Every year, HoCo Arts seeks up to 12 artists to participate in its annual juried public art competition for a temporary outdoor exhibit from August -July. Our goal is to make art more accessible to the entire community by placing sculptures at sites throughout Howard County. The sculpture will serve as major visual anchor points that will enhance and activate community spaces and generate interest in public art.
Applications for ARTsites 2026 are open, beginning in December, 2025
The competition is open to all professional visual artists, aged 18 and older, with public art experience. Our Board, our staff, and their immediate family members, as well as our selection panelists and their immediate family members, are not eligible to participate. In addition to finished pieces, we’ll also consider proposed work based on previous examples of public work.
How to Enter
Each year, our ARTsites panel selects the host sites located throughout Howard County and narrows down the artwork submissions to 30 finalists. The individual sites then select the artwork to be installed at their locations from among those finalists.
We’ll provide an identification plaque for each work and promotional support for the exhibit.
To be considered for ARTsites, interested artists must apply online at submittable.www.hocoarts.org. Mailed entries will not be accepted.
The ARTsites application asks for the following information:
- Contact Information
- Artist’s name
- Address
- Phone
- Fax
- Email
- Website
- Statement of Interest
- A brief artist statement about your work, your interest in and/or commitment to public art, and any relevant experience you may have.
- Resume
- A current resume highlighting experience with site-specific work and public art.
- Images
- Digital images of up to six works that are available for consideration. You may include up to three images for existent work, or up to six images of models/concept drawings for proposed work.
- If you are only submitting proposed work, please also provide at least three images of previous work to demonstrate your public art experience.
- Each image should be named using the “LastName_FirstName_01” format, where the numbers directly correspond to the image identification list described below.
- Image List
- A numbered image identification list indicating title, year created, materials, dimensions, approximate weight, and sale price (or insurance value if not for sale).
- Artwork Descriptions
- A brief description of each submitted artwork, including all pertinent information (materials used, interactive or kinetic elements, presentation details, maintenance needed, etc.). Be sure to include a description of the installation method and requirements for each piece, including timeline, installation procedure, anchoring mechanisms, sculpture footprint dimensions, minimum dimensions, and any machinery/equipment necessary.
- References
- A document that lists names and contact information for two references familiar with your work.
- Additional Information
