Submission Deadline: Monday | December 1, 2025 | 9:00 PM EST
The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) requests applications from qualified artists for its Fiscal Year 2026 Juried Exhibition Grant (JEG). JEG provides support for District-based artists to exhibit their work in a juried, themed visual art exhibition through grant awards and the use of CAH’s exhibition space located in the lobby of 200 I Street, SE.
This Request for Applications (RFA) seeks works for an exhibition titled Rip! Tear! Collage as Critique which centers collage as an accessible and hyper-contemporary tool for engaging in social commentary. In a time when our nation—and the social fabric of the District—is experiencing deep division, fragmentation, and transformation, collage emerges as a democratic form through which artists can explore stories of rupture, repair, and reassembly.
This RFA calls on DC area artists who use collage not only as a visual technique, but also as a metaphor for cultural, political, ecological, and personal investigation and critique. Artists are invited to interpret collage broadly—as direct practice, conceptual tool, or material metaphor—and are encouraged to explore how fragmentating, remixing, and juxtaposing images, materials, and methods can reflect the complexity of our shared condition. Artists may consider the following guiding questions:
- What fragments make up the world around you, and how might you reassemble them into new meaning?
- How can the materiality and composition of collage serve as a method of political or social inquiry?
- In what ways can collage be a process of mending—of creating cohesion from chaos?
- How can collage be used as a metaphor for the patchwork and collision of the Americas and its multiplicities?
Each applicant may submit up to five original artworks for consideration that take collage as a foundation or springboard for their work, including, but not limited to:
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Artworks will be selected by a jury panel, including:
Helina Metaferia, Artist
Teri Henderson, Founder of Black Collagists, Curator, and Arts & Culture Editor for Baltimore Beat
Zoe Charlton, Artist
Michelle May-Curry, Curator
For the purpose of this grant, “artist” is defined as a legal resident of Washington, DC at least one (1) year prior to the application deadline.
CAH will award selected applicants (“grantees”) a grant for the display of the work and to support the delivery of the artwork to CAH offices. CAH grant funds must be spent within CAH’s Fiscal Year 2026 (FY 2026) (October 1, 2025, to September 30, 2026).
This grant is competitive. Funding amounts will vary based on number of works selected for installation and scale of commissioned work:
- For one (1) exhibited artwork: $1,000
- For two (2) or more exhibited artworks: $1,500
- For site-specific installations: $2,000
A. Program Goals
- Provide the opportunity for District of Columbia artists to exhibit their work in an innovative, educational, and thematic art exhibition.
- Provide support, exposure, and professional benefit for visual artists residing in the District of Columbia.
- Provide a unique exhibition and related programs for District residents and visitors.
B. Statutory Authority
CAH has grantmaking authority under the Commission on the Arts and Humanities Act of 1975, as amended (D.C. Law 1-22; D.C. Official Code § 39-204).
C. Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access (I.D.E.A.)
CAH embraces a commitment to the philosophy of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access (I.D.E.A.) and complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (42 U.S.C. §§ 12101 et seq.) in its work. CAH encourages applicants and grantees to be inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible in their work throughout the District of Columbia, beyond participants with disabilities. Successful applications will consider a broad definition of “accessibility” by addressing financial, geographic, demographic, cultural, and developmental access in their programming/projects. Please review Addressing Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access (I.D.E.A.) in Grant Applications in the Guide to Grants for full details.