First Floor Gallery Exhibit Application

Type
Other
Topic(s)
Arts & Culture

The First Floor Gallery was created to profile the incredible artwork of local artists. This exhibition space is located at City Hall, between the Service Barrie and Legislative Services counters. The space is open to the public from 8:30am to 4:30pm, Monday through Friday (excluding holidays). 

The First Floor Gallery provides the City an opportunity to serve the arts sector by profiling the works of local artists and beautifying a public area within City Hall, while providing artists with paid exhibition opportunities.

Call for Exhibitions!

Do you want to see your artwork exhibited at Barrie City Hall’s First Floor Gallery? Submissions are now being accepted for two-month exhibitions in the gallery in 2027. Artists, collectives, organizations and clubs are encouraged to submit full exhibitions for consideration. Artists/organizations are compensated for their exhibitions. 

Criteria

Exhibitions are considered based on the following criteria:

  • Artistic merit, including quality of work, originality and artistic excellence
  • Appropriateness of artworks for exhibition in City Hall
  • Cohesiveness of artworks within the exhibition
  • Potential for artworks to fill the gallery space and create a complete exhibition
  • If the exhibitor lives/works in Barrie and immediate surrounding area

How to Apply

To be considered for exhibition, applicants are asked to submit a proposal package with the following as one PDF to creative@barrie.ca by Thursday, November 19, 2026 at 11:59pm:

  • A letter of interest;
  • A previous work summary or resume;
  • Images of all artworks that will be exhibited (it is recommended that exhibition proposals include a minimum of eight works larger than 20” x 36” or a minimum of 12 smaller works with a minimum size of 12” x 12”); 
  • A list of the artworks including title, year of completion, media and the dimensions for each artwork; and
  • The name of the exhibit and a brief artist or exhibition statement (two–three paragraphs) which can be used in promotional materials.

Please note in your submission any special requirements for your exhibition. For the purposes of exhibition, any works on paper will need to be framed. Works on canvas or panels must be wired to enable hanging. We encourage artists working in a variety of mediums to submit to the process and we will work with them to accommodate exhibiting their works (e.g. fibre arts, mixed media, sculpture).

Application Review

Submissions are reviewed for appropriateness (size, theme, artistic excellence, community relevance and appropriateness for display in City Hall) by a subcommittee made up of the Barrie Public Art Coordinator, a volunteer art curator from the community, and a representative from the MacLaren Art Centre. Efforts are made to present a variety of work from different artists and mediums. 

All submitters will be contacted to advise of the selected exhibitions in December 2026.

If you have any questions, please contact Amanda.Dyke@barrie.ca. 

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