BMW Art Makers Programme Open Call
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Opens24 Nov 2025
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Deadline31 Dec 2025
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Link
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Entry feeFREE
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Author
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BMW ART MAKERS is a patronage programme by BMW Group France supporting emerging visual-arts creation. Each year it awards a duo an artist and a curator with €10,000 for the artist, €8,000 for the curator and €15,000 for production and research.
Overview
BMW Group France dedicates its cultural patronage to support emerging creativity in contemporary visual arts. The programme welcomes projects across all image-based disciplines, including photography, video, digital media, virtual or immersive experiences, and hybrid forms. Each year, BMW ART MAKERS selects a duo consisting of an artist and a curator to collaborate on a project, emphasizing both the creative and curatorial aspects of the work.
The selected duo receives a grant of €10,000 for the artist and €8,000 for the curator, along with a production and research budget of €15,000 to support the realization of their project. In addition to financial support, BMW provides mentorship from professionals in the art and photography fields, as well as logistical and curatorial assistance to help bring the project to exhibitions at major events such as Rencontres d’Arles and Paris Photo. Past laureates have included projects ranging from immersive hybrid installations to experimental photography addressing environmental and societal themes, demonstrating the programme’s commitment to supporting visionary and boundary-pushing work.
Practical Info
To apply, artist-curator duos must submit a joint proposal outlining their concept, chosen media, production and exhibition plan, and the project’s engagement with social, cultural, or environmental issues. Additionally, a biography of each candidate, a presentation of the artist's general approach, a statement of intent for the proposed artistic project, two series of completed works by the artist, two images of scenography already created by the curator are required.
The programme encourages innovative approaches to visual media and scenography, as well as thoughtful consideration of sustainability and resource use.
About BMW Group
After 20 years of support for photography and 10 years of the BMW Residency, BMW Group France has given a new direction to its artistic support in 2021 and has reinvented its model. Still dedicated to emerging creation, experimentation and image, this program opens to the visual arts and offers a grant to an artist-curator duo as well as a budget for research and production of works. From Frank Stella to Jeff Koons, via Andy Warhol to the emerging artists of the BMW Residency, the BMW Group's commitment to culture over the past 50 years is unquestionable. All these years have been at the service of a new artistic vision, of the hybridization of techniques in all its forms, whether in the field of contemporary art, music, architecture, design, or photography, of which BMW France has been a patron since 2003. A hundred or so projects have been created throughout the world.
