Three Opportunities for Artists Seeking Visibility, Performance Platforms, and Funding

The right opportunity can help an artist move forward in a focused and meaningful way. For some, that means exhibiting in front of new audiences. For others, it means finding a space for performance, experimentation, or direct financial support.

This week’s selection brings together three opportunities for artists working across contemporary art, performance, and sculpture: Clio Art Fair’s September 2026 editions, Clio Art Fair’s Call for Performance, and the Dexter Jones Award from the National Sculpture Society.

Read through and find the one that aligns best with your current direction:

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1. Clio Art Fair — September 2026 Editions

Location: New York City

Dates: September 17–20, 2026 & September 24–27, 2026

Exhibition Dates: August 14 – October 14, 2026

Clio Art Fair has opened applications for its September 2026 editions in Chelsea, New York. The fair will take place across two consecutive programs: September 17–20, 2026 and September 24–27, 2026. Known as the “Anti-Fair for Independent Artists,” Clio focuses on artists without exclusive gallery representation, offering them a direct platform to present their work to collectors, curators, art professionals, and the public.

The September editions will feature a new roster of international artists and artist collectives. The fair welcomes a wide range of contemporary practices, including painting, sculpture, photography, mixed media, installation, digital work, and performance.

For artists looking to expand their audience, build collector relationships, and show in New York during the fall art season, Clio Art Fair offers a professional platform centered on independence, visibility, and direct connection.

Apply here

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2. Clio Art Fair Call for Performance — “I Don’t Want To Be Useful”

Location: New York City

Deadline : June 30, 2026

Clio Art Fair’s September 2026 Call for Performance, titled “I Don’t Want To Be Useful,” invites performance artists to challenge the pressure to be productive, efficient, marketable, or easily understood. The program will take place during Clio Art Fair’s September 2026 editions in New York, scheduled for September 17–20, 2026 and September 24–27, 2026.

The theme creates space for refusal, slowness, ambiguity, presence, and actions that do not need to justify themselves. Artists are invited to propose works that explore exhaustion, resistance, absurdity, silence, vulnerability, care, failure, play, uselessness, and the body as a site of interruption.

This opportunity is especially suited for artists working with live performance, movement, sound, stillness, duration, gesture, or experimental forms of presence. Within the setting of the fair, the stage becomes a space where art does not have to serve a function, explain itself, or perform usefulness for approval.

Apply here

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3. Dexter Jones Award

Location: Online / Virtual

Deadline: June 8, 2026

The Dexter Jones Award, offered by the National Sculpture Society, provides a $5,000 unrestricted grant to a sculptor working in bas-relief. The recipient will be selected by a jury based on an outstanding work of sculpture in bas-relief, with particular interest in figurative or realist sculpture, as well as work inspired by nature.

Applicants must have been born between 1986 and 2007. They must also be citizens of or residents in the United States with a Social Security number. Applications are accepted through EntryThingy.

This is a strong opportunity for sculptors whose work engages relief, figuration, realism, or natural forms. For artists working in bas-relief, the award offers both financial support and professional recognition from a national sculpture organization.

Apply here

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Choosing the Right Opportunity

Each of these opportunities supports a different kind of artistic growth.

For artists seeking exhibition visibility in New York, Clio Art Fair’s September 2026 editions offer a platform built around independent presentation and direct public engagement.

For artists working through the body, action, presence, refusal, or experimentation, “I Don’t Want To Be Useful” offers a focused performance opportunity within Clio’s September program.

For sculptors working in bas-relief, especially those interested in figuration, realism, or nature-inspired forms, the Dexter Jones Award offers direct funding and recognition.

The best opportunity is the one that matches both the work you are making now and the direction you want your practice to take next.