OPEN CALL
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OPEN CALL 〰️
Submissions Open January 15th
Exhibition Timeline
Submission Window - January 15th through 31st 11:59PM
Notification Date - February 15th
Artwork Drop-Off Period - March 13th-22nd*
Opening Reception - Friday, April 3rd 6-9pm
Exhibition Dates - April 3rd - May 24th
Artwork Pick-Up - May 24th through June 7th*
*during OPW's operating hours. Fridays and Saturdays 12-6 and Sundays 12-3. All artwork MUST be dropped off by March 22ndDrop-In Office Hours
Virtual Office Hours - Wednesday, January 21st 5:30-6:30PM
In-Person at Oakland Photo Workshop - Friday, January 23rd 3-6PM
Virtual Office Hours - Monday, January 26th 5:30-6:30PM
We set up these office hours to answer questions you may have regarding the application or to help with technical assistance. Please arrive with your questions prepared and artwork ready to upload. About Behind the Scenes East Bay
There is an increasingly prevalent opinion that work should either be automated or invisible. The evolution of technology has made all forms of work more precarious and isolated. For this open call, we want you to go behind-the-scenes to show the jobs and workplaces that we don’t usually get to see, or show them from a new perspective. This exhibition will showcase the important but often overlooked jobs that keep society running, and give viewers a new window into a different side of the East Bay.
Guest curated by Liam O’Donoghue of East Bay Yesterday, we are looking for documentary style photography; think behind the scenes images showing process and effort rather than hyper-stylized imagery. Get out of your comfort zone and don’t be shy about asking for permission to go behind the scenes!
Some things to consider when submitting for this call…
✅Photographs that show people working
✅“Behind the scenes” shots (i.e. if you are taking a photo in a restaurant, go into the kitchen. If you’re in a shop, go into the stockroom)
✅Location of images must be based in the East Bay area - defined for the purposes of this open call as cities and areas within Alameda and Contra Costa Counties.
We are not looking for…
❌people at home (unless home is the main place of work like caretakers, domestic workers, etc)
❌stylized or posed shots - subjects can be looking at camera, but should not be posed
Submission Requirements
Please include the following information in your artwork submissions:
Title
Framed size
Printed medium (for example: silver gelatin print, archival inkjet print, pigment print, cyanotype, etc)
Optional* - a description of what the photo is depicting
*Accepted submissions will be asked to provide a 1-3 sentence description of the image
FAQ
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We work with guest curators to determine the parameters of each open call. The decision was made to limit this call to photographs taken in the East Bay Area, as defined by Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, to align with Liam O’Donoghue’s work with East Bay Yesterday.
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We have scholarships available! Please email exhibitions@ebpco.org with the subject line “Open Call Scholarship.”
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EBPCO Members receive a discount on submission fees! If you are an EBPCO member, please visit the member portal on our website. The 2026 password was emailed to all members in December and to any new members in their confirmation email.
If you are unsure of your membership status, email exhibitions@ebpco.org. Please allow us 24 hours to respond.
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There is limited exhibition space in our gallery so having the sizes ahead of time will allow us to accept more work and will help us when planning the exhibition!
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Your framed artwork cannot exceed 24” on the longest side.
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Images may not be derived from AI (aka Generative AI). Submitted work must be created by the artist with light-sentitive tools such as a digital camera, film, or alternative process. Post-processing is allowed, but must be in support or exploration of the original optical image. It is left to the discretion of the judges if an image’s post-processing meets this standard.
All delivered artwork must have a wire and be ready to hang. Additional details will be sent to accepted artists. Artwork delivered without a wire or otherwise unprepared may not be installed in the exhibition, regardless of initial acceptance status.
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We set up office hours to answer questions you may have regarding the application or to help with technical assistance.
Drop in anytime during the times below. Please arrive with your questions ready and artwork ready to upload.
Virtual Office Hours - Wednesday, January 21st 5:30-6:30PM
In-Person at Oakland Photo Workshop - Friday, January 23rd 3-6PM
Virtual Office Hours - Monday, January 26th 5:30-6:30PM
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You will receive a confirmation email from Artwork Archive! You can also check your application status by logging into Artwork Archive and clicking “Call Submissions” in the menu.
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Submissions will be juried blind by guest curator Liam O’Donoghue and the Oakland Photo Workshop gallery team. Outside of screening to ensure the application requirements are met, there is no pre-screening; jurors thoughtfully review each submission and conduct multiple rounds of jurying.
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We typically accept 30-45 pieces for the gallery exhibition, depending on the artwork sizes, and an additional 10-20 pieces for the online exhibition. Online gallery exhibitions are hosted on our website indefinitely, and all accepted pieces will appear in an exhibition catalog, which will be available after the exhibition opens.
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Our open calls are juried exhibitions, which means that not every piece can or will be accepted for either the gallery exhibition or online exhibition. We typically receive over 200 images per open call, our exhibition space is limited, and our volunteer jurors spend weeks reviewing entries.
If your image(s) were accepted for the online gallery, but not the gallery exhibition, or were not accepted at all, it does not necessarily mean your submission was off-scope or of lower quality than other submissions. We are constantly reviewing our jurying process to ensure that we are as fair as possible, however we are unable to accept more artwork at this time.
If you are interested in joining our volunteer gallery team, you can email volunteer@ebpco.org with the subject “Gallery Team Inquiry”.
Is this your first time submitting to an open call using Artwork Archive?
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