between art, public space, and civically-minded practices. Her essays have appeared in art anthologies including Service Media: Is it Public Art or Art in Public Space (2013), and The Artists Run Chicago Digest (2009) in addition to artists’ monographic publications on Cándida Alvarez, Susan Giles, and Jefferson Pinder. She has served as juror for national art organizations including the Artadia Award, and Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, among others. Quinn is currently the Director of Exhibition & Residency Programs at Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago).

Teresa Silva – Executive and Artistic Director, Chicago Artists Coalition

Teresa Silva is the Executive and Artistic Director at the Chicago Artists Coalition, a nonprofit organization supporting emerging and mid-career artists and curators. Silva has presented exhibitions, talks and lectures at venues such as the Chicago Cultural Center, Mana Contemporary, School of the Art Institute, Ox-Bow Art School and Artists' Residency, and the Artist Communities Alliance. She has served as a Visual Arts panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts among other art juries. In 2018, she was an Artists' Community Administrator Resident at the Rauschenberg Residency in Captiva, FL. In 2022, Silva was ranked #5 in NewCity's prestigious list, Art 50: Chicago's Visual Vanguard for her influence and contributions to the Chicago art community. Teresa Silva has been a member of the artist cooperative Tiger Strikes Asteroid Chicago since 2016.