Transformative Global Opportunities for Artists in 2025
- Art Dealer Street
- May 11
- 4 min read
As an artist, every opportunity is a chance to push boundaries and elevate your practice to new heights. In 2025, the art world is offering four exceptional platforms that could fundamentally transform your career. From prestigious international art prizes to immersive residencies in unique environments, these opportunities are designed for those ready to make their mark. Each one provides not only funding and exposure but also the chance to connect with a global community of artists and collectors. If you’re seeking to expand your reach, deepen your practice, or gain new perspectives, now is the time to act.
1. The Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize 2025
Location: Los Angeles, USA
Application Deadline: July 17, 2025 (Los Angeles, USA time)
Now in its 8th year, this non-acquisitive international art prize celebrates diversity and excellence in the representational visual arts. The prize is open to all static mediums, including traditional art, digital art, and photographic media, as well as all artistic styles—from realism and hyperrealism to pop surrealism and lowbrow.
The Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize aims to inspire artists globally to pursue careers in the arts by providing funding and increased exposure. It also helps artists connect with galleries, collectors, and media worldwide.
Artists can enter in six award categories:
Painting Award
Drawing Award
Digital Art Award
Photography Award
Sculpture Award
Emerging Artist Award
Artists working across mediums are encouraged to submit entries to multiple categories. A Grand Prize Winner will be chosen from the finalists of each award category by the esteemed Jury Panel. Additionally, the People’s Choice Award will open for public voting on August 22, 2025.
2. Open Call: ACENTRICSPACE Artist Residency 2025
Location: SHANGHAI ZHUJIAJIAO, China
Application Deadline: May 31, 2025
ACENTRICSPACE AiR invites contemporary artists from around the world to live, create, and connect in a vibrant 4-story space designed to foster artistic growth. Located in China, this residency offers both emerging graduates and established creatives the opportunity to develop new bodies of work while engaging with a diverse, global community of artists. Since its launch in 2017, more than 140 artists have participated, making it a well-established hub for creative exchange.
The residency provides private bedrooms, shared studios, and two exhibition spaces under one roof, allowing artists the perfect balance of solitude and collaboration. ACENTRICSPACE offers an ideal setting for those seeking both quiet time to work and opportunities to interact with peers in a dynamic, multicultural environment.
Disciplines Welcomed: Visual arts, sculpture, ceramics, dance, theatre, music, literature, new media, photography, architecture, curatorial work, and more.
Residency Duration: 1–4 months
Residency Fee: 7,700 CNY/month (includes accommodation, studio space, and exhibition opportunities)Artists are responsible for funding their stay and are encouraged to apply for grants or scholarships in their home countries. Exhibition opportunities are available at the end of each residency.
3. Artist Residency at Cascina Lago Scuro 2025
Location: Cremona, Italy.
Application Deadline: June 01, 2025
Residenza Lago Scuro is a self-directed interdisciplinary residency that offers creatives the opportunity to explore their practice, exchange ideas, and create work while living on a beautiful regenerative farm in Northern Italy. The program emphasizes collaboration between practitioners from both cultural and agricultural fields, highlighting the unique value created when diverse minds come together in a space that nurtures nature, nourishment, and creativity.
Currently accepting applications for its 2025 cohort, the residency will take place from October 19–31, 2025, in Cremona, Italy.
Cascina Lago Scuro serves as a home, farm, dairy, vegetable garden, laboratory, and restaurant. Dating back to the 18th century, the property is made up of various distinct environments, including the church, the farmer's house, the manor house, a Neo-Gothic courtyard, stables for horses and cows, and a dairy. The rear of the farmhouse is surrounded by a lush garden filled with oaks, magnolias, hazels, and other tree species, while its famous bell tower preserves the atmosphere of an ancestral manor.
4. Call for Submissions: “Let Nature In” at The Painting Center
Location: New York, NY
Application Deadline: June 26, 2025
The Painting Center is inviting submissions for its juried group exhibition, Let Nature In, curated by Kathleen Beausoleil and Shazzi Thomas. The exhibition will take place both in-person and on Artsy from July 22 – August 16, 2025, with an opening reception on July 24. Let Nature In will showcase contemporary artists who explore the natural world, offering fresh perspectives on our ever-evolving relationship with the environment.
From early cave paintings depicting trees and plants to the intricate floral motifs of 10th-century Eastern art, nature has consistently been a source of creativity—a constant invitation to reflect and create. Landscape painting in Western art only became central in the 16th century, giving rise to rich traditions of pastoral scenes and floral compositions. Nature’s depictions have long served both artistic and functional purposes, from using vast landscapes to plan battles, to botanical illustrations documenting plant species for scientific study.
For Let Nature In, we invite artists to join this timeless conversation by reinterpreting, challenging, and deepening our connection to the natural world. We seek works that do not just depict nature, but breathe with it—literally and metaphorically—allowing the outside world to seep into our consciousness.
These opportunities aren’t just about competing or submitting your work – they’re about expanding the horizon of your artistic career. Whether you’re showcasing your art in Los Angeles, immersing yourself in the cultural richness of Italy, or collaborating with artists worldwide in China, each opportunity offers a unique chance to engage with your craft in meaningful ways. Don’t miss out on the chance to shape your future as an artist. Apply today, and take the next bold step in your creative journey.
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