Franchise Program
Based on the idea of creating a franchise, apexart annually holds a worldwide open call for proposals for group exhibitions to be presented anywhere in the world other than New York City. From April 4 - May 2, 2012, we will again accept 500-word submissions outlining your idea for an exhibition. Specific artists and venues need not be determined, but the concept should be well developed and the city specified. Two winners selected by a jury will be the director, curator and/or staff of their own month-long apexart franchise with an $8,000 exhibition budget, a modest salary, and almost complete control. apexart provides the funding along with the necessary guidance and administrative support to make the curated exhibition happen. This includes an apexart brochure in an edition of 9,000 with an essay from the curator that is distributed around the world to more than 100 countries.
The Franchise is an opportunity to help bring an idea to fruition in a new place and to illustrate that the center of the world is wherever you are.
For its competitions, apexart has developed a form of crowd sourced jurying that asks as many as 200 people to take part in the voting process. Our jurying system is designed to be as democratic as possible and the jury identifies the two winning exhibitions without any input from apexart. Jurors read and evaluate proposals online. Each juror reads a random cross section of all the proposals, and our system ensures that each proposal is viewed and voted on the same number of times. All proposals are reviewed without the submitter's names attached, and each proposal receives as many as 40 votes.
Franchise 2011-12 jurors:
Ruba Al-Bream, Kelly Andres, Peter Anthony Hionas, Lucy Bannister, Logan Bay, Lydia Bell, Jordan Biren, Tom Bogaert, Fritzie Brown, Sasha Chavchavadze, Beatrice Chen, Sunny Ching Hui Wang, Andrea Chung, Manuel Cirauqui, Robin Collen-Zellers, Roger Cummiskey, Megan Cump, Rose Desiano, Moya Devine, Dinorah de Jesus Rodriquez, Paul Foss, Ann Freedberg, Allison Freedman Weisberg, Mark Gajewski, Mekbib Gemeda, Simona Gocan, Melissa Graff, Susan Greenspan, Jonatan Habib Engqvist, Christopher Ho, Naomi Huth, Amande In, Yva Jung, Sohrab Kashani, Jon Kessler, Joe Ketner, Dina Khail, Soyeun Kim, Tammy Kinsey, Daphne Kouri, Lawrence Kumpf, Angela LaMonte, Leonard Lehrer, Michelle Loh, Hope London Morris, Nalini Malaviya, Mandana Mapar, Jenny Marketou, Megan McMillan, Samira Negrouche, Claire Nicklin, Myrtia Nikolakopoulou, Maria Paschalidou, Marivi Peralta, Jenny Perlin, Barbara Petro Escobar, Snezana Petrovic, Doxa Phloxa, Josefina Posch, Anastasia Proshutinskaya, Robert Punkenhoefer, Sara Reisman, Douglas Repetto, Judy Richardson, Donald Ricker, Lorissa Rinehart, Anabelle Rodriguez, Owyn Ruck, Stanislaw Ruksza, Elizabeth Schlatter, Kerri Schlottman, Gunther Selichar, Ward Shelly, Jeff Stark, Mike Ting, Paz Tornero, Leonor Torres, Stephen Traux, Larry Vazeos, Eduardo Verderame, Lee Welch, Nancy Wender, James Williams, Margaret Withers, Plamen Yordanov, Octavio Zaya, Joanna Zielinska, Todd Zuniga
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Past Franchise Exhibitions
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FAQs |
Stockholm, Sweden
(2011)
Washed Out
February 2 - March 2, 2011
Curated by: Corina Oprea, Valerio Del Baglivo, Misbah Deeb, Isabel Lofgren, Judith Souriau, Carolina Rito, Milena Placentile
download winning proposal pdf |
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 Q: When is the submission deadline? |
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A: Submissions will be accepted through May 2, 2012, 11:59 PM EST (New York time).
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Q: Can I send more than one proposal? |
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A: Unfortunately not. Please send your best one.
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Q: When will the selected exhibitions take place?
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A: The winning Franchises will be presented in the 2012-13 season as determined by apexart's schedule.
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Q: Who can submit a group exhibition proposal? |
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A: Anyone from anywhere. We welcome and encourage proposals from all interested individuals, groups and collectives, however, submissions from commercial galleries will not be accepted.
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Q: Do I have to be a curator? |
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A: Absolutely not. Previous curatorial experience is in no way required, and the jury will not have any knowledge of your prior work. We will provide complete administrative support, hand holding, and assistance.
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Q: Can curatorial teams apply together? |
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A: Yes. Please choose one person as the contact, and enter all other associated names in the submission form.
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Q: I live in New York can I still apply? |
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A: People can submit from anywhere, but the proposed exhibition should take place outside the boroughs of New York City.
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Q: Can I produce an exhibition of my own work? |
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A: Proposals must be for group exhibitions only and must specify three artists or more, no solo shows please.
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Q: Can I submit an exhibition with an open call? |
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A: No. We are looking for proposals that have a clear idea of what would be in the exhibition. Additionally, time constraints make it difficult to stage and review submissions for an open call.
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Q: Should my proposal include artist names and descriptions of their work? |
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A: Include whatever you think is essential for others to understand your idea. However, your proposal should emphasize the idea of the show.
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Q: Do I need to contact and confirm artists
prior to submitting? |
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A: You do not need to contact artists prior to applying. We expect that the list may change while the context will not. Mentioning artists that jurors may not know may not be a good use of space.
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Q: Can I submit supplementary materials? |
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A: We do not accept catalogs, resumés, CVs, or other support materials, however we will accept up to four images along with the 500-word submissions (online only), and the only direction given to the jurors is to select the show(s) they like best.
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Q: Do I need to secure a site/exhibition space for my exhibiton in advance? |
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A: Not at all, apexart will assist in securing a space for the exhibition period and in any other "business" transactions.
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Q: Can I propose an exhibition that will take place in more than one city or country at once? |
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A: No, your exhibition must have one central location.
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Q: Can I submit a traveling exhibition? |
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A: An exhibition must begin at the apexart Franchise location and subsequent venues cannot be commercial galleries. Traveling exhibitions will be expected to use the same apexart materials if they are associated with the show at apexart. Exhibitions that have been previously exhibited elsewhere will not be considered. All programming must be original.
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Q: If I win, do I need to be able to "work" regular hours during the exhibition? |
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A: You will need to "staff" or have someone "sit" during the exhibition period since the space will be open to the public.
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Q: What does the budget cover? |
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A: Artists fees, all related travel, transport of art, installation materials, staff, etc.
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Q: How much do I get paid? |
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A: You will receive $2,000 USD, which is not part of the exhibition budget
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Q. Who juries the exhibition proposals? |
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A. A diverse group of up to 200 creative international professionals evaluate the proposals in a "blind" numerical, crowd-sourcing process online. They do not know who else is on the jury, and there is no discussion among them, and no input from apexart staff. The jury changes every year.
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Q: Are there any costs to the curator or artists? |
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A: No, apexart covers all the exhibition related expenses (see budget above) and does not ask participants to pay to be involved.
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Q: What if I have a problem with the word count on the submission form? |
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A: Try using a simple text editing program such as NotePad, TextPad, or TextEdit, rather than a word processing program such as Word to copy and paste into the submission form. If problems persist, you may fill out the online form, make a note in the text box, and email the 500 word submission to us via email to include with your application.
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Q: I still have questions? |
A: Send an email to franchise@apexart.org and we will generally respond within 24 hrs. Please do not call. |
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