PhotoIreland FUTURES Talent Call 2025

PhotoIreland launches the 8th FUTURES Talent Call for artists, opening the opportunity for the first time to all UK practitioners.

Overview

The submission to this opportunity organised by PhotoIreland as the Irish member of the FUTURES Photography Platform is open and free to artists based in Ireland and, for the first time, also to those in the UK, as much as those Irish and UK artists practicing abroad. The call is for artists working in photography and its expanded practice at any level, who feel their practice is at a suitable stage to avail of this opportunity.

The selecting jury, to be announced soon, will be looking for contemporary, lens-based artists, regardless of curriculum or experience, who have demonstrated dedication and serious intention in their practice. We strongly recommend for each applicant to review the practice of the previous Irish artists participating in the platform to understand this call better, as much as to find out more about the FUTURES Photography Platform.

Practical Info

Applicants must submit their work by emailing a single PDF file to pif.submissions@gmail.com, including a short bio (max 200 words), an artist statement, a CV, a description of their latest project in 500 words max. including all details as needed (year, location of project, etc.), a selection of low resolution images that represent the project, and a brief information of past projects if any. After the jury process is completed, PhotoIreland will send an update to all artists requiring the a selection of 15 high resolution images from the submitted work and a portrait. The deadline for submissions is 6pm Sunday 15th December 2024.

PhotoIreland and FUTURES provide selected participants with a participation fee of €500, Futures Conversations with international professionals, online and in-person. Travel, accommodation, and per diem for artists are covered for participation in the 2025 Annual Event taking place at the Tbilisi Photo Festival, in Georgia. Additionally, they will have access to exclusive Magnum workshops especially developed for FUTURES artists. Plus, artists will have the opportunity to apply to the internal open call for the annual travelling exhibition, which in 2025 is co-curated by Tbilisi Photo Festival (GE), Centre Photographique Rouen Normandie (FR), and Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center (HU), with PhotoIreland as publishing partner with OVER Journal.

In addition, PhotoIreland provides access bursaries for artists. The purpose of the Access Bursary is to provide an equal opportunity for all artists by facilitating and accommodating those with specific requirements and circumstances that normally prevent the artist from participating fully in their practice. If you may require some financial support to enable your participation due to accessibility reasons, please include these in your application, including an estimate of costs. Examples of accessibility costs may include (but are not exclusive to) financial support towards: a caretaker; parental support (co-parent assistance, childminder, etc); transport; overnight stay; technical support and others.

About PhotoIreland

PhotoIreland grows the reputation of Irish artists globally through a 360 degree support system and platform for contemporary photography, activated through a diversity of projects. These include events such as PhotoIreland Festival and Halftone print fair amongst others; resources such as the PhotoIreland Collection, a specialised research library of photobooks, and Ireland’s Art Bookshop, The Library Project; via publishing with projects such as OVER Journal and TLP Editions; professional development support through networking and consultancy opportunities; and empowering early and mid-career photographers via their international partnerships, most relevantly through Creative Europe co-funded platforms such as FUTURES and Parallel.

About FUTURES

Co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union from 2017, the FUTURES Photography Platform pools together the experience of leading photography institutions across Europe to increase the capacity, mobility and visibility of its selected artists. By bringing together a wealth of resources and curatorial expertise, each talent selected by the Futures members gains access to an unprecedented international network of professionals as well as new markets and audiences. Currently, the platform has 20 member institutions across Europe, who are invited to nominate artists to join the platform each year.