Photoville Festival 2027 Open Call

For its 16th annual festival, Photoville invites photographers, collectives and organizations to propose exhibitions or public programming in Brooklyn Bridge Park and across New York City's five boroughs.

Overview

Photoville has issued its call for proposals for the 16th annual Photoville Festival in 2027. The festival returns for three weeks of free public art, exhibitions and community programming in Brooklyn Bridge Park and across all five boroughs of New York City. The Photo Village returns to Brooklyn Bridge Park, with additional open-air exhibitions in NYC Parks and other cultural institutions and public spaces.

The organiser is eager to showcase projects across all spectrums of visual storytelling and welcomes work in all genres: global narratives, local histories, studio portraiture, street photography, collaborative archives, community-driven projects and interdisciplinary approaches. Subjects named include immigration, healthcare, education, racial inequality, climate change, social justice, incarceration, women's rights, youth and intergenerational stories, police reform, housing and joy.

Independent artists selected for the festival do not pay exhibition costs. Photoville covers design, production and installation expenses. Independent artists and artist-led collectives without institutional support or sponsorship also have printing, exhibition structures, public liability insurance and publicity covered, and receive a modest artist honorarium whose amount varies with the number of artists supported, the scope and size of the project, and the materials used.

A separate Educator Exhibition Grant, run with PhotoWings, is open for its 10th annual call. Six educators will each receive curatorial, design, printing and logistical support, a public exhibition of their students' work at the 2027 festival, and a $500 cash grant.

Practical Info

There is no limit or prerequisite regarding artist age, professional qualifications, or the period in which the work was made. The Educator Exhibition Grant is only open to middle and high school educators who work directly with students; school administrators, elementary programs and college programs will not be considered.

There are three applications: two for exhibitions (open-air and shipping container), open to photographers, collectives, non-profit organizations and commercial entities, and one for public programming (talks, workshops, screenings or interactive experiences). More than one proposal can be submitted in any category. A project suited to either an open-air or a container exhibition should be submitted once, noting that it is to be considered for both.

Non-profits, commercial entities and artists with sponsorship are required to make a financial contribution assessed on the proposal. A limited number of grants are available for independent artists. Open-air exhibitions run in public locations across the five boroughs for an extended period; containers are in Brooklyn Bridge Park for the two-week festival period.

Selected artists have a one-on-one virtual meeting with the Photoville team on curatorial, technical and financial elements, then work with the team to produce the exhibition, either designing it to be print-ready or supplying high-resolution files and copy-edited text for Photoville to design.

The deadline for exhibition and programming proposals is 22 December 2026. The deadline for the Educator Exhibition Grant is 4 January 2027, 11:59 PM ET. Questions can be sent to info@photoville.com.

About Photoville

Photoville is a nonprofit organization based in Brooklyn, New York, that presents a free annual community photo festival. The festival is supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Longtime partners include Brooklyn Bridge Park and NYC Parks, with VSCO as Lead Marquee Partner. More information is at photoville.nyc.