
Opportunities for artists—exhibitions, residencies, grants, markets, and community projects—are often presented as pivotal steps toward career growth. However, not all opportunities are worth your time, resources, or energy. Some can be outright exploitative, charging high fees for exposure or overpromising results while underdelivering. Worse, participating in such opportunities can actively harm your career, diluting your professional CV and misaligning with your goals.
To build a sustainable and impactful artistic practice, it’s crucial to develop the tools to evaluate opportunities. By researching how spaces operate, who is behind them, and how they align with your aspirations, you can avoid falling into exploitative traps and focus on opportunities that serve your development.
Hallmarks of Reputable Opportunities: What to Look For
Reputable opportunities often share certain characteristics. They are transparent, professionally managed, and designed to foster meaningful growth for artists. Here’s how to identify these opportunities across different types of spaces.
1. Transparent Selection Processes
The selection process for reputable opportunities is clear and accessible. Transparency signals professionalism and a commitment to fairness, ensuring artists know how decisions are made and who is involved.
What to Research:
• Who is the decision-maker? Determine whether a jury, curator, or panel evaluates applications. Are the jurors credible and respected in the field? Spaces that lack transparency around selection panels may rely on arbitrary or biased decision-making.
• What is the selection criteria? Reputable spaces articulate what they are looking for: artistic quality, innovation, alignment with a theme, or community impact. Vague or undefined criteria are red flags.
• What type of work do they show? Review their past exhibitions, residency outcomes, or artist rosters. Are they showing work similar to yours? If your practice doesn’t align, it’s unlikely the opportunity will be valuable.
• Frequency and diversity of artists shown: Look for patterns in who participates. Are the same artists featured repeatedly, suggesting favoritism or exclusivity? Or do they foster diverse voices and new perspectives?
Why This Matters:
Opportunities with unclear selection processes not only risk wasting your time but can also damage your professional standing. Participating in poorly curated or “anything goes” spaces can signal a lack of discernment to future collaborators. As Gilda Williams notes in How to Write About Contemporary Art, “Your CV reflects your decision-making as much as your achievements. Every inclusion tells a story about the company you keep.”
2. Alignment With Artist Goals and Values
Reputable opportunities provide a platform that aligns with your career goals, whether that’s expanding your audience, growing your practice, or gaining access to resources. They also respect and amplify your values as an artist.
What to Research:
• Mission and focus of the space: Does the organization emphasize community, experimental work, or commercial sales? If you’re a conceptual artist, for instance, an art market primarily focused on decorative or functional art may not align with your goals.
• Past outcomes: Have past participants achieved meaningful results (e.g., sales, press coverage, professional development)?
• Relevance to your practice: If you’re pursuing gallery representation, opportunities hosted by spaces with no connection to galleries or collectors may not help you advance toward that goal.
Why This Matters:
Engaging with spaces that don’t align with your goals can dilute your career trajectory. As Jackie Battenfield writes in The Artist’s Guide: How to Make a Living Doing What You Love, “Every opportunity you take should be a step forward, not sideways—or worse, backward. Choose strategically to ensure your time and energy are invested wisely.”
3. Clear Compensation and Fee Structures
Reputable opportunities are upfront about costs, compensation, and benefits. While fees aren’t always a red flag, they should be reasonable and justified by the value offered.
What to Research:
• Participation fees: Look for transparency around fees and what they cover. For example, a modest entry fee for a juried exhibition may be acceptable if it funds professional documentation or marketing, but exorbitant “pay-to-play” fees rarely provide equivalent value.
• Compensation: Are artists paid for their participation in residencies, workshops, or public programs? Does the space offer fair revenue splits for sales (e.g., 60-70% for the artist)?
• Hidden costs: Are there additional expenses like shipping, framing, or travel that the space doesn’t subsidize?
Why This Matters:
Spaces that charge high fees with little return can drain your resources and lead to frustration. More importantly, they can set a precedent for undervaluing your labor. As Linda Tuhiwai Smith observes in Decolonizing Methodologies, “Exploitation thrives where value is not properly acknowledged.”
Red Flags to Avoid: How Exploitative Opportunities Harm Artists
Some spaces actively exploit artists by taking advantage of their desire for exposure or recognition. Here’s what to watch out for and why saying yes to these opportunities can be detrimental.
1. Unclear Deliverables
Exploitative spaces often promise vague benefits like “exposure” without concrete deliverables. For example:
• Will there be marketing or PR for the event?
• How many people typically attend?
• Are collectors or industry professionals invited?
Without answers to these questions, “exposure” is meaningless. As Hans Abbing notes in Why Are Artists Poor?, “Exposure is often the currency of exploitation, traded for labor that benefits the institution more than the artist.”
Why Saying Yes Hurts:
Opportunities with no tangible deliverables waste your time and provide little to no ROI. They may also signal to others that you’re willing to work for free, perpetuating undervaluation.
2. High Costs With Minimal Support
Some spaces charge artists to participate in exhibitions, art fairs, or markets but offer minimal support in return. For example:
• Excessive booth fees: If an art fair charges hundreds or thousands of dollars but doesn’t attract serious buyers, artists bear the risk without sufficient reward.
• No logistical support: Are you responsible for transporting, installing, or marketing your work without assistance? Reputable spaces often provide at least partial support for these costs.
Why Saying Yes Hurts:
High-cost, low-return opportunities can deplete your resources without advancing your career. Worse, they signal a lack of discernment on your CV, which may deter future collaborators.
3. Poor Curation or Oversaturation
Some spaces accept all submissions without clear curatorial oversight, resulting in overcrowded exhibitions or events. While this might seem egalitarian, it often dilutes the quality and visibility of individual artists.
What to Look For:
• Are exhibitions or events overcrowded, with little attention to how work is displayed?
• Is there evidence of curatorial rigor in past programming?
• Do they prioritize quality or simply filling space?
Why Saying Yes Hurts:
Participating in poorly curated events can damage your professional reputation. As Williams reminds us, “Every show you’re part of reflects not just your work, but the company you keep. Choose exhibitions that elevate your practice, not those that bury it in clutter.”
Combatting Scarcity Mindset: Saying No Strategically
The fear of missing out often pushes artists to say yes to subpar opportunities. This scarcity mindset—the belief that opportunities are rare—can lead to overcommitment and burnout.
How to Combat Scarcity Mindset:
1. Focus on Abundance: Recognize that turning down one opportunity creates space for better ones.
2. Track Your Wins: Reflect on your past successes to remind yourself that your career is growing, even if you say no to some opportunities.
3. Build Your Own Opportunities: Consider self-organized exhibitions, collaborations, or community projects as alternatives to exploitative spaces.
As Battenfield advises, “An artist’s career is a marathon, not a sprint. The key is pacing yourself and choosing wisely.”
Conclusion: Choosing Wisely for a Stronger Career
Every opportunity you pursue sends a message—to collaborators, funders, and future employers—about the direction of your career. By thoroughly researching spaces, aligning opportunities with your goals, and avoiding exploitative practices, you can build a career that reflects your values and aspirations.
Remember, saying no to the wrong opportunities isn’t a loss—it’s a step toward the right ones. Trust your instincts, do your research, and focus on opportunities that genuinely support your growth.
Works Cited
• Abbing, Hans. Why Are Artists Poor? The Exceptional Economy of the Arts. Amsterdam University Press, 2002.
• Battenfield, Jackie. The Artist’s Guide: How to Make a Living Doing What You Love. Da Capo Press, 2009.
• Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. Zed Books, 1999.
• Williams, Gilda. How to Write About Contemporary Art. Thames & Hudson, 2014.
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