Guest
Curators
Program

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Open call for the 2027 Season OPENS MAY 15TH, 2025!

Deadline: June 15, 2025 11:59 PM EST

Link to application is at the bottom of this page.
Please review all information before submitting your application.

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Photo by William Johnson

Stove Works and a panel of outside Jurors select two Guest Curator proposals to showcase in Stove Works' main gallery space for the 2027 exhibition season. The Guest Curators will be provided a curator’s fee, an exhibition budget, a programming budget, and support from Stove Works staff. 

Additionally, Guest Curators are invited to participate in the Stove Works Residency program for 1-3 months leading up to and during the exhibition. If they choose to participate in the residency, their stay must occur in the month of the exhibition opening at the very least.

The basics


Budget Breakdown

  • $2,500 Curator Fee

  • $12,500 Exhibition budget (including artist fees, shipping, etc)

  • $2,000 Programming budget

The Application Process

  • Pay close attention to our tiered application fee:

    $10 - May 15 - May 31, 11:59 PM EST (First two weeks)

    $20 - June 1 - June 7th, 11:59 PM EST (Third week)

    $30 - June 8 - June 15, 11:59 PM (Last week)

    Make a note of your transaction number, you will need it for the application.

    Applications must be submitted within the corresponding timeframe of the fee you paid. Otherwise, you may forfeit your application.

    FREE DAY IS STILL ON THE TABLE

    FREE DAY: We will select one random day during the application period as a “FREE DAY.” We’ll announce it on our Instagram (@stove_works) at 10 am the day of and provide a discount code that will be usable for 24 hours. This code may only be applied to applications submitted within the specified timeframe.

    PAY FEE HERE

  • Applications are reviewed by Stove Works Staff before being sent to the jury panel. Once the jury has reviewed and ranked the applications, the top three proposals will be selected for a zoom interview with Staff. All applicants will hear back about their application status by early to mid September.

    Guest Jurors for the 2027:
    Dan Paz
    Alex Schechter
    Carl D’alvia

  • A strong applicant is one who is clear about their intentions for the proposal, writes a thoughtful and clear response to the “listening” question, and whose proposal can realistically be accomplished within the 12.5K project budget and Stove Works' capacity as an organization. 

    Keep in mind Stove Works has a small staff, and unless you budget for additional temporary labor, we will do everything in-house, soup-to-nuts, and we appreciate a Curator who can roll up their sleeves and get dirty with us (although not a requirement).

    Last year, we received 30 applications for two exhibition slots, a 6% acceptance rate. It is a competitive and rare opportunity for emerging and independent curators.

Building your application/Proposal

Below, we have the basic breakdown of the application. Under application questions, we provide a rough outline of the application form. The four core components of your application are the proposal, potential artists, the budget, and public programs. Under the dropdown, we have provided more detail about what your application should include/consider.

**We highly recommend that you draft your application using a word-processing software like Google Docs or Word. Our application does not have a save feature.

    • Basic Information and Demographics

    • PDF Upload - Please format the following into a PDF, using the provided formatting guidelines (see additional resources at the bottom of this page), and use the following titling convention:First name_LastName_ExhibitionYear (Morgan_Caldwell_27.pdf)

      The PDF must including the following:

      1) Proposed exhibition abstract/brief (500 words / 1 page)

      2) A list of prospective artists, including artist name, location, image of proposed/representative works, links, and your relationship to the artist. (6 pages max)

      3) List of potential programs (250 words)

      3) A rough exhibition budget (1 page)

    • Exhibition Block Selection (all that apply)

      • Block 1: Late February - Early June 2027

      • Block 2: Early August - Late November 2027

    • Prompt about our Organizational Philosophy: “How does listening currently exist within your practice, and how might you imagine its role in the scope of your proposed exhibition?” (250 words)

    • Residency Options

    • Your Practice in One Word

    • CV / Bio (no larger than 5MB PDF)

    • Website / Social Media

    • Some Fun Stuff

  • Successful proposals include a clear and concise vision for the exhibition. We do not expect a finished curatorial statement. We anticipate that much of the language, artist selection, exhibition design, and programming will be determined later, in the exhibition's lead-up and with staff's assistance.  However, we do expect the final exhibition to have clear ties to your original proposal. 

    We expect your proposal to be thoughtful and considerate of not only the concepts’ relevance to any audience but also to our audience. For example, an exhibition about the NY subway system might not resonate with our audience, but an exhibition about public transportation might.

    We are also looking at the feasibility of the proposed exhibition.  We want to feel confident that the curator can stay within the bounds of the exhibition budget and that installation can be accomplished within Stove Works’ capacity as an organization. Stove Works has a small staff, and unless additional temporary labor is budgeted for, we will do everything in-house, soup-to-nuts, and we definitely appreciate a curator who can roll up their sleeves and get dirty with us (although not a requirement).

    Click here to see our previous exhibitions. 

    Click here to see an example of how we’d like you to format your PDF

  • We ask for a list of Potential Artists (15 max) and links to their websites, photos of considered works or works representative of what you’re interested in including, and your relationship to them. 

    Regarding the latter, we don’t expect you to know all of the artists, but we want to see that this isn’t a list of pipe dreams. Additionally, whether you have an existing relationship (working or familiar), are within six degrees of them, or have never met them, this knowledge helps us establish feasibility. A relationship (or lack of one) with the artists does not necessarily help or hurt your proposal. 

    It should be noted, as well, that we prefer to work directly with artists, avoiding galleries unless absolutely necessary. We also require that curators include at least one artist from Chattanooga or the surrounding 16 countings (Thrive Region).

  • Each Guest Curator is given a $12,500 budget specifically for the exhibition. This number does not include public programming nor the curator’s fee. 

    It does include: shipping, artist fees, production costs, installation, construction, temporary labor, and just about anything that would be considered part of the exhibition-making process. 

    We request curators follow W.A.G.E Floor fees.

    Click here to see examples of past exhibition budgets. Past exhibition budgets are just for reference. Again, we do not expect your budget to be hyper-specific or fully flushed, we just want to see that you are thinking about it. 

  • We ask that you provide a list of potential exhibition programs. 

    Public programs are essential to maintaining sustained engagement with our local communities, providing additional context for the themes explored, and deepening the experience of the exhibition’s attendees. We’re interested in cross-sector collaboration, workshops, screenings, panel discussions, etc. Again, we are not seeking hyper-specificity or fully flushed out programs, we just want to see that you are thinking about it. 

    For a list of current exhibition programing (a little bit of inspiration), click here.

What is Expected of Guest Curators:

The below list is not comprehensive and is subject to change.

Work with us!

  • Work collaboratively with Stove Works staff. Participate in regular Exhibition and Program planning meetings—by phone, Zoom, or in person. Maintain, at a minimum, monthly correspondence/check-in with Exhibition Staff.

  • Follow all schedules provided by Stove Works within the Exhibition Timeline.

  • Collaborate with Programming staff to develop exhibition programs that thoughtfully engage with the communities of Chattanooga.

  • Agree to participate in at least one public program, such as an Exhibition walk-through or Artist panel, in coordination with Stove Works’ Programs Director.

Exhibition Design

  • Available for a site visit during exhibition planning.

  • Available to work with Stove Works staff to design the exhibition layout.

  • Initiate conversation between participating Artists and Stove Works staff about shipping/transportation of artwork with each Artist.

Artist Selection

  • Follow W.A.G.E Floor fees.

  • Select at least one Artist from Chattanooga or within the Thrive Region

  • Select no more than 15 Artists for the Exhibition unless otherwise agreed upon with Stove Works.   

  • Make every attempt to ensure equitable representation of Artists across demographics and geographies.

  • If the curator decides to run an open call for work submissions, they are responsible for providing the application questions and reviewing all submitted applications.  

Deliverables

  • Provide Stove Works with a fully developed curatorial statement/Exhibition narrative. 

  • Available to attend the opening reception event, speak with the press, and provide a curator’s talk (typically the day after the reception.)

  • Provide content for any Stove Works-approved artwork labels 

  • Aid in the collection of artist statements, bios, and work statements for the exhibition booklet

↓↓ APPLY HERE ↓↓