IN ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS
IN ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS
north east open call
From 25th September - 4th October 2025 the North East's largest annual contemporary art festival returns. Middlesbrough Art Week (MAW) continues to bring exciting contemporary art to Middlesbrough. For MAW25 we are seeking artist proposals for the North East Open Call (NEOC), a central exhibition within the wider MAW program.
Delivered by The Auxiliary Project Space, Middlesbrough Art Week is built on collaboration, support, and the nurturing of creative practices. This year, it will weave together diverse artistic voices and community perspectives into a collective expression of solidarity. Under the evocative theme In All Possible Worlds, the festival looks to a potential future - one shaped by creativity, resilience, and hope.
And in the spirit of this, and as artists ourselves, we do not expect proposals to be a direct response to ideas or themes. You do not need to crowbar your practice into this open call. There is no specific medium/media criterion, artists make work, we want to show it!
MAW are seeking applications for existing work by artists and creatives either based in the North East or who have a connection to the area for an exhibition that forms part of MAW25. The selected artists are invited to show their work in a group exhibition or in appropriate interventions across Middlesbrough. The initial selection will be made by Penny Payne, NEOC Curator & NEOC Alumni Artist and members of The Auxiliary and MAW team. The second round applications will be judged by Penny Payne NEOC Curator & NEOC Alumni Artist, Alex Zawadzki Founder & Director of The Second Act Gallery, Rose McMurray, Assistant Curator (The Baltic) Amani Mitha Assistant Curator (The Baltic) David Hoyland, Director (Seventeen) & Seamus McCormick, Curator (New Contemporaries).
-
Middlesbrough Art Week was born in 2017 as an artist-led festival powered by The Auxiliary Project Space, a small growing team of artists, curators and coordinators, and fuelled by wide reaching partnerships. MAW supports artist ecologies in the North East, connecting artistic practice and ideas with like-minded peers nationally and internationally, and is committed to practice and not just preach principles of fair work and social justice.
Applications now open
Artist Fee: £500*
*Successful artists will receive £500
-
Part 1: Simply apply to the email address below with a link to a specific work on your website, Instagram or any online portal or file transfer service that shows your work. If linking to social media i.e. instagram, please make sure we know which work you are pointing us to. You are also invited to submit a short text (max 200 words) in the email body, explaining your work. As ever, there are exceptions: for large scale works and extensive installations please contact us prior to applying. If you are submitting work for a specific intervention, or performative work etc, additional contextual information can also be submitted in the first instance. If you would like to apply with an alternative format ie video/audio then please contact us. The first round of applications are judged by the Auxiliary and Middlesbrough Art Week Team.
Part 2: From the initial open call, 15 artists will be invited to apply with a more detailed proposal. They will be offered a fee of £75 to cover some of the costs involved. From the 15 submissions 6 will be chosen for exhibition at MAW25. At this point please could you also confirm where your artwork is for collection, or if you will be delivering the work to Middlesbrough. -
Exhibition: A group exhibition that forms part of MAW’s core programme
Artist Fee: £500
A Studio Visit with the NEOC curator Penny Payne (Inperson or online depending on location).
An online studio visit form one of the selection panel.
Professional photography of your work installed at MAW.
Artist Social event during MAW.
Travel and accommodation for the opening night of the festival.
Who’s involved in selecting the artists? The second round applications will be judged by Penny Payne NEOC Curator & NEOC Alumni Artist, Alex Zawadzki Founder & Director of The Second Act Gallery, Rose McMurray, Assistant curator (The Baltic) Amani Mitha Assistant curator (The Baltic),David Hoyland, Director (Seventeen) and Seamus McCormick, Curator (New Contemporaries). -
Who’s involved in selecting the artists? The second round applications will be judged by Penny Payne NEOC Curator & NEOC Alumni Artist, Alex Zawadzki Founder & Director of The Second Act Gallery, Rose McMurray, Assistant curator (The Baltic) Amani Mitha Assistant curator (The Baltic), David Hoyland, Director (Seventeen) and Seamus McCormick, Curator (New Contemporaries).
-
Whilst we can only fund a small number of artists with this particular opportunity, we are always keen to hear from artists for potential future partnerships. Please indicate if you are also happy for us to keep your contact details on file for future opportunities from Middlesbrough Art Week and The Auxiliary Project Space. Our aim is to listen to artists and seek out potential opportunities for showcasing existing work or providing new opportunities, so do let us know if you’re happy for us to contact you in the future.
All applicants will receive a line of feedback on their submission.
To hear about future opportunities please sign up to our newsletter here -
Email projectmanager@theauxiliary.co.uk with a link to your work.
Please use the subject header: NE Open Call 2025
Timeline for North East Open Call
- 31st March: Open for applications
- 20th April: First Round Open Call Closes (Midnight)
- 25th April: Shortlisted artist invited to apply with full application
- April: Feedback given to unsuccessful applicants.
- 9th May: Deadline for invited full proposals
- 23rd May: Finalists Notified.
- May Feedback period
- July/August: Professional Development: In person/Virtual studio visits
- September install period (TBC)
- 25th September - 4th October 2024 Exhibition dates.
All applications to be made via email to projectmanager@theauxiliary.co.uk with the subject header:
NE Open Call 2025
Deadline for applications: 20 April (midnight)
Shortlisted artist invited to apply with full application: 25th April
There is no application fee
Download application details here
HOW TO
APPLY
selection panel
-
Penny Payne
Penny Payne is an artist & curator of North East Open Call, working on the North East coast. Through sculpture and installation, her practice considers and brings attention to overlooked women's histories. Penny has shown work at M.A.W in 2018/19/22 She also presented new work that combined research and traditional practice as part of the exhibition 'Sonia Boyce: In The Castle Of My Skin' at MIMA in 2021. Most recently Penny was part of a discussion panel for The National Gallery.
-
David Hoyland
David Hoyland is the founder of Seventeen, a contemporary art gallery with a focus on moving image. Founded by David in 2005, Seventeen exhibits works by emerging artists, with a particular focus on moving image. The gallery was initially located in Shoreditch in 2014 moved into a larger, more versatile 3,000ft space in Dalston. The programme demonstrates a commitment to video, screen based work and experiments with new digital technologies, with the majority of represented artists having a significant video and film component to their practice.
-
Séamus McCormack
Séamus McCormack is Senior Curator with New Contemporaries. Séamus was previously Assistant Curator at the Whitechapel Gallery, London and at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin. In a freelance capacity he has curated exhibitions including at Lismore Castle Arts, Waterford; The LAB, Dublin; Luan Gallery, Athlone; Sarabande London and The Bomb Factory, London. Since 2021 he has programmed Commonage Projects, Bethnal Green, presenting solo exhibitions with emerging artists.
-
Rose Mcmurray
Rose McMurray is an Assistant Curator at Baltic where she contributes to the strategic direction of the artistic programme by working closely with the Curators to coordinate the delivery of exhibitions, creative projects, residencies, and Artists Development Programme.
This year Rose has co-curated Baltic Open Submission 2024 and assisted in the delivery of the first major retrospective exhibition of feminist, activist, social documentary photographer Franki Raffles.
In the past Rose has curated and produced numerous Lightbox Commissions with artists Jill Tate, Joanne Coates and gobscure. For her curatorial practice she is interested in the social and political context of the region and the production of artistic practice locally and internationally. In the past she has researched and wrote about the civic responsibilities of arts institutions and hierarchical structures that sit within them. Prior to Baltic she was intern assistant and producer at D6: Culture in Transit.
-
Amani Mitha
Amani Mitha completed a B.A. in Politics at Queen Mary University of London and an M.A. in Curating Contemporary Art from the Royal College of Art. She is an independent curator, writer, and speaker, having worked on several UK-based and international projects.
Amani has been working within the festival sector for the past six years, curating a video and film installation as part of the Asia Triennial Manchester in 2018, which later toured Berlin. Following this, she collaborated with Rashid Rana for Manchester International Festival in 2021. More recently, Amani was working with the Performance Arcade in New Zealand and worked on Liverpool Biennial's 12th edition and 25th anniversary.
Amani's current research examines contemporary social issues, including diaspora, identity, culture, and politics, reflecting a commitment to addressing the urgent cultural narratives of our time.
-
Alex Zawadzki
Alex Zawadzki is the founder of The Second Act Gallery, a contemporary gallery established in the North of England and now touring exhibitions between there, and East London. The gallery delivers a programme with an emphasis on the inclusion of artists for the North; and also those from working class backgrounds, to support the growth of a diverse eco-system of British artists.
Alex is also one half of artist-curator duo 'Uncultured Creatives' working in partnership with artist Jamie Holman, to deliver complex commissions that draw from the unique and idiosyncratic cultural factors that make us 'who we are.' This has included 'Flashback' a Rough Trade Books publication plus online interview archive on Blackburn' Acid House nostalgia; Lancashire's commission for the Queen's jubilee resulting in an 18 metre long tapestry; and 'Wonderful Electric' a significant series of digital, light and installation artworks.