Where We Gather: The Price of Fitting In

Theme: "Where We Gather: The Price of Fitting In" 

Exhibition Dates: Friday, June 5th - Friday July 3rd, 2026

Public Opening: June 13th, 2026

Artwork Delivery Dates: Monday June 1st - Wednesday June 3rd

This is an In-person exhibition 

Accessibility / Fee Waiver Statement (Open Call)
SlipStitch is committed to keeping this opportunity accessible. For every 8 paid applications, we offer 1 no-fee application on a first-come, first-served basis. If the application fee is a barrier, you’re welcome to request a waiver - join the no-fee list here: CONNECT.

Open Call for Artists — Pride Month Exhibition (2026)  
Where We Gather: The Price of Fitting In

SlipStitch invites artists to submit work for our 2026 Pride Month exhibition, Where We Gather: The Price of Fitting In, a show centering LGBTQIA+ / AANHPI / BIPOC experience and asking what it costs to feel safe, welcomed, and whole in the spaces we’re told are “for everyone.”

This exhibition holds both joy and truth: chosen family, nightlife and living rooms, community centers and sidewalks, group chats and galleries, alongside the realities of gatekeeping, code-switching, tokenization, surveillance, and unequal safety within queer spaces.

What we’re looking for

We welcome work that explores (including but not limited to):

• Belonging and exclusion in queer spaces (who gets in, who gets questioned, who gets policed)
• The “price” of fitting in (respectability politics, code-switching, assimilation pressure)
• Safety and risk (public space, nightlife, online spaces, institutions)
• Chosen family, care, and mutual aid as survival infrastructure
• Cultural memory + intergenerational knowledge (elders, lineage, archives, rituals)
• Joy as resistance—pleasure, softness, celebration, rest, style, humor

Media
All mediums considered: painting, photography, sculpture, textiles, video, sound, installation, performance documentation, zines/print, digital/new media. We especially encourage work that can be experienced in community (interactive, participatory, or paired with a public program), but it’s not required.

Who should apply
This call is for LGBTQIA+ / AANHPI / BIPOC artists (emerging to established). We also welcome collaborative submissions and community-based projects.
 

"SlipStitch is an artist-centered nonprofit gallery committed to accessibility and socially contextual work. We encourage submissions from  LGBTQIA+ / AANHPI / BIPOC artists working across identity, community, and place."

• Submissions due by twelve midnight 5/30/2026
• Artist approval notifications will be sent by midnight Sunday 5/31/2026
• Invited Artists artwork should be ready to be shipped with the Gallery receive date or personal delivery.
• Artwork is available at time of submission and during exhibition dates.
• Artist Commission 60% | Gallery Commission 40%
• Exhibition includes, 2nd Saturday Artwalk Event, Website and Social Media Representation, and mid-exhibition Artist Event

This call is intended for:

• LGBTQIA+ / AANHPI / BIPOC
• Artists whose lived experience intersects these identities (self-defined)
• Price Restrictions: Artist's Retail Price (includes Gallery Commission) should not exceed $5,000.00
• Invited Artist are responsible for Shipping and Receiving of artwork to and from gallery.
• Suggested size for two-dimensional work is 48 inches on the longest side. For three-dimensional work, please keep pieces under 60 inches in height and under 30 inches in width or depth.
• Framing prefered for works on or made of paper.