Xpace Cultural Centre accepts proposals of all media from emerging and student artists, curators and cultural workers. Exhibitions are selected by our Programming Committee which is composed of the Xpace Director, and well as Xpace staff. There is no fee to apply, and all selected applicants and participants are paid an applicable CARFAC project fee. This Open Call covers all exhibition spaces (Window Space, Main Space, Project Space, and Special Projects) from September 2025 through July 2026.

The 2025-2026 Call for Exhibition Submissions deadline is Sunday, June 8 at 11:59 PM

THEMATICS

Winter 2025: Dream, desire, despair 

Dream, desire, despair is a dramatic telling of the fluctuating pendulum of emotions and sensations we often experience amidst a cold and dark winter. We dream of vibrancy and passion, a flashy recall of our brightest summer memories; we desire for the thawing of a promised spring, longing for outlandish wishes just out of our grasp; finally, we despair, an acceptance of this reality, when we ultimately perform our anguish and sadness for nobody else to see. 

“Wishing upon a star

Tears streaming down my face

Wanting it all

The sun, moon, and stars”

Keywords: dreams, hope, ambition, drama, theatrics, “all the world’s a stage”

Spring 2026: again & again

again & again is a thematic that explores cyclicality. Taking the symbol of the Ouroboros–the snake that eats its own tail–as a starting point, the prompt looks to infinity and renewal. Applicants are encouraged to think about visual repetition, patterning, and tessellation, or conceptually consider ideas of alliteration, ritual, and frequency. Why do we get stuck or fixate on things that are out of our control? How do we manage to overcome, and break a cycle? If the definition of repeating is doing the same things again and again, how can we encourage change?

Keywords: Cycles, rituals, patterns, rhythm, repetition, returning, forever

Summer 2026: Mine, yours, ours 

Mine, yours, ours is a thematic about togetherness. Here, we encourage applicants to think about what it means to have, but also to reminisce on what we may no longer have. We hold these thoughts and feelings with us as we traverse beyond the self. We seek connection and understanding with others, forming collectives and communities with those we value most. As summertime is especially a time for gathering, communing, and sharing- we urge applicants to reflect upon themes of love and loss in the context of correlating to others

Keywords: Together, collective(ly), community, love, displacement, ownership, outrospection

EXHIBITION SPACES

​​All exhibition archives can be viewed here: www.xpace.info/archive 

Floor plans can be viewed here at the bottom of the page: http://www.xpace.info/resources/ 

WINDOW SPACE

The Window Space looks out onto Lansdowne Avenue and is visible 24 hours a day, 7  days a week. Works proposed for the Window Space should consider the site-specific nature of an exhibition space with 24-hour access, and its location and presence as a window facing out onto the street. Solo or collaborative works may apply. 

MAIN SPACE

The Main Space hosts group exhibitions organized around a connecting theme or idea. You may apply as a curator or as an artist collective. Proposals should emphasize the ways in which the artists and artworks relate to the theme. Curators may apply with works already selected, or with a theme only (please include examples of artists/designers and/or the type of works you are interested in). In the case of an artist collective or group of artists, the role of the curator(s) must be clearly defined. 

PROJECT SPACE

The Project Space is intended for installation-based practices. Site-based exhibitions, experimental installations and immersive works will be given priority. Solo or collaborative works, (up to 2 artists maximum) may apply.

SPECIAL PROJECTS

Special Projects are defined as an artistic contribution responding to or reflecting on the thematic of the exhibition cycle. These event-based activations will be shown once during the exhibition round and supported with a stand alone event. Examples of a Special Project could include a performance, close listening of a sound work, readings, screening of a single channel video work or other kinds of experimental discursive programming. 

REQUIREMENTS

Applicants are asked to provide the following items:

1. Artist Bio (150 words max): 2-3 sentences describing who you are. This can include the city you’re based in, education, recent professional experience (if applicable), and/or awards. 

2. Artistic Practice Statement (300 words max): The Artistic Practice Statement should give a description of your overall art practice (ie) themes, issues, processes you’re currently exploring and interested in. 

3. Project Description (500 words max): The project description should give a clear and concrete description of the work you are proposing for Xpace. Please specify which exhibition space you intend the work to be exhibited in and why your project suits it specifically. (ie) sound installation, series of sculptures, projections, etc. If you are a curator, please outline the curatorial theme and selected artists (if confirmed).

3. Install/Technical Description (250 words max): The technical description should include: tentative install plan/schedule, equipment, tools and materials required for install, installation assistance or shipping (if needed), and any associated expenses. 

4. CV (Max 3 pages): Your CV should include education and exhibition history, as well as any relevant experience you’d like us to know about. Please note: formal education is not mandatory to apply. Xpace only shows work from emerging artists/curators/cultural workers and/or students. Mid-career and established artists will not be accepted. If you are unsure if you fall within our mandate, please ask opencall@xpace.info.

5. Visual Support Material (5-10): Images must be in JPG format. You may include links to video and/or audio files. These should be a maximum of 3-5 minutes in total. If there is a specific portion of a longer video you would like the Programming Committee to watch, please indicate it on your support material list.

6. Support Material List: State what each file is and its relation to your proposal. (1-2 sentences per file).

If you have any questions about the proposal process that are not outlined in our FAQ below please contact Xpace staff at opencall@xpace.info  before 6pm on May 23rd, 2025. Please note that due to high interest it might take up to  3-5  days to get to your question. 

Xpace recognizes the importance of oral culture in the sharing of language, history, knowledge and practice. We will accept oral submissions, when accessibility and/or oral culture is relevant to the project or artistic practice. Oral application requests will be evaluated on a case by case basis. If you’d like to request one, please write opencall@xpace.info before 6pm on Friday, May 23rd, 2025. 

Please reference our submission guidelines and FAQ for more information: https://www.xpace.info/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/XPACE-2025-2026-SUBMISSION-GUIDELINES-FAQ.pdf 

THE DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS IS SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2025 @ 11:59PM. NO LATE SUBMISSION WILL BE ACCEPTED.

XPACE WILL ONLY ACCEPT SUBMISSIONS RECEIVED THROUGH OUR FORMAL SUBMISSION PROCESS ON SUBMITTABLE AS OUTLINED ABOVE. 

THOUGH STAFF IS HAPPY TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK AT ALL MOMENTS OF THE SUBMISSION PROCESS, WE CANNOT RESPOND TO INQUIRIES ASKED THROUGH DIRECT MESSAGE, TEXT OR FACEBOOK MESSENGER. WE ASK THAT APPLICANTS REACH OUT VIA E-MAIL INSTEAD. 

APPLICANTS WILL BE NOTIFIED BY JULY 16, 2025 OF THEIR PROPOSAL STATUS. WE LOOK FORWARD TO READING YOUR PROPOSALS AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST.

Xpace Cultural Centre is seeking applications for the opportunity to participate in our annual summer residency program! The residency is open to students graduating from OCAD University in Spring 2025 from any program at the Undergraduate or Graduate level. Two artists and one curator will be selected. The residency is intended to take place at Xpace Cultural Centre in person between August 12 - September 11 , 2024.

THEMATIC

In alignment with our 2025 Residency for Recent OCAD U Graduates, On your mark teems with kinetic potential. This exhibition thematic asks outgoing OCAD U students, on the precipice of new beginnings, to consider familiar processes in tandem with new possibilities. Hard left turns, leaps of faith, and the thrill of the unknown: Using the resources of our residency program, are there ways of working, new media, or tangential research you’ve always wanted to indulge but haven’t yet had the chance to? Eagerly positioned at a fresh starting point, we encourage applicants to consider what new or unexpected outcomes may sprawl out from brief detours taken while on the continuous, lifelong marathon we know to be creative practice. 

Keywords: Detours, risk, tangents, possibilities, velocity, speed, unpredictability, experimentation

NOTE: This programming block is reserved for OCAD U students graduating from (May - September 2025), as a part of our 2025 Residency for recent OCAD U Graduates.

ARTISTS
    The residency offers professional support, mentorship and dedicated time and space to recent OCAD U graduates interested in developing a new body of work to exhibit in Xpace’s Window or Project Space for a two month exhibition. Two selected artist residents will be provided with the following:
 

• Studio space at Xpace from August 12 - September 11, 2025;
• A solo exhibition at Xpace from September 13 – October 25, 2025.
• A CARFAC Artist fee.
• A materials budget of up to $300.00.
• Inclusion in Xpace’s VOLUME publication in September 2026. 
• The artist will work in collaboration with an emerging writer to write exhibition text for their project. This writer will be provided by Xpace or chosen by the artist.

CURATORS
    The residency intends to offer professional support, mentorship and dedicated time and space to recent OCAD U graduates with an interest in curatorial practices. The selected curator will have the opportunity to curate a group exhibition (minimum 3 artists) in Xpace’s Main Space and write an accompanying exhibition text. The curator will be provided with the following:
 

• Studio space at Xpace from August 12 - September 11, 2025;
• An exhibition at Xpace from September 13 – October 25, 2025.
• A CARFAC Curator fee.
• CARFAC Artist fees for any participating artists.
• A materials budget of up to $300.00.
• Inclusion in Xpace’s VOLUME publication in September 2026. 

REQUIREMENTS

Applicants are asked to provide the following items:

1. Artistic Practice Statement (300 words max): The Artistic Practice Statement should give a description of your overall art practice (ie) themes, issues, processes you’re currently exploring and interested in. 

2. Project Description (500 words max): The project description should give a clear and concrete description of the work you are proposing for the Residency. Please specify which exhibition space you're interested in and why your project suits it specifically. (ie) sound installation, series of sculptures, projections, etc. If you are a curator, please outline the curatorial theme and selected artists (if confirmed).

3. CV (Max 2 pages): Your CV should include education and exhibition history, as well as any relevant experience you’d like us to know about. 

4. Support Material (10 items max): Images must be in JPG format. You may include links to video and/or audio files. These should be a maximum of 3 minutes in total. Writing excerpts or short essays, prose, or excerpts from longer pieces also accepted.

Please reference our submission guidelines and FAQ for more information: https://www.xpace.info/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/XPACE-2025-2026-SUBMISSION-GUIDELINES-FAQ.pdf 

THE DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS IS SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2025 @ 11:59PM. NO LATE SUBMISSION WILL BE ACCEPTED.

XPACE WILL ONLY ACCEPT SUBMISSIONS RECEIVED THROUGH OUR FORMAL SUBMISSION PROCESS ON SUBMITTABLE AS OUTLINED ABOVE. 

THOUGH STAFF IS HAPPY TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK AT ALL MOMENTS OF THE SUBMISSION PROCESS, WE CANNOT RESPOND TO INQUIRIES ASKED THROUGH DIRECT MESSAGE, TEXT OR FACEBOOK MESSENGER. WE ASK THAT APPLICANTS REACH OUT VIA E-MAIL INSTEAD. 

APPLICANTS WILL BE NOTIFIED BY JULY 16, 2025 OF THEIR PROPOSAL STATUS. WE LOOK FORWARD TO READING YOUR PROPOSALS AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST.

Xpace Cultural Centre is seeking workshop proposals from emerging artists, curators and arts administrators for our 2025/2026 Programming Year.

Our workshop program is presented to the Toronto/Tkaronto emerging art and design community free-of-charge. It is programmed annually with the intention of responding to the needs and interests of emerging creative practitioners in our community. 

This year, our three exhibition thematics are; On your mark - Fall (OCAD University Graduate Residency), Dream, desire, dispaire - Winter, again & again - Spring, Yours, mine, ours - Summer. For creatively focused workshops, please ensure to outline how your workshop will respond to one or more of the thematics in your workshop proposal.

Workshops are programmed with the intention to empower artists to advocate for themselves and their communities, as well as support creative growth and wellbeing. This could be by providing practical tools for emerging artists to deepen their knowledge of topics ranging from art documentation and intellectual property, to portfolio building and grant writing, tenants rights, to cyber security. Workshops could also offer tools for self and collective care practices such as intentional movement, breath work and mindfulness, as well as boundary setting and de-escalation strategies. We also program workshops geared towards developing creative skill sets such as rug hooking, digital game development and tarot reading. 

Xpace will prioritize projects that:
 

• Utilize free or PWYC resources and/or require minimal to no purchases on behalf of the participants (ie) paid softwares like Adobe, expensive equipment, tools or materials.
• Are accessible to the public and audience(s).
• Engages with specific skills that benefit emerging artists and students.
• Are spotlighting new skills and ideas. 

*Xpace Cultural Centre is open to both IRL or URL workshop formats.

Workshop facilitators are paid a CARFAC fee to develop and execute their project, with the option of requesting CAD $50 for additional materials.

The duration of a workshop must be 2-3 hours. If you are interested in proposing a larger project, workshop series or partnership, please contact opencall@xpace.info with details with the subject line ‘2025/26 Workshop Open Call’.

Applicants are asked to provide the following items:

1. Workshop Title (if applicable) 

2. Workshop Outline (500 words max): Please provide a brief overview and description of the workshop you are proposing to facilitate at Xpace. Note how you see the workshop responding to one the exhibition thematics. What format will it take? 

3. Learning Objectives (500 words max): Please outline your intention for this workshop.  What are you hoping to achieve? What skills, knowledge and / or abilities will participants take away from the workshop? Who are you hoping to engage with and why? 

4. Timeline (200 words max): What is your ideal schedule to plan, develop and execute this workshop? Do you have preferred dates/times for the workshop to take place?

5. Support Material (optional): Any materials deemed relevant for the jury to view that will help illustrate your workshop (i.e, if you are hosting a zine-making workshop, including photos of zines you have made in the past).

THE DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS IS SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2025 @ 11:59PM. NO LATE SUBMISSION WILL BE ACCEPTED.

XPACE WILL ONLY ACCEPT SUBMISSIONS RECEIVED THROUGH OUR FORMAL SUBMISSION PROCESS ON SUBMITTABLE AS OUTLINED ABOVE. 

THOUGH STAFF IS HAPPY TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK AT ALL MOMENTS OF THE SUBMISSION PROCESS, WE CANNOT RESPOND TO INQUIRIES ASKED THROUGH DIRECT MESSAGE, TEXT OR FACEBOOK MESSENGER. WE ASK THAT APPLICANTS REACH OUT VIA E-MAIL INSTEAD. 

APPLICANTS WILL BE NOTIFIED BY JULY 16, 2025 OF THEIR PROPOSAL STATUS. WE LOOK FORWARD TO READING YOUR PROPOSALS AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST.

Xpace Cultural Centre is seeking to hire an IWSP Volume Designer for Summer 2025.  

The Designer will work in collaboration with the Xpace team to manage, plan and execute the design of Xpace’s annual publication, VOLUME. Additionally, they will design promotional material for print and web.

✱ This position is a part-time 10-week contract commencing June 9, 2025. 

✱ Compensation is $19.26 /hour (inclusive of 4% in lieu of vacation and 8% in lieu of benefits) for 20 hours a week, with the exact days TBD upon hiring. 

✱ The position will operate in a hybrid format.

Responsibilities

Reporting to the Director, the Designer:

- Designs Xpace’s annual VOLUME print publication;

- Develops a unique front and back cover concept for the VOLUME publication following RGD (Registered Graphic Designers) Ontario guidelines for accessible graphic design;

- Prepares the publication and works to provide print-ready files;

- Designs and typesets the interior pages of the publication following RGD accessible graphic design guidelines;

- Works alongside Xpace staff to support the printing process with chosen printer and ensures the publication is printed and delivered by its final deadline;

- Designs a suite of web components to assist in the promotion of VOLUME; 

- Works alongside the Communication Assistant to produce designed materials to support Xpace Cultural Centre as required.

The ideal candidate:

- Is currently enrolled in a post-secondary design and/or art program at OCAD University, and qualifies for the IWSP program;

- Goal-oriented and able to work in a team 

- Possesses excellent administrative, communication, verbal and organizational skills;

- Has a knowledge and interest in contemporary visual art and design practices;

- Comfortable working in a Mac environment;

- Comfortable with Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Office;

- Experience in publication design will be considered an asset;

- Experience in web design will be considered an asset.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This position is partially funded by the OCAD U Institutional Work Study Plan and students must meet all of the following criteria: 

Students may apply for an IWSP job if they:

- are Canadian citizens, Permanent Residents or Protected Persons

- are registered in full-time studies (as defined by OSAP)

- Ontario residents who have submitted an error-free OSAP application for 2022/23 (or out-of-province students receiving funding through their provincial student assistance program) or by completing the budget worksheet on the application.

- Students must demonstrate financial need through one of the above methods

IWSP Student Approval Letter: Students must submit an OCAD U Work Study Application Form for the fall/winter semester to the Financial Aid & Awards in order to verify their eligibility under the program. Students will receive a response via email within 5 business days.