Gallery Submissions

The William Way LGBT Community Center invites Philadelphia-area artists 18 and over of all experience levels who self-identify as LGBTQIA+ to submit for our no-fee Annual Juried Art Exhibition.

The Art Gallery at the William Way LGBT Community Center exclusively exhibits work by artists who self-identify as LGBTQIA+. Your work need not be explicitly LGBTQIA+-focused. We are interested in artistic perspectives on the breadth of human experience by LGBTQIA+ people. 

Venue: William Way LGBT Community Center Lobby Gallery.

Exhibition dates: Thursday, November 14 to Thursday, December 19, 2024.

Deadline: Monday, October 14, 2024 (by midnight). Submissions will not be accepted after this date.

Artwork requirements: All forms of visual art are eligible including collage, drawing, painting, photography, prints, multimedia, sculpture, and video. 2D dimensions no larger than 48 inches (vertical) x 36 inches (horizontal), weight restricted to 40 pounds. 2D artwork must be framed and ready to hang. Sculpture must be accompanied by stands/pedestals.

Location requirement: Artists must have an address in Philadelphia, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Bucks Counties in Pennsylvania; Camden, Gloucester, or Burlington Counties in New Jersey.

Submission guidelines: On the following form you will be asked to include your name and contact information; required statements; and submit high resolution images or videos of 1-8 artwork(s), plus full descriptive information on each work (title, year created, medium, dimensions/length, and cost if for sale).

Sales: Artists included in the exhibition may make their works available for sale. Sales of artworks will be handled by William Way LGBT Community Center. Artists will receive 65% of all sales, with 35% going to the Center to support its Arts & Culture Programs. Artists should price their works accordingly.

Opening: The in-person opening reception will be on Thursday, November 14, 2024, 6:00-8:00pm, at William Way LGBT Community Center. There will also be a virtual exhibition of the artworks available on the Center's website.

Juror Awards: Three (3) selected recipients will be awarded $300 each and a spot in a three-person group exhibition in 2025.

Arts Committee Awards: Three (3) recipients will be awarded $100 each.

Juror: Gabriel Martinez

Juror Bio: Gabriel Martinez is a Queer Cuban American multidisciplinary photo-based visual artist living and working in Philadelphia, PA. He was a Pew Fellowship in the Arts recipient in 2001, received a Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship in 2003, and was awarded both an Independent Creative Production Grant from the Sachs Program for Arts Innovation and an Independence Foundation Fellowship in 2019. He has participated in several artist residency programs including: the Rosenbach Museum, Ox-Bow, Chicago Leather Archives & Museum, the Fabric Workshop, the Fountainhead Residency, Arcadia Summer Arts Program, MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, Banff Centre, the Studios at MASS MoCA, and the Joan Mitchell Center. 

Martinez attended the Skowhegan School of Sculpture and Painting in 2003, received his MFA from Tyler School of Art in 1991, and earned his BFA from the University of Florida in 1989. He has been teaching in the Photo Program for the Department of Fine Arts & Design at the University of Pennsylvania for the last 23 years. 

Gabriel Martinez has exhibited his work and created performance projects for various venues including: in Philadelphia at the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Print Center, the Fabric Workshop & Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Woodmere Art Museum, the Philadelphia Art Alliance, Marginal Utility, Vox Populi, the Bike Stop, Fjord, Grizzly Grizzly, the Leonard Pearlstein Gallery, William Way LGBT Community Center, Taller Puertorriqueño, and Nexus Foundation for Today’s Art; in New York at White Columns, Leslie Lohman Gay Art Museum’s Prince Street Project Space, Franklin Furnace, Exit Art, and Thread Waxing Space; and in Miami at Miami Art Central, MDC Museum of Art, Lowe Art Museum, and Bernice Steinbaum Gallery. His work is included in the permanent collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Fabric Workshop & Museum, William Way Community Center, Chicago Leather Archives & Museum and the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay Art.

Martinez’s work is represented by Rivalry Projects in Buffalo, NY.