Emerging Artist Program

The Downtown Festival & Arts Show’s Emerging Artist Program aims to create a pipeline for early-career artists to access and participate in the juried art show portion of the Downtown Festival & Art Show, Gainesville’s largest street festival and north central Florida’s largest celebration of fine art.

Three emerging artists will be selected.

Requirements

• Applicants must be 18 years or older
• Applicants should be at the beginning of their careers in the professional art world with no established history of displaying their artwork in major galleries, museums, or juried outdoor festivals
• Must not have participated in the Downtown Festival & Art Show before

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Selected 2025 Emerging Artists will receive:

• An in-person orientation and mentorship meeting with an established festival artist to discuss strategies for success in art fairs
• A waiver of the $315 artist booth fee
• Use of a shared 10' x 10' tent and display panels shared with the other emerging artists
• The chance to show and sell their work while participating in the festival's judging process
• Emerging Artist Award: One artist from the cohort will be selected to receive a $200 cash prize and automatic invitation to next year's festival

Application

Simple Steps to Apply at www.Zapplication.org

• Create your free online artist profile
• Prepare and upload your images (see Image Preparation)
• After preparing and uploading your images, you will be ready to apply. 
• Submit three images of your artwork and one image of a grouping of your art (or a booth shot)
• Before submitting the application, email [email protected] to receive a coupon to reduce the application fee to $18
• Complete the online application and submit before the deadline of midnight (Eastern time) on May 1st, 2025

We owe a debt of thanks to the generous community sponsors who helped us launch this program in 2022: Gainesville Fine Arts Association (GFAA) & Gallery, Sequential Artist Workshop (SAW), a private donor, and the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, and the National Endowment for the Arts.