EXHIBITIONS and SPECIAL PROJECTS
Xpace Cultural Centre is accepting proposals of all media from emerging and student artists, designers, curators and cultural workers for our 2025/2026 Programming Year. Exhibitions and Special Projects are selected by our Programming Committee which is composed of Xpace Staff and Board members. There is no fee to apply, and all selected applicants and participants are paid an applicable CARFAC fee. This Open Call covers all exhibition spaces from September 2025 through July 2026. Click here for an FAQ Document about this call for submissions.
WORKSHOPS
Xpace Cultural Centre is seeking workshop proposals from emerging artists, designers, curators and arts administrators for our 2025/2026 Programming Year. Our workshop program is presented to the Toronto/Tkaronto emerging art and design community free-of-charge. It is programmed annually with the intention of responding to the needs and interests of emerging creative practitioners in our community. There is no fee to apply. Workshop facilitators are paid an applicable CARFAC fee to develop and execute their project, with the option of requesting CAD $50 for additional materials.
OCAD U GRADUATE RESIDENCY
Xpace Cultural Centre is seeking applications for the opportunity to participate in our annual summer residency program. The residency is open to students graduating from OCAD University in Spring 2025 from any program at the Undergraduate or Graduate level. Two artists and one curator will be selected and paid an applicable CARFAC fee in addition to a material budget of up to $300.00. The residency is intended to take place at Xpace Cultural Centre in person between August 13 – September 11, 2025.
The 2025-2026 Call deadline for Exhibitions, OCAD U Graduate Residency, Special Projects, and Workshops is Sunday, June 8th at 11:59 PM EST
CLICK HERE FOR FULL INFO AND TO SUBMIT ONLINE : https://xpace.submittable.com/
THEMATICS
★ FALL (OCAD U Graduate Residency) – On your mark
In alignment with our 2025 Residency for Recent OCAD U Graduates, On your mark teems with kinetic potential. This exhibition thematic asks outgoing OCAD U students, on the precipice of new beginnings, to consider familiar processes in tandem with new possibilities. Hard left turns, leaps of faith, and the thrill of the unknown: Using the resources of our residency program, are there ways of working, new media, or tangential research you’ve always wanted to indulge but haven’t yet had the chance to? Eagerly positioned at a fresh starting point, we encourage applicants to consider what new or unexpected outcomes may sprawl out from brief detours taken while on the continuous, lifelong marathon we know to be creative practice.
Keywords: Detours, risk, tangents, possibilities, velocity, speed, unpredictability, experimentation
NOTE: This programming block is reserved for OCAD U students graduating from (May – September 2025), as a part of our 2025 Residency for recent OCAD U Graduates.
★ WINTER – Dream, desire, despair
Dream, desire, despair is a dramatic telling of the fluctuating pendulum of emotions and sensations we often experience amidst a cold and dark winter. We dream of vibrancy and passion, a flashy recall of our brightest summer memories; we desire for the thawing of a promised spring, longing for outlandish wishes just out of our grasp; finally, we despair, an acceptance of this reality, when we ultimately perform our anguish and sadness for nobody else to see.
“Wishing upon a star
Tears streaming down my face
Wanting it all
The sun, moon, and stars”
Keywords: dreams, hope, ambition, drama, theatrics, “all the world’s a stage”
★ SPRING – again & again
again & again is a thematic that explores cyclicality. Taking the symbol of the Ouroboros–the snake that eats its own tail–as a starting point, the prompt looks to infinity and renewal. Applicants are encouraged to think about visual repetition, patterning, and tessellation, or conceptually consider ideas of alliteration, ritual, and frequency. Why do we get stuck or fixate on things that are out of our control? How do we manage to overcome, and break a cycle? If the definition of repeating is doing the same things again and again, how can we encourage change?
Keywords: Cycles, rituals, patterns, rhythm, repetition, returning, forever
★ SUMMER – Mine, yours, ours
Mine, yours, ours is a thematic about togetherness. Here, we encourage applicants to think about what it means to have, but also to reminisce on what we may no longer have. We hold these thoughts and feelings with us as we traverse beyond the self. We seek connection and understanding with others, forming collectives and communities with those we value most. As summertime is especially a time for gathering, communing, and sharing- we urge applicants to reflect upon themes of love and loss in the context of correlating to others
Keywords: Together, collective(ly), community, love, displacement, ownership, outrospection
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If you have any questions about the proposal process that are not outlined in our FAQ below please contact Xpace staff at opencall@xpace.info before 6pm on Friday, May 23rd, 2025. Please note that due to high interest it might take up to 3-5 days to get to your question. We do not respond to last minute requests, texts or direct messages sent on social media.
Xpace recognizes the importance of oral culture in the sharing of language, history, knowledge and practice. We will accept oral submissions for the Call for Exhibitions application, when accessibility and/or oral culture is relevant to the project or artistic practice. Oral application requests will be evaluated on a case by case basis. If you’d like to request one, please write opencall@xpace.info before Friday, May 23rd, 2025.
DUE TO HIGH INTEREST, WE ONLY ACCEPT SUBMISSIONS RECEIVED THROUGH SUBMITTABLE.
THOUGH STAFF IS HAPPY TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK AT ALL MOMENTS OF THE SUBMISSION PROCESS, WE DO NOT RESPOND TO INQUIRIES ASKED THROUGH DIRECT MESSAGE, TEXT OR FACEBOOK MESSENGER. WE ASK THAT APPLICANTS RESPECT THIS BOUNDARY AND REACH OUT THROUGH EMAIL ONLY.
LATE OR INCOMPLETE SUBMISSIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
APPLICANTS WILL BE NOTIFIED OF THEIR PROPOSAL STATUS BY JULY 16, 2025. WE LOOK FORWARD TO READING YOUR PROPOSALS!