Opportunities for the Field

November 28, 2025

We compile opportunities for artists and arts organizations that are available in

New Jersey, or benefit those working in the arts in New Jersey. You'll find professional development workshops, grant announcements, calls for artists, resources, and more. Check out all three categories: Featured Opportunities, Opportunities for Artists, and Opportunities for Organizations.

While we do not share Job Opportunities, we do recommend the following resources for those looking for work in the arts field: ArtPride NJ Job Bank, NJ Theatre Alliance, Dance NJ, NJ Motion Picture & Television Commission, and Arts Admin Jobs.

Please note: Some opportunities may require fees to submit or participate. Be sure to read calls thoroughly to decide if it is a good fit for you.

Sign up to receive Opportunities via email, read the Submission Guidelines or

submit an opportunity for consideration.

Featured Opportunities

Now Open: Folk & Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Project Grant

Folk & Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Project (FTAP) grants provide $10,000 to support an individualized, structured learning opportunity between an Apprentice artist and one or more Mentor Artists. By providing funds to support artists’ time and project expenses, FTAP grants allow intermediate-level artists to significantly advance their skills and cultural knowledge in a specific folk and traditional art form. The FTAP application process is a two-part process. After submitting Application Part 1, eligible applicants will be sent the link to Application Part 2.

Information Sessions available starting in December 2025.

Application Part 1 Deadline: January 8, 2026

Trenton Arts Fellowship

The mission of the Trenton Arts Fellowship, cosponsored by Mercer County Community College and Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts, is to support local Trenton artists by providing studio space on the MCCC Trenton campus, resources, programming opportunities, mentorship, and research funds, in order to assist the artists in creating impactful work that would engage with the Trenton community.

Deadline: December 1, 2025

Rauschenberg Dancer Emergency Grants

The Rauschenberg Dancer Emergency Grants program provides one-time grants of up to $3,000 to professional dancers facing dire financial emergencies, due to the loss or lack of recent/current live performance work, because of circumstances outside of their control.

Deadline: December 2, 2025

Announcing the Upcoming Access Thursday Roundtable Schedule!

These events, presented by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the New Jersey Theatre Alliance, are peer-to-peer learning opportunities covering a wide range of arts accessibility topics.

Upcoming Roundtables:

December 4: Target Marketing and Websites

January 8: Expanding Access in Dance

ArtPride New Jersey: End-of-Year Catch-up and Advocacy Roundup

Join ArtPride for their end-of-year webinar as they celebrate recent accomplishments and look ahead to the year to come. They’ll discuss the post-election landscape, ArtPride’s participation in the Gubernatorial Transition Team, and key highlights from the League of Municipalities and New Jersey Tourism Conferences.

Deadline: December 5, 2025

Public Art at NJPAC: Stories in Sound, Movement, and Community

Call for New Jersey Artists

New Jersey Performing Arts Center is commissioning thirteen new public artworks to be installed in locations across its redeveloped campus in downtown Newark, NJ. Artists, particularly those with community-engaged practices, are invited to create these pieces and help envision and energize this new neighborhood. This new public art program, created in partnership with Project for Empty Space, weaves together stories in sound, movement, and community - vital elements of all of NJPAC’s work both on stage and off - using installations and interactive experiences to illuminate the cultural life of our community.

Virtual Information Session: December 10, 2025

Deadline: January 19, 2026

Call for New Jersey Composers!

The Composers Guild of New Jersey has announced a commissioning opportunity for New Jersey composers to write a new 5 - 7 minute piece for string quartet for performance and recording by members of the New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra in the spring of 2026. Any composer who currently lives, works, or studies in New Jersey may apply. Theme: The 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution.

Deadline: December 14, 2025

Join the Teaching Artist Community of Practice!

This quarterly, virtual series of meetings will serve as a platform for sharing experiences, discussing new opportunities, and connecting with each other.

Next Meeting: January 7, 2026

Creative Forces Community Engagement Grant Program

The National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with Mid-America Arts Alliance, has released guidelines and application materials for the Creative Forces Community Engagement grant program, part of the Creative Forces: NEA Military Healing Arts Network. Grants support non-clinical, community-based arts engagement programming for military and veteran populations, including family members and caregivers. The primary aim of the National Creative Forces Community Engagement grant program is to enhance the health, well-being, and quality of life for military-connected individuals who have experienced trauma. The program achieves this by funding arts initiatives that encourage creativity, build social connections, improve resilience, and help smooth the transition to civilian life.

Deadline: January 15, 2026

Applications Now Open for the 2026 - 27 NEA Big Read, Celebrating America250

The National Endowment for the Arts and Arts Midwest are now accepting applications for the 2026 - 27 cycle of the NEA Big Read, a national program that offers matching grants of up to $20,000 to support community-wide reading programs. This year’s NEA Big Read will center around the theme America250, honoring the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, marking America’s semiquincentennial.

Intent to Apply Deadline: January 15, 2026

Application Deadline: January 29, 2026

New Jersey Poetry Out Loud

Registration is now open for the 2025-26 New Jersey Poetry Out Loud season.

Through this program, high school students across the country participate in a dynamic poetry recitation competition that is designed to improve their public speaking skills, help build confidence, and teach them about literary history. A partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and participating state and jurisdictional arts agencies, Poetry Out Loud provides free lesson plans and other educational materials to teachers and organizers, including an online poem anthology.

Deadline: January 21, 2026

CaFÉ (Call for Entry)

Used by more than 175,000 artists and over 800 arts organizations, CaFÉ is the leading application management system for art calls. CaFÉ strives to make art opportunities available to all by offering arts organizations an affordable submission platform and artists an easy way to apply. Artist registration is FREE!

Opportunities for Artists

Artists Sunday

The Sunday after Thanksgiving is Artists Sunday when consumers are encouraged to shop with local artists, creators, and performers. Participants include over 500 local communities, including arts agencies, cities, counties, state agencies, chambers of commerce, and organizations and over 4,000 individual artists. Participation is free for artists, not-for-profits, commercial businesses.

Artists Sunday: November 30, 2025

Now Open: Folk & Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Project Grant

Folk & Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Project (FTAP) grants provide $10,000 to support an individualized, structured learning opportunity between an Apprentice artist and one or more Mentor Artists. By providing funds to support artists’ time and project expenses, FTAP grants allow intermediate-level artists to significantly advance their skills and cultural knowledge in a specific folk and traditional art form. The FTAP application process is a two-part process. After submitting Application Part 1, eligible applicants will be sent the link to Application Part 2.

Information Sessions available starting in December 2025.

Application Part 1 Deadline: January 8, 2026

Trenton Arts Fellowship

The mission of the Trenton Arts Fellowship, cosponsored by Mercer County Community College and Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts, is to support local Trenton artists by providing studio space on the MCCC Trenton campus, resources, programming opportunities, mentorship, and research funds, in order to assist the artists in creating impactful work that would engage with the Trenton community.

Deadline: December 1, 2025

Rauschenberg Dancer Emergency Grants

The Rauschenberg Dancer Emergency Grants program provides one-time grants of up to $3,000 to professional dancers facing dire financial emergencies, due to the loss or lack of recent/current live performance work, because of circumstances outside of their control.

Deadline: December 2, 2025

Exhibition: Not Afraid

Call for Art Exploring the Intersection of Identity and Culture

Deadline: December 9, 2025

Public Art at NJPAC: Stories in Sound, Movement, and Community

Call for New Jersey Artists

New Jersey Performing Arts Center is commissioning thirteen new public artworks to be installed in locations across its redeveloped campus in downtown Newark, NJ. Artists, particularly those with community-engaged practices, are invited to create these pieces and help envision and energize this new neighborhood. This new public art program, created in partnership with Project for Empty Space, weaves together stories in sound, movement, and community - vital elements of all of NJPAC’s work both on stage and off – using installations and interactive experiences to illuminate the cultural life of our community.

Virtual Information Session: December 10, 2025

Deadline: January 19, 2026

Call for New Jersey Composers!

The Composers Guild of New Jersey has announced a commissioning opportunity for New Jersey composers to write a new 5 - 7 minute piece for string quartet for performance and recording by members of the New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra in the spring of 2026. Any composer who currently lives, works, or studies in New Jersey may apply. Theme: The 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution.

Deadline: December 14, 2025

NYFA Emerging Leaders Program

New York Foundation for the Arts 2026 Emerging Leaders program will provide leadership training to manager-level arts administrators in the NYC area - provided free of charge to selected participants.

Deadline: December 17, 2025

Lighthouse International Film Festival

Call for Film Submissions

Deadline: December 23, 2025

Join the Teaching Artist Community of Practice!

This quarterly, virtual series of meetings will serve as a platform for sharing experiences, discussing new opportunities, and connecting with each other.

Next Meeting: January 7, 2026

Rauschenberg Medical Emergency Grants

The Rauschenberg Medical Emergency Grants program provides one-time grants of up to $5,000 for recent unexpected medical, dental, and mental health emergencies to artists in financial need who are creating in the visual arts, film/video/electronic/digital arts, and choreography.

Next cycle opens December 9, 2025.

Deadline: January 6, 2026

Exhibition: On the Grid, Off the Grid

Call for Artists

Deadline: January 9, 2026

Exhibition: Drawing Rooms Solo Project Space #4

Call for Artists Interested in a Solo Show

Deadline: January 9, 2026

Murphy Writing of Stockton University 32nd Annual Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway

A supportive, participant-focused writers’ conference at Seaview Hotel, Galloway, NJ. (Sliding scale tuition options.)

Event Date: January 16 - 19, 2026

Registration Deadline: January 12, 2026

Exhibition: The Pursuit of Happiness

Call for Artists

Deadline: January 14, 2026

2026 Folk Alliance International Conference

Discounted registration fee for artists!

Event Dates: January 21 - 25, 2026

Location: New Orleans, LA

Visual Artist in Residence Program at Rowan Medicine: George Family Center for Healing Arts

Call for Visual Artists

The George Family Center for Healing Arts at Rowan University is seeking a Visual Artist in Residence to provide engaging, hands-on arts experiences for staff and providers at the Child Abuse Research Education and Service Institute (CARES) at Rowan-Virtua Medicine. The artist will lead one-on-one sessions, group workshops, and community art initiatives that promote healing, connection, and creative expression in clinical settings. The residency is designed to support healthcare worker and staff wellbeing and wellbeing.

Call for Experimental Visual Art for Hardcover Book Editions

Selected artists are featured with detailed curatorial review essays in the catalogue, which are released in editions. Point Pleasant Publishing accepts experimental and alternative forms of visual art including photography, performance, video, film, installation, assemblage, collage, fiber, printmaking, light design, jewelry, fashion/costume design, and analogue digital (no AI).

Rolling Deadline

Creative Capital Artist Lab

Creative Capital Artist Lab is an online professional development curriculum designed to help artists working at any career stage, and in any discipline, build thriving practices. courses are created by art professionals, industry experts, and fellow artists who share vital concepts, skills, and tools to grow artists’ careers. Courses are delivered through Zoom lectures and discussions, long-form videos, and text-based learning formats. Artist Lab includes exercises, tips for best practices, and case studies that can be taken at participants’ own pace. Courses and videos are available in English and Spanish, with ASL interpretation.

The Entertainment Community Fund: Social Service Groups and Workshops

The Entertainment Community Fund understands that a life in the arts has its own unique set of challenges. Their free, online groups and workshops - facilitated by social workers - offer a safe and confidential setting where performing arts and entertainment professionals can share and learn, as well as provide and receive support.

Survey: Developing Equitable Artists’ Contracts

Yancey Consulting wants to hear from artists about which contract clauses have the most negative impact on current and future earnings, ownership rights, and protections.

Dance New Jersey’s Resource Directory

This online resource is designated to help connect, support, and elevate the vibrant dance artists across New Jersey. Whether you are a professional dancer, dance student, instructor, choreographer, or dance enthusiast, our unique directory will give you quick access to explore new services, opportunities, and partnerships within and beyond the state.

Calling all New Jersey-based LGBTQ+ artists!

Garden State Equality has several paid opportunities for artists across all mediums coming up in 2025! Join their database to be the first to know when they go live.

CERF+ Emergency Relief Grant

Support available for artists working in craft or materials-based folk/traditional disciplines who have experienced a recent, unforeseen, career-threatening emergency.

1-on-1 Consultation for Immigrant Artists

NYFA 1-on-1 Consultations for Immigrant Artists offers individualized career-centered conversations for creatives of all disciplines. During these free 40-minute online consultation sessions with arts industry experts, you can seek advice on specific topics or general resources and opportunities to help you navigate building your arts career in the U.S.

Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026

This national Semiquincentennial initiative will showcase the importance of the handmade, both throughout our history and in contemporary life. Handwork 2026 is a yearlong collaboration among organizations, educators, and makers to celebrate the diversity of the crafts that define America, bringing compelling stories and underrepresented art and artists into the spotlight.

CaFÉ (Call for Entry)

Used by more than 175,000 artists and over 800 arts organizations, CaFÉ is the leading application management system for art calls. CaFÉ strives to make art opportunities available to all by offering arts organizations an affordable submission platform and artists an easy way to apply. Artist registration is FREE!

Opportunities for Arts Organizations

2025 New Jersey Nonprofits Conference

Event Date: December 3, 2025

Announcing the Upcoming Access Thursday Roundtable Schedule!

These events, presented by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the New Jersey Theatre Alliance, are peer-to-peer learning opportunities covering a wide range of arts accessibility topics.

Upcoming Roundtables:

December 4: Target Marketing and Websites

January 8: Expanding Access in Dance

Creative Forces Community Engagement Grant Program

The National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with Mid-America Arts Alliance, has released guidelines and application materials for the Creative Forces Community Engagement grant program, part of the Creative Forces®: NEA Military Healing Arts Network. Grants support non-clinical, community-based arts engagement programming for military and veteran populations, including family members and caregivers. The primary aim of the National Creative Forces Community Engagement grant program is to enhance the health, well-being, and quality of life for military-connected individuals who have experienced trauma. The program achieves this by funding arts initiatives that encourage creativity, build social connections, improve resilience, and help smooth the transition to civilian life.

Deadline: January 15, 2026

New Jersey Poetry Out Loud

Registration is now open for the 2025-26 New Jersey Poetry Out Loud season.

Through this program, high school students across the country participate in a dynamic poetry recitation competition that is designed to improve their public speaking skills, help build confidence, and teach them about literary history. A partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and participating state and jurisdictional arts agencies, Poetry Out Loud provides free lesson plans and other educational materials to teachers and organizers, including an online poem anthology.

Deadline: January 21, 2026

Become an RevolutionNJ Partner Organization!

New Jersey's rich arts community has a unique opportunity to engage their audiences with a once-in-a-generation initiative. RevolutionNJ is New Jersey's official commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, happening in 2026.

Watch a recorded informational workshop here.

Already in the know? Become a Proud Partner today by submitting an application here.

Interested in bringing the "Revolutionary Lives" traveling exhibition to your site? Fill out this Reservation Form.

If you have any questions about this initiative or the application, please reach out to Marc Lorenc: marc.lorenc@sos.nj.gov

NJ Human Services Opens Fourth Round of Grant Funding to Create Inclusive, Healthy Communities

NJ Human Services announces that non-profits and county or municipal government agencies can now apply for the next round of funding in the Inclusive Healthy Communities Grant Program to help communities across NJ support the health and well-being of individuals with disabilities where they live, work, learn and play.

Arts Reach: The Association of Arts Management, Marketing and Development Professionals

Arts Reach supports leading arts professionals the Arts Reach website, conferences, magazine, webinars, and e-letters. The strategies and techniques presented via Arts Reach focus on successful revenue-generating techniques for arts practitioners and leaders.

Performing Arts Readiness

Free webinars on various topics related to emergency preparedness for performing arts organizations.

The New Jersey Department of the Treasury’s Grants Management Office is here to help you!

The goal of the Grants Management Office is to make grant opportunities and resources easily accessible for municipalities, counties, nonprofit organizations, and other interested stakeholders. With a mission to increase the amount of federal grant dollars New Jersey receives, GMO works to help build the capacity of its partners to successfully apply for and manage grant programs.

Succession Planning for Cultural Institutions

Two recorded webinars now available:

Part One | Research Findings

Part Two | Resource Roadmap

Learning and Engagement Funding from Art Bridges

The purpose of an Art Bridges Learning & Engagement Award is to support art museum transformation and the engagement of new and diverse audiences through innovative programming.

Arts on Prescription: A Field Guide for US Communities

From the Massachusetts Cultural Council – A Guide for Communities to Develop Programs that Integrate Arts, Culture, and Nature Resources into Local Health and Social Care Systems

Art Equity

Tools, Resources, and Training for Creating and Sustaining a Culture of Equity, Inclusion, and Justice through the Arts

dPlan|ArtsReady

The dPlan|ArtsReady tool guides you through the steps of creating elements of your performing arts organization’s emergency plan. Organizations can request a free year of access.

The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, created in 1966, is a division of the NJ Department of State and a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. The Council was established to encourage and foster public interest in the arts; enlarge public and private resources devoted to the arts; promote freedom of expression in the arts; and facilitate the inclusion of art in every public building in New Jersey. The Council believes the arts are central to every element we value most in a modern society including: human understanding; cultural and civic pride; strong communities; excellent schools; lifelong learning; creative expression; and economic opportunity. To learn more about the Council, please visit www.artscouncil.nj.gov.

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