This is an open call for artists who graduated during the COVID years or for those whose study or training was affected by the COVID experience. Four selected artists will receive £500 each to exhibit their work at Salisbury Arts Centre (part of Wiltshire Creative) in an exhibition 'Gates Wide Open' 15 March – 8 May 2022.

This exhibition will be a result of an open call submission seeking work by graduates of the creative disciplines who have been affected by the COVID pandemic.

We recognise that in recent years a considerable blow to all areas of the arts industry has been dealt, and this was particularly felt amongst the students who experienced learning via Zoom instead of the expected route of hands on skills and idea development: students who had their final exhibitions cancelled or moved online.

We know that a tremendous effort has been made in making the virtual platform work and as a positive consequence many graduates reached a wider audience than they would have otherwise. However, for some disciplines neither teaching/learning or presenting/receiving can be replaced by the actual touch of the material and the immersiveness of a face to face encounter by any online platform.

In the last two years publicly funded organisations have come in for criticism from various angles. One such was the accusation of stubborn gatekeeping by these organisations and the lack of commitment to work with emerging artists. Wiltshire Creative is an NPO committed to working with young artists or artists entering their careers and to providing experience/ job opportunities for those who wish to work in the arts. For the exhibition Gates Wide Open we will engage young selectors to present emerging work. Work conceived and created under COVID within the lockdown restricted access to studios and creative spaces.

This is an open call for artists who graduated during the COVID years or for those whose study or training was affected by the COVID experience. Four selected artists will receive £500 each to exhibit their work at Salisbury Arts Centre in an exhibition Gates Wide Open 15 March – 8 May 2022.

The artists who are eligible to apply for this exhibition are:

- Those visual artists who completed their study of an art subject and graduated from art school/University during the COVID pandemic 2020 and 2021

- Those visual artists who completed training or served an apprenticeship in creative industries during COVID pandemic 2020 and 2021

- Open to any visual arts specialisms (fine arts, drawing, photography, sculpture, ceramics, glass, textiles, video, installation, painting, illustration, design, mixed media, calligraphy, fashion, wood, graphic design, projection, etc.)

- This call out is specific to artists who completed their education not for artists currently in education, neither is it for artists who graduated or finished training in 2019 or before.

- This call out is for UK-based artists only.

Based in the City of Salisbury, Wiltshire Creative is a pan-arts organisation which draws audiences from across the county and beyond. We are one of the largest NPOs in Southwest England formed in 2018 by the merger of three legacy organisations - Salisbury International Arts Festival, Salisbury Arts Centre and Salisbury Playhouse.

In Spring 2022 as part of our Visual Arts programme we seek to produce an exhibition titled Gates Wide Open. This exhibition will be chosen from the open submissions by a panel of selectors which represents contemporary voices of professional arts activists who fight for the exposure and correct treatment of emerging ideas and talents:

The panel of selectors:

The White Pube – Zarina Muhammad and Gabrielle de la Puente,

@sadgrads2020 – Jody Mulvey

Gates Wide Open

Four artists selected from the submissions will receive an all inclusive fee of £500 each to enable them to exhibit their work at Salisbury Arts Centre.

Applications close date 2 January 2022

Four selected artists will be notified week commencing 17 January 2022

Exhibition installation W/C 7 March

Exhibition dates 15 March – 8 May