Nocturne 2025 Community Groups & Galleries Call for Submissions

Nocturne 2025 Community Groups and Galleries Call for Submissions

We are excited to announce our call for Community Groups & Galleries for Nocturne: Ground!

Kjipuktuk/Halifax museums, galleries, cultural and educational institutions, community groups, and local businesses are invited to submit their plans to participate in Nocturne: Ground. All applications are reviewed by staff based on category eligibility to participate; engagement of an artist; and selection criteria.

Community Group and Gallery projects will be part of our signature night-time art experience, showcasing installations, static projects, performances, and community projects on Saturday, October 18, 2025 from 6:00 PM - midnight.

We encourage proposals of all kinds: installations, performances, community engagement, workshops, collective creating, film screening, virtual, radio - and more!

Applications can be submitted via this Google Form..

This information provided will be used for our guide, website, and social media marketing. Make sure this information is accurate and finalized before submitting it!

PLEASE NOTE: Nocturne does not provide funding to participating Galleries and Community Groups - these should be self-funded projects.

2025 THEME: GROUND

CURATOR: Marite Kuus

Nocturne’s 2025 Festival Curator, Marite Kuus selected the theme Ground. For this year's theme of Ground, artists are invited to explore physical, social, cultural and political aspects of the ground beneath us. Gardeners, mycologists, walkers, archeologists and geologists, roadworkers, settlers; we all have a different relationship with this space which we interact with daily, and we encourage applicants to consider the multitude of possible meanings of this theme. To learn more about Marite and this year’s theme, click here. To view the Nocturne: Ground suggested reading list, Field Notes, click here.

DATE: Saturday, October 18, 2025 6:00 PM - MIDNIGHT

CATEGORY DEFINITIONS:

COMMUNITY GROUP:

• For-profit and non-profit community and cultural organizations, businesses (retail) and other cultural, educational and historical institutions, that do not meet the definition of a gallery, but will participate by coordinating their own nocturne arts event or activity, with the participation of artists or members of the arts community.

• Includes other arts organizations (circus arts, dance, theatre), community groups, university galleries and other organizations.

GALLERY:

• Organization or business whose day-to-day primary operations are the exhibition and/or promotion of visual arts and/or artists.

• Includes public & commercial galleries, artist-run centres, arts cooperatives, university galleries.

MUSEUM

• Organization in which objects of historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural interest are stored and exhibited.

LOCAL BUSINESS:

• If you are a local business or for-profit group that does not fit the categories listed above, but wishes to participate in Nocturne: Art at Night, please contact us at [email protected] for further information.

ELIGIBILITY

Nocturne is a FREE, night-time festival featuring contemporary and performing arts of many different genres. Though the scope of the festival is quite wide, there are some key criteria that needs to be met for projects to be eligible. Community Group projects should:

1. Take place within one of the following neighbourhoods:

   1. Downtown Kjipuktuk/Halifax, including Barrington Street, Hollis Street, Argyle Street and surrounding areas.

   2. Waterfront and Port: Lower Water Street, Waterfront, Kjipuktuk/Halifax Port and surrounding areas.

   3. Spring Garden Road and surrounding areas, SMU and Dalhousie Campuses

   4. North End & Quinpool Road (from Robie to Oxford Streets, Agricola and Gottingen Streets and surrounding areas).

   5. Downtown Dartmouth (from the Ferry Terminal to Pleasant Street and surrounding areas).

2. Focus on the showcasing of local art and artists, or engage the community through the arts

3. Be FREE and not require payment to engage with the artwork

4. Be open specifically from 6:00 PM - MIDNIGHT on Saturday, October 18, 2025

5. Have the staffing/volunteer resources to manage the project

6. Have a venue or prospective venue

7. Be self-funded. Nocturne does not provide funding to participating Galleries and Community Groups.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Applicants should be aware that participation in Nocturne is not automatic solely on the basis of meeting the general eligibility requirements. All applications will be reviewed and selected against the following criteria:

1. Merit

2. Presentation

3. Originality

All projects must exhibit contemporary art or present a high-quality, original project that reflects the scale and spirit of Nocturne.

Feasibility:

Your application should include details about:

• your project and how you plan to do it.

• production and technical requirements and a plan to meet those requirements

• staffing and volunteer requirements

• accessibility

• health and safety needs and a plan to meet those needs (if required)

ARTIST ENGAGEMENT:

Nocturne celebrates Kjipuktuk/Halifax and Dartmouth's vibrant local art scene. Nocturne encourages Community Groups & Galleries to work collaboratively with an artist(s) or members of an arts organization. Nocturne also encourages fair financial compensation to any artist(s) involved with creating or collaborating on a project for a Community Group or Gallery.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:

Submit your proposal by completing this form.

The first section of the form will ask about eligibility criteria. If you cannot answer one or more of these questions, please contact us at [email protected] to proceed with your submission. We're here to help!

Please include all relevant details pertaining to your proposal.

DEADLINE: August 4, 2025, 11:59PM (ADT)

We will process applications on an ongoing basis, and aim to notify participants within 1 month of receiving their application.

Please note that due to print deadlines, late submissions will NOT be accepted

(Banner image: Dartmouth Geese on Vacation by Eastern Front Theatre. For Nocturne: Microcosm, October 19th, 2024. Photo by James Maclean)