Calling all Emerging Artists!

Submissions for our September 2026–June 2027 Emerging Artists Programme are now open. This opportunity is open to UK-based artists/art collectives who are within the first ten years of their practice, with a body of work ready to exhibit at Orleans House Gallery.   

The selected artists/art collectives will be given a budget of £2000 to make the exhibition happen (suggested budget breakdown of £1200 to the artist, £800 for production, install, deinstall, etc). 

Previous recipients of the programme include: Llinos Owen, Sophie Gresswell, Mandeep Dillon, Anna Blom and Pía Ortuño, Rudy Loewe, Saroj Patel, Lucy Gregory and Mingzhang Sun. 

Submit your exhibition proposal by 6 April 2026. 

If you would like to chat to us about your exhibition proposal or have any questions about the application process, you can book in a ten-minute consultation with us: Book an application surgery 

Artists are offered the Stables Gallery at Orleans House Gallery as a space for experimentation and building conversations with audiences. Artists may propose a collaborative, theme-based exhibition, or a wholly innovative arts-based project. We are interested to hear your ideas. We ask that your proposal includes only existing work to ensure realistic timelines and budget constraints. 

This programme is an opportunity to develop your producing skills and work on the production of your exhibition from start to finish. Our team will support you through these necessary procedures. 

Completed proposals must be submitted before midnight on 6 April 2026 to Zoe Wright at zoe.wright@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk. Completed proposals consist of the application form, 5-10 images and/or relevant visual or audio examples of your proposed exhibition and an Equal Opportunities Monitoring form.  

We are keen to work with artists from a variety of backgrounds with different skills, stories, and experiences. We actively seek applications from our diverse communities including Global Majority, Deaf, disabled, neurodivergent, and LGBTQ+, to represent diverse lived experiences in our projects.     

If you have access requirements and would prefer to apply in a different format, please email zoe.wright@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk. 

This opportunity is open to those who are 

• Establishing their career as an artist / artist collective and within the first 10 years of their practice 

• Based in the UK 

• Have an existing body of work ready to exhibit. A criteria of the programme is that the art works submitted already exist. We want to support your exhibition financially and operationally; we do not have the resource to support the production of new artworks.   

The Richmond Arts Service vision has the following values, and we are particularly interested in proposals that interrogate or support this direction. We will select against these values.     

• Collaborative – we work with people in innovative and inspiring ways, we invite artists, communities and individuals to create the public programme with us and help develop the arts service.     

• Socially engaged – we respond to the needs and wishes of local people, widen participation in the arts and connect people from different backgrounds, enabling them to have a say over issues that affect them, and promoting opportunity particularly for underrepresented groups.     

• Experimental – through the arts we test new ideas and approaches and share our learning to support the work of the borough. This might involve being playful, adventurous and taking risks. 

Additionally, the panel will consider the feasibility and the quality of each application.

• The Stables Gallery at Orleans House Gallery      

• Free use of workshop space in the lead up to the exhibition (depending on available dates)     

• £2000 to make the exhibition happen. The suggested breakdown of this budget is £1200 to the artist to support in developing necessary documents for the exhibition, site visits, and install and de-install days and £800 production budget to cover technical equipment, additional technician requirements and install and de-install costs 

• One day of technician support during install.  

• Support from the Orleans House Gallery team, given as required, at key development and delivery moments    

• Learning and development opportunities      

• Marketing support – poster design and poster printing, social media marketing and exhibition listings, assistance approaching 5 targeted media outlets for each exhibition    

• Front of House volunteer invigilation of the exhibition     

• Networking opportunities with the other emerging artists   

• Networking opportunities with professional artists working in other spaces at Orleans House Gallery   

• We support artists who want to sell works through their exhibitions, and a commission applies to all works sold. The commission supports our work across Orleans House Gallery programmes. Details on how the commission is calculated are available on the FAQs page. 

• Existing body of work to be displayed at the gallery     

• Production documents and procedures related to the exhibition and opening event (i.e. risk assessment)    

• Images, headshots and blurbs that will be used to promote the exhibition     

• Collaborative marketing strategies and cross promotion, including a press release     

• Tour for volunteers who will be supporting the exhibition     

• Install and deinstall schedule and plan including overseeing any technical support     

• Public Liability insurance for themselves for working on site    

• Orleans House Gallery delivers Cultural Reforesting, a programme that focuses on our relationship with nature. Please consider the environmental impact of your exhibition when applying.  

• We want to make sure all artists working with us support themselves and those working with them financially. We will assess whether the project has realistic expectations. We know everyone has high ambitions, and we want an honest conversation from the beginning around these.