Phoenix Art Museum has opened the annual call for submissions for the institution’s Sally and Richard Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards artists’ grants program, which provides recognition and financial support for emerging, professional, Arizona-based artists.
Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards submission details
The call is open now through this Friday, March 10 to local artists who wish to present their work for consideration. Applications, which do not have a submission fee, are accepted online only. A panel of judges will select up to two Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards recipients, who will be announced April 21.
Each recipient will be awarded a $2,500 grant and the opportunity to participate in the 2023 Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards recipients’ exhibition at Phoenix Art Museum in summer 2023.
Artists working in all media, including painting, sculpture, drawing, installation, new media, performance, photography and video, may apply. Applications must be submitted online using the following link: bit.ly/LehmannEmergingArtistAwards and are due March 10. Artists must be registered as an Artlink Articipant, which can be done online.
In order to be eligible to apply to the Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards, artists must be considered emerging, meeting at least one of the following criteria:
- Artists with at least five years of professional experience who are currently making and exhibiting new work.
- Artists whose work has been shown in Arizona but not extensively outside of the state.
- Individuals returning to art after a hiatus.
Artists must be living in Arizona for at least one year at the time of application, and submitted artwork must have been produced within the past three years.
Applicants are ineligible if they are enrolled in a college-degree program at the time of application, engage in art making as a hobby, previous winners of the Emerging Artist Award or current Phoenix Art Museum staff, board or volunteers.
Submissions must include either six images or three videos providing different examples of the applicant’s work from the past three years as well as work sample descriptions of each submitted artwork.
Visit bit.ly/LehmannEmergingArtistAwards for more specific submission requirements or email curatorial@phxart.org with any questions.
Supporting Arizona’s artists
The Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards are presented annually by Phoenix Art Museum. The artists’ grants recognition program is a continuation of a program begun by former museum support group Contemporary Forum, which awarded more than 180 artists’ grants over more than 30 years.
The Contemporary Forum Artists’ Grants concluded in 2017, at which time Phoenix Art Museum continued to subsidize an annual artists’ grants program to support the efforts and recognition of Arizona-based artists. In April 2021, the annual artists’ grants program was rebranded to acknowledge the support of local donors Sally and Richard Lehmann, who have committed to funding the Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards annually for a minimum of 10 years.
The Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards foster the creation of contemporary art by encouraging emerging artists working in Arizona through grants and annual exhibitions as well as by providing additional programming opportunities for artist talks with the community and hosted at Phoenix Art Museum.
Two artists are selected as award recipients by a jury assembled by Christian Ramírez, assistant curator of contemporary art at Phoenix Art Museum, featuring curators from inside and outside the state of Arizona. The jury may also include internationally established artists and other visual-art experts. Past jurors have included Tiffany Fairall, chief curator at Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, and Julio César Morales, senior curator at ASU Art Museum and 2018 Morton Scult Artist Award recipient.
The 2021 Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards Exhibition, on view now through May 14, features works by emerging artists Gloria Martinez Granados, Chris Vena and Merryn Omotayo Alaka and Sam Frésquez. This exhibition is displayed in conjunction with Sama Alshaibi: Generation After Generation, featuring the work of 2021 Scult Award recipient, Sama Alshaibi.
Since 1959, Phoenix Art Museum has provided millions of guests with access to world-class art and experiences in an effort to ignite imaginations, create meaningful connections and serve as a brave space for all people who wish to experience the transformative power of art.
Located in Phoenix’s Central Corridor, the museum is a vibrant destination for the visual arts and the largest art museum in the southwestern United States. Each year, more than 300,000 guests engage with critically acclaimed national and international exhibitions and the museum’s collection of more than 20,000 works of American and Western American, Asian, European, Latin American, modern and contemporary art and fashion design.
The museum also presents a comprehensive film program, live performances and educational programs designed for visitors of all ages, along with vibrant photography exhibitions made possible through the museum’s landmark partnership with the Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona. To learn more about Phoenix Art Museum, visit phxart.org or call 602-257-1880.
