Prep School

CFAT is seeking submissions for our upcoming program Prep School.

Running from August 2024 to March 2025, this program will train five artists on the installation skills needed to create effective, professional exhibitions of media artworks.

Each participant will use their new skills to create a solo exhibition to be held at CFAT’s Members Space.

Participating artists will come into the program with already completed media artwork.

You’re welcome to apply with 1 - 3 works that you think may be a good fit. The selected artists will complete three workshops on proper installation skills.

This includes:

Exhibition Planning, Tech Specs, and Building for Exhibitions. These workshops will help answer questions like: how many lumens does a projector have and how many do I need? What type of throw does a projector need to cover your projection surface? How to manage power and cable requirements. How to illuminate interactive objects in light-sensitive environments, how to control the direction of sound? And more. Workshops will be built with participants in mind.

Following the workshop series the artists will all be assigned dates to exhibit their work for three weeks in CFAT’s Membership Space. Our Membership Space is a basic white cube space we have recently converted in our production house. The gallery space is roughly 19’ x 19’ and has the ability to be completely blacked out.

Using their detailed plans and new knowledge, the artists will lead the installation for their solo exhibition. All participants will be asked to assist on at least two other installations. This will give the artists the benefit of both more installation experience, and their very own install crew.

The artists will leave the program with a detailed exhibition installation plan. The artists will be paid $3000 for their exhibition and up to $500 reimbursed for exhibition supplies, paint, vinyl etc. Participants will also be given unlimited free use of CFAT’s equipment and facilities.

In addition to their public exhibition, artists will put on one artist talk during their exhibition run in CFAT’s project room. They will be paid an additional $750 for this presentation.

Please note that only artists working in a media art context will be accepted into the program. We acknowledge that media art is a slippery thing, but ideal projects would be completed in digital media such as video installation, electronics, sound installation, VR and more.

CFAT would like to thank the Halifax Regional Municipality and Arts Nova Scotia for their generous support of this program.

HOW TO APPLY:

To apply please send the following things in an email with the subject line “Prep School Submission” to jesse@cfat.ca :

- Project proposal (please describe your project(s) and how you would like them to appear in a gallery) 1 page or less

- Why would preparatory/exhibition knowledge be helpful to you at this stage in your career? (500 words or less)

- CV

- Examples of proposed and past work (max 10 images and/or 5 min of audio or video)

If you have any questions about the program, please reach out to Jesse Mitchell, CFAT Programming Coordinator.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sounds like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest.