Art Collection Direct Purchase Program

• To support eligible emerging, mid-career, and established professional visual artists.
• To purchase existing artworks to be added into the City of Moncton Art Collection.
• The call encourages applications from individuals with lived experience and identity as a member of Indigenous, Black, and other racialized communities, persons with disabilities, women and other equity-deserving groups, and artists not currently in the City of Moncton Art Collection.
   

Who is eligible?

1. Emerging, mid-career, and established professional artists who are Canadian citizens or landed immigrants are eligible for this program.
2. Artworks must have been produced within the two years prior to the application deadline.
3. Representatives on behalf of professional artists (includes art galleries). Artists must meet all eligibility criteria and representative must have the artist’s permission (include either letter or email confirming consent).

Participants must either be the author of the artwork or must represent the author of the artwork.

Artists must live within a 100 km radius of Moncton (within New Brunswick) or any First Nations community located in New Brunswick or the artwork must have a local connection (please indicate this in the Artist Statement or résumé).

Artists must be committed to their artistic practice.

Who is not eligible?

• Individuals who are not authors nor representatives of professional artists.
• Artists who do not live, nor have not lived, within a 100 km radius of Moncton (within New Brunswick) or in a First Nations community in New Brunswick.
• City of Moncton employees or elected representatives.

Restrictions

• Applicants may only submit one application at a time within this opportunity.
• Meeting all eligibility requirements does not guarantee purchase of artwork.

Assessment criteria

Applications are assessed by a Peer Assessment Committee according to:

• Artistic merit
• Regional importance
• Innovation
• Conservation and maintenance requirements
• Suitability of the artwork for installation in an office and/or public setting

Who is on the Peer Assessment Committee?

• Peer Assessment Committee members are chosen based on their knowledge and experience, fair and objective opinions, ability to articulate ideas, and ability to work in a team environment.
• Members of the Committee change for every opportunity.
• Members of the Committee are selected after the competition closes and must declare conflicts of interest prior to participation.

Read through the Call to Artists completely before beginning your online application and make sure you have all the required information ready.

• A complete application must include support material listed below, and up to five images. 
• Support material may be written in English or French.

Support materials

Items are mandatory and are to be saved as one PDF.

1. Artist statement about the artwork (maximum 250 words)
2. Artistic résumé or biography
3. Information about the artwork: artist name, title, date, dimensions, materials/technique, and price

Digital image requirements

Upload one high quality digital image of the artwork. (one image maximum, unless more than one view is needed to understand the work, for example a sculpture – five images maximum)

Image files must be:

• High-quality JPG format and no larger than 1 MB each
• Named with the artist name, title, and year of production, each separated by an underscore
• Do not leave a space before or after the underscore
• File names must not exceed 150 characters

Format for naming image files

Artist Name_Artwork Title_.jpg

Examples:

• Jane Doe_The Mountain_2023.jpg
• John Doe_Untitled 3 detail_2024.jpg

Deadline and notification

Applications must be received by 12 p.m. (Atlantic Time) on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. 

Late or incomplete applications will not be accepted.

All participants will be notified by email of the results of the 2025 Direct Purchase by mid-March 2025. Payment will be issued upon delivery of the selected artwork. 

The Peer Assessment Committee may choose to view an artwork in person before making a final decision. Artist will be notified in this instance and arrangements will be made for viewing.

Results are final and artistic feedback will not be provided.

The Peer Assessment Committee is comprised of new members for each competition. If your artwork was not recommended for purchase understand that your submission may have been supported but the Direct Purchase’s limited budget cannot fund all applicants, regardless of their merit.

Copyright and moral rights

The artist shall retain the copyright of the artworks. Moral rights also remain with the artist. The City of Moncton will seek copyright permission to reproduce images of the artwork for non-commercial purposes.

Confidentiality of information

Personal information collected will only be used for evaluating your application. The content of applications and the deliberations of the Committee will remain confidential.