Blue and white mural textured with recycled objects, Alissa Faber's Peer Public Art Project
An outdoor sculpture of large cattails with a black bird with red and yellow patches on its wings balanced atop. The statue sits in a green grassy area on a Burlington city street with a blue sky above.

Art in Public Places - Call to Artists

BCA partners frequently with departments of the City of Burlington to issue Calls to Artists to integrate permanent works of art into the city's streets, buildings, parks and public places. Open BCA calls can be found on the Current Projects page.

See the Vermont Arts Council for more state-wide artist opportunities.

A photograph of an outdoor concert. A band with serveral light skinned men and women wear black jumpsuits and play guitar and bass under a white tent that says burlingtoncityarts.org. A dark skinned man with dreadlocks that go all the way down his back, also wears a black jump suit and sings into a microphone out in the crowd, who dance on green grass.

City Hall Park Summer Programming Submission

All musicians are welcome to submit their work to BCA for consideration. For our Summer City Hall Park programming, BCA strives to program a mix of both new and returning artists as well as a diverse lineup across all genres, experience levels, genders, and ethnicities. See below for a short description of each of our series’ and our general submission guidelines.  

The Summer Concert Series brings fresh programming to City Hall Park during the lunch hour on Wednesdays and Fridays. This series takes place outdoors on the BCA Patio in City Hall Park from June through the end of August. Each performance is a paid opportunity and lasts 60 minutes.  

 

The TwilightBlock Party takes place in City Hall Park on alternating Saturday evenings from June through mid-September. Each performance is a paid opportunity and lasts 90 minutes. We have a 45-minute opener slot on Saturdays only. Artists receive a light dinner between sound check and their performance. These bands are generally larger than those in the Summer Concert Series, and we present a greater range of regional as well as local performers. Openers should be one to three people.

Splash Dance is a DJ set that takes place in City Hall Park every Friday from June through August, and Saturdays during the BTV Market. This is a family-friendly celebration of music and joy alongside the interactive Splash Pad. All DJ sets are paid. Friday Splash Dance DJs perform for 90 minutes and Saturday DJs perform for 120 minutes for a slightly higher fee.  

 

Sunday Classical takes place outdoors on the BCA Patio in City Hall Park on Sunday mornings in July and August. Each performance is a paid opportunity and lasts 60 minutes. These concerts can be solo performers, chamber ensembles, or a full orchestra. There is complimentary coffee provided for performers and audience members.   

 

Submission Guidelines

  • Rolling bookings take place in January and February for concerts the following summer.  

  • Musicians and musical groups should email Festival and Event Director (zwilliamson@burlingtoncityarts.org) with their interest, links to their website, audio recordings, and any available videos. It is difficult for us to know what you can do if you do not submit any material to listen to or watch.  

  • Once received, applicants will hear back within 1-2 weeks, and performance dates and fees will be discussed (if applicable).   

  • Not every applicant will get a slot in that calendar year’s schedule, but every submission is saved for future programming possibilities.  

  • Since bookings happen in a rolling style, people are encouraged to apply early. 

PROGRAM OVERVIEW & SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Travis Shilling

Gallery Submission

The BCA Center is currently not accepting submissions while revisioning its curatorial program.

Please check back for updates.

The BCA Center is Vermont’s premiere showcase for contemporary artists working in all media including but not limited to painting, sculpture, photography, video, installation and performance. The BCA Center is equally dedicated to exhibiting artists of national and international scope so as to foster dialogue, promote an exchange of ideas, and to highlight current tendencies in contemporary art between the local art community and those residing elsewhere. BCA presents six to eight exhibitions each year, which range from thematic, group exhibitions to single artist exhibitions. 

 

Submission Guidelines (Expand/Collapse)
A band dressed in colorful clothing performs in front of a former auto repair shop.

Community Fund

The BCA Community Fund is currently not making new grants. BCA will be announcing new grant opportunities in 2027.

 

The BCA Community Fund was created to foster a robust, healthy, creative community, to encourage social innovation through the arts, and to support artists and organizations that contribute to the public good through a competitive grant process.

 

FUNDED PROJECTS

A winter market on a patio at dusk.

The BTV Winter Market

The BTV Market puts local artists, makers, and entrepreneurs directly in touch with consumers, supporting Vermont's creative economy while bringing vibrancy and a unique shopping experience to downtown Burlington.

 

Love Burlington and BCA are joining forces for a sixth season to present the BTV Winter Market! In the past, you may have joined us outside during the holiday season for winter cheer — but this year, we’re switching things up.

We’re moving indoors for a cozier vibe and condensing all the fun into two jam-packed weekends in two great locations – Saturday, November 29, 11 am-5 pm in BCA's Community Room at 405 Pine St, and Friday, December 12, 4-8 pm & Saturday, December 13, 11 am-5 pm in City Hall's Contois Auditorium. Featuring 30 local artists and makers, the Winter Market will be filled with unique gifts and a lively holiday atmosphere that makes every moment count.

Same tradition, fresh twist — and we can’t wait to celebrate with you!

Winter BTV Market (expand / collapse)
artist database1

Art Services Program

BCA’s Art Services program provides Vermont artists with opportunities for increased exposure and sales through external exhibitions in public and private locations. BCA handles all aspects of installation and receives a 40% commission on work sold. Clients may purchase or choose to lease artwork for their public spaces using our non-juried, online artist database to explore participating artists. All artwork is insured for the duration of the exhibition by the hosting venue. Participation in this program is non-exclusive, and we encourage artists to explore and foster many options for exhibition, representation, and sales.

Image: Sandy Sokoloff, Archangel Haniel, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 60

Joining our database may connect you to your next exhibition or sale! To get started, please submit the following forms: Application; W-9 Form. Our art services coordinator will be in touch make sure you have everything you need to get up and running! For more information, please contact Kate Ashman at kashman@burlingtoncityarts.org.

Join Our Database (expand / collapse)
A photo of three light skinned women dancing together, intertwined on the floor. An audience is visible in the background.

The Bright Ideas Project

Are you an artist, musician, creator, or small business with a big idea? Bring your brilliance to Highlight, Burlington’s official New Year’s Eve celebration, by submitting a proposal to the Bright Ideas Project! The Bright Ideas Project is Highlight’s engine for crowdsourcing concepts for one-of-a-kind NYE events. We select the best ideas from our community and support them with up to $8,000 in funding. Events may have elements of music, art, technology, food, literature, theater, and just about anything else you can think of. The more complete and inclusive your idea is, the better. We aim to create unique experiences that people won’t find anywhere else! Learn more at HighlightBTV.org

 

Lockwood Prize Logo

The Herb Lockwood Prize

The Herb Lockwood Prize was created to reward the pinnacle of arts leadership in the state of Vermont. The prize recognizes artists who produce significant work in the areas of visual arts, music, writing, drama, dance, film, and fine woodworking, while also having a beneficent influence on the Vermont community. An anonymous committee selects one recipient each year; there is no application process. Herb Lockwood was an inspirational figure in the Burlington arts and music scene in the 1980s. Learn more: herblockwoodprize.org.

 

 

 

A monotype of a necklace composed of long, brown leather fringe with a beaded collar on a mottled beige background.

Diane Gabriel Visual Artist Award 

The Diane Gabriel Visual Artist Award was established in 2021by the family of Diane Gabriel (1947-2017), one of Vermont’s most celebrated artists and educators. This award ran through 22025 and was given on an annual basis to emerging Vermont-based artists. The award encouraged experimentation and supported an artist’s creative development, especially for artists interested in initiating innovative ideas, exploring new media, or better establishing their art-making practice. The award was valued at $6,000 and includes a cash stipend, complimentary class registration, and/or use of the BCA Studio. The Diane Gabriel Visual Artist Award was made possible by Eben Cahan, Lorraine Gabriel Sherman, Robert Sherman, and Mark Stoler.


Please visit Diane Gabriel’s website to learn more and view her work. 

 Image: Diane Gabriel, Untitled (Necklace)

2025, Corrine Yonce

Corrine Yonce’s multimedia artwork addresses themes of home, memory, human-services advocation, and identity. The artist combines painting, assemblage, and sound to explore the intersections between visual art and housing justice.  As a community activist, Yonce seeks to deconstruct traditional ideas about what home and housing insecurity looks like in Vermont through her use of home objects and materials within her paintings.

 

2024, Lydia Kern
Kern’s sculptural artwork explores themes of care, preservation, and connection through found or reclaimed materials, to which she grants a ceremonial significance. Focused on relationships with those who have passed on, Kern creates ambiguous forms and symbols that evoke the fragile nature of life. Her framing devices, such as tombstones and windows, point toward threshold experiences. Her use of unique materials, such as embalming thread, resin-bound plants, and colorful vinyl, enhances her themes.

2023, Luna Shen
As a first-generation American, Luna Shen’s explorations of identity are shaped by home, place, and authenticity. They work in diverse materials and gestures that articulate their personal navigation between locations and culturally accepted binaries such as here/there or native/alien. Shen’s multimedia work seeks to build visual worlds that act as a bridge between everyday life and dreamscapes.

2022, Misuk Weaver

Misuk Weaver constructs three-dimensional multi-media artworks from discarded, found, or upcycled materials and ceramics. Focusing on the essence of the materials, Weaver challenges perceptions to address themes of scarcity, culture, and gender, informed by her identity as a first-generation Korean-American immigrant.

2021, Crystal Stokes

Based in central Vermont, Crystal Stokes works primarily in portraiture as she explores the intersection of photography and painting. Capturing moments that may otherwise go unnoticed, Stokes combines keen observation with dramatic contrasts of light and dark to investigate the beauty of the world.

Awardees (Expand/Collapse)
A photograph of a statue wearing a life jacket on a flooded street

The Vermont Prize 

The Vermont Prize accepts submissions from artists living and working in Vermont. Artists working in any medium may apply. There is no submission fee.

 

"Saddle Milk".Acrylic and yarn on felt, 66 x 78,2024

The Vermont Prize is awarded to one artist annually. The winner receives a monetary prize of $5,000, and their work is showcased and archived on vermontprize.org and on social media.

Applications for The Vermont Prize are accepted from visual artists currently living and working in Vermont. There is no fee to apply.

Each prize cycle is juried by a team consisting of one representative from each of the four partner organizations, as well as a fifth independent and unaffiliated juror. The prize winner will be selected on the basis of artistic excellence, regardless of career stage.

More Info (Expand/Collapse)
An aerial photograph of the BCA Centter with a colorful installation on the facade

BCA Exhibitions: Call for Curatorial Concepts

Apply by July 15, 2026 

BCA is launching a new initiative that invites artists, curators, cultural organizers, and community-based thinkers to propose exhibition concepts that push the BCA Center into its next era of experimentation and celebration of the multidisciplinary nature of art-making in Vermont. Proposals accepted at BCA's online portal.  

Read the full call for concepts.