May 2026 Opportunities: Open Calls, Residencies, and Grants for Artists

Colossal's May 2026 opportunities roundup lists multiple open calls, residencies, and grants for artists worldwide. Featured opportunities include the Scenerium 2026 Art Award (deadline May 7), the Hopper Prize offering $4,500 and $1,000 artist grants (deadline May 12), and the SaveArtSpace Billboard Art Open Call curated by Gigi Chen (deadline May 7). Other listings include the YICCA Art Prize, CIFRA Award, Cass Art Prize for the U.K. and Ireland, Sunshine Coast National Art Prize in Australia, an opportunity to get published in Artistonish magazine, and the Abbey Mural Prize.

In Venice, an unprecedented space in the Arsenale opens to the public for the first time. It will host performances.

A Venezia apre al pubblico per la prima volta uno spazio inedito dell’Arsenale. Ospiterà performance

For the first time, the Galeazze—historically used for constructing the Serenissima fleet—will open to the public during the 2026 Venice Art Biennale on May 5 and 6. Artist and choreographer Faustin Linyekula has conceived a site-specific performance titled The Galeazze Project, activating the monumental, water-adjacent spaces of the Arsenale Nord. Collaborating with musician Heru Shabaka-Ra, Linyekula integrates the architecture into the performance, involving local performers and musicians. The project, conceived by Cosimo Ferrigolo and Dirk Bell and curated by Edoardo Lazzari, features scaffolding, platforms, and an irregular lighting system, inviting the audience to move freely and redefine the relationship between bodies and space.

Working in the arts: opportunities from Arte Laguna Prize, Reggio Parma Festival, Italian Cultural Institute of London, Museo Mitoraj

Lavorare nell’arte: opportunità da Arte Laguna Prize, Reggio Parma Festival, Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Londra, Museo Mitoraj

Artribune has compiled a list of five open calls and job opportunities in Italy for visual artists, theater professionals, curators, and digital media specialists. The opportunities include the Arte Laguna Prize 2026 offering exhibitions at Venice's Arsenale Nord and international residencies at venues like The Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai and BigCi in Australia; the Gradus theater residency program by Reggio Parma Festival; an artist residency for Italians under 40 at Camberwell College of Arts in London organized by the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Londra; the Terre Alte residency for visual artists and curators under 36 by CasermArcheologica; and a digital media specialist position at the Fondazione Museo Igor Mitoraj.