EXPOSURE 2023 CALL FOR EXHIBITIONS

Registration Fee: $250
Deadline: November 1

Register your exhibition now to be a part of the 2023 Exposure Photography Festival!

The annual Exposure Photography Festival presents a diverse programme of exhibitions that celebrate, challenge and incorporate the photographic medium. The festival brings together a vibrant network of practicing photographers, visual artists and engaged audiences who continue to enhance the discourse in photography.

Exposure plays a pivotal role in arts programming in photography throughout Alberta. The festival exhibition programme showcases the best contemporary and historic work from established, mid-career, emerging photographers and visual artists from the province and around the world! Recent festivals (2020, 2021 and 2022) have received over 800,000+ visits from Exposure’s community of local and international, arts and non-arts engaged individuals and audience members. Exposure 2022 gained over 900,000 visits to its in-person programming in Alberta. From Japan to Chile, Ghana to New Zealand, Ireland to India, we also grew our online audience worldwide with members based in 91 different countries engaging with our website, online exhibitions and events.

The Exposure Photography Festival and its year-round programming is inclusive and participatory, a collaboration amongst members of the photographic community and the public. The festival brings people together to celebrate, discuss and engage in the medium of photography and contemporary practices. Each year we introduce exciting new programming and international perspectives to our audiences, drawing attention to Calgary and Alberta as the site of an active, growing, creative community in the field of photography. 

Registering your exhibition with Exposure allows you — a gallery, arts organisation, DIY space, artist collective, an independent artist, photographer or curator — to become part of our programming and join our celebration of photography. Being a part of Exposure’s programming means that we can promote your exhibition to our audiences, and we can partner on related events. 

Please note that we welcome local and international online exhibitions however your online exhibition must be hosted via your own independent website and available for Alberta audiences to enjoy during the month of February. 

ONLINE AUDIENCE

During Exposure 2022, our social media posts reached 150,957 people on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter throughout the month of February. During the festival period we had 18,916 online users actively engaging with our online materials, including our website, social media, and newsletters. Exposure added 10,618 new audience members during the 2022 festival, and we continue to grow our online presence every day.

PARTNER EVENTS

Exposure is looking to actively involve its exhibition partners in the 2023 festival events programme. When registering your exhibition, all exhibition-related events are free to list as part of the festival. Exposure is also open to discussing the possibility of collaborating on events - such as talks, or panel discussions that include artists presented in Exposure curated exhibitions and Exposure Partner Exhibitions. We encourage you to share your event ideas and new initiatives. Please note that it is not necessary to host an event in order to register your exhibition.

PRINTED MAP

The Exposure 2022 Map allowed our audiences to enjoy the Festival and experience our great city! Supported by Tourism Calgary and The Camera Store, it pinned the Exposure 2022 exhibition venues, our Hotel Partner Sandman Group, local photo opportunity points, things to do in the city and recommended coffee shops to visit between exhibition hops! For Exposure 2023, all registered Exhibition Partners will again be featured on the printed map, which will be distributed at Contemporary Calgary and other locations in the city. Please see the following link to view the Exposure 2022 Map.

OTHER BENEFITS

Each year the Festival attracts the interest of local and international press. By registering your exhibition with Exposure, we can include you in our official press release, meaning that you may receive additional opportunities for promotions from third parties. The 2022 Festival’s external press coverage exceeded 40 stories online, in print and on the radio from local and international organisations. Previous press has included stories in the British Journal of Photography, AnOther Magazine, Avenue Magazine, NEXT Magazine, Calgary Guardian, Calgary Herald, Curiocity Calgary, Daily Herald, Daily Hive, Ph Museum, PREVIEW, MUSÉE Vanguard of Photography Culture, Calgary Tourism, Cochrane Tourism and more!

YOUR REGISTRATION INCLUDES:

Exposure 2023 Exhibition Registration
Website Listing
Printed Map Listing
Exhibition-Related Event Registration & Promotion
Dedicated Social Media Marketing (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram)
Inclusion in the Exposure 2023 Press Release (and potential coverage from third party press)
Thank You in the Exposure 2023 Report to the Community 
Event Partnership (optional)
Exposure Logo Usage

TIMELINE

Call for Exhibitions goes live: July, 2022
Call for Exhibition Deadline: November, 2022
Exhibition Partners Group Meeting: November, 2022
Exhibition-Related Event Registration Opens: November, 2022
Exhibition-Related Event Registration Deadline: December, 2022
Exposure 2023 website content goes live: January, 2023
Exposure 2023 Festival: February, 2023*
*Please note that we accept exhibition registrations from all exhibitions
that are open for at least one day during the month of February.

NEW Registrants

If you are thinking about hosting and registering an exhibition for Exposure for the first time and have questions about the festival or need support with registration, please email Exposure’s Coordinator Beth Kane at Beth@ExposurePhotoFest.com 

need an exhibition space or want to become an exhibition venue?

Want to get involved with Exposure but haven’t secured a venue for your exhibition or work for your venue? See the Exposure 2023 Submissions of Interest directory (COMING SOON) to get connected with an exhibition partner. Please note that exhibition venues and exhibiting artists that connect through this directory and proceed to host an exhibition for Exposure are still required to pay the registration fee to become part of Exposure.  

PREVIOUS EXHIBITION PARTNERS

To learn more about Exposure previous Exhibition Partners please see the following links:
Exposure 2022 Exhibition Partners
Exposure 2021 Exhibition Partners
Exposure 2020 Exhibition Partners

In addition, watch the Exposure 2021 Exhibition Partners video to learn more about some of the festival’s previous registered exhibitions. This video was originally screened as part of the Exposure 2021 online festival launch event.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge that the Exposure Photography Festival takes place on the traditional Treaty 7 territory of the Blackfoot confederacy: Siksika, Kainai, Piikani as well as the Îyâxe Nakoda and Tsuut’ina nations. We acknowledge that this territory is home to the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region 3 within the historical Northwest Métis homeland. We would also like to acknowledge that the Exposure Photography Festival is situated on land adjacent to where the Bow River meets the Elbow River, and the traditional Blackfoot name of this place is Moh’kins’tsis, which we now call the City of Calgary. Finally, we honour and acknowledge all Nations, indigenous and non, who live, work and play in Moh’kins’tsis and help steward this land and honour and celebrate this territory.