Downtown Arts 2026-27

Downtown Arts provides support for and generates awareness about members of Greensboro’s visual arts community while enhancing the downtown built environment with original works of art. Selected artists will receive compensation and the support of City of Greensboro led marketing initiatives. 

Downtown Arts: This program provides support for and generates awareness about members of Greensboro’s visual arts community while enhancing the downtown built environment with original works of art. Selected artists will receive compensation and promotion through several City-led initiatives. Applicants to this Call for Artists can choose to be considered for one or both of the following opportunities:

• Art on Downtown Kiosks: a $500 honorarium will be awarded to up to ten artists whose submitted work is selected for digital display on City maintained property, including on the 11 digital kiosks located throughout downtown, February 2026 through January 2027. Each selected artist/image will be displayed in a rotating slideshow on the downtown kiosks for 10 weeks. It is expected that artists will submit images of work previously created. One work sample image from each selected artist will be chosen for the program. Selected work will be displayed in electronic format  (minimum 980 x 980 pixels and minimum 72 dpi).
• Art in City Hall - Special Commission: a $3,000 commission will be awarded to one artist who will create a new, original work no larger than 36” x 24” (or 36” x 24” x 24” if artwork is three-dimensional) that reflects their creative perspective on Greensboro in 2025. The original work will be placed in the City’s permanent collection and displayed periodically in public facilities. Creative Greensboro staff will work with the artist to have the commissioned work photographed or scanned (if the original medium is not a digital format), enlarged to 10’ x 20’, and reproduced onto vinyl. Creative Greensboro will incur the costs of the reproduction. This enlarged image of the artwork will be framed and installed on the council chamber wall, just inside the Plaza Entrance to the Melvin Municipal Office Building (MMOB), and on display July 2026 through July 2027.

Both opportunities are available for Greensboro-based artists working in painting, sculpture, drawing, ceramics, glass, photography, digital arts, or fiber arts.

Each submitting artist must provide:

• A resume: demonstrating commissions, exhibitions, awards, and/or other professional qualifications related to your creative practice in the Greensboro area and beyond.
• A high quality headshot: Please submit a photo of yourself that can be used in promotional efforts if you are selected.
• An artist statement: no more than 2,000 characters (including spaces), describing what you make and why you make it.
• At least 5 and up to 10 images of work made within the past 5 years: All work samples must be the original work of the applicant, submitted as high-resolution image files. Please note: the expectation is that these submissions are from a body of work already created by the submitting artist – as opposed to work that has been specifically made for this call. Work for the ‘Art on Downtown Kiosks’ program will be selected from the submitted work samples. Artists should submit high quality, well-lit images that feature only the artwork. Work samples should not include logos, commercial speech or advertising, religious or political messages, explicit sexual imagery, nudity, or graphic depictions of violence. The artwork selected for the ‘Art on Downtown Kiosks’ program will be displayed in the electronic kiosk and should be minimum 72 dpi. Please keep in mind the display of the electronic kiosks when submitting artwork.
• If you are interested in also being considered for the ‘Art in City Hall’ original commission, you must also include a statement of no more than 2,000 characters (including spaces) that describes the ideas/concepts you would like to explore in the commissioned work as you reflect on Greensboro in 2025. The commissioned artist will be expected to develop their concept and design through a design review process facilitated by Creative Greensboro. Feedback from the selection committee should be taken into consideration when developing the final design of the artwork.

Eligibility: Applicants must be a creative individual with a practice in painting, sculpture, drawing, ceramics, glass, photography, digital arts, or fiber arts, and must be full-time residents of Greensboro at least 18 years of age. 

City of Greensboro employees, and their immediate family members, are not eligible.

Artist are eligible to show in Art in Downtown Kiosks every other year. Artists will be selected only once for the Art in City Hall - Special Commission.