Pay close attention to our tiered application fee:

$10 - Sept 1 - Sept 15, 11:59 PM EST (First two weeks)

$20 - Sept 16 - Sept 23, 11:59 PM EST (Third week)

$30 - Sept 24 - Oct 1, 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 OVER!!

About FREE DAY: We select one random day during the application period as a “FREE DAY.” We announce it on our Instagram (@stove_works) at 10 AM EST the day of and provide a discount code that will be usable until 11:59 PM EST of the same day. 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 the staff. All applicants will hear back about their application status by early to mid-January.

Guest Jurors for the 2028:
TBD

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.

• 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.