NJ State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Fellow Allison Strong. Photo: Jeremy Varner/Varner Creative
Artists are the creative capital of our communities. The Council supports artists in several important ways, through programs that recognize, encourage, and showcase their talents. In addition to providing direct funding to individual artists, the Council supports initiatives such as professional development sessions, paid calls for art, and showcase opportunities.
Since the passage of the Public Buildings Arts Inclusion Act in 1978, this program has led to the commissioning and installation of hundreds of artworks in state-financed construction projects of state buildings. Up to 1.5% of the construction budget is set aside for this purpose. The Council assists state agencies and state universities in the selection of artists for all projects including those for NJ TRANSIT’s Transit Arts Program. Announcements of Arts Inclusion Projects are publicized through CaFE and listed under the “Public Art” category when available.
For questions about this program, contact Danielle Bursk.
Since 1984, the Council has cosponsored this series of exhibitions highlighting the work of artists living or working in New Jersey. One exhibition takes place each year in partnership with a New Jersey museum or gallery.
Each exhibition will continue to be featured at one of seven major New Jersey museums and will be curated by the host museum. The participating museums include Montclair Art Museum, Morris Museum, The Newark Museum of Art, New Jersey State Museum, The Noyes Museum of Art, Rowan University Art Gallery & Museum, and Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University. Artists living and working in New Jersey are invited to submit entries during the submission period. When calls for the Arts Annual are open, they are shared broadly on the Council’s website, social media, and newsletter.
For questions about this program, contact Steph Nerbak.
The Morris Museum invites submissions for the 2026 New Jersey Arts Annual - Common Ground: New Jersey Artists Think Monumental, a juried outdoor exhibition of monumental sculpture, installations, and murals. This exhibition will transform the Museum’s 8.4-acre campus into a dynamic landscape of contemporary art.
Submitted works should respond to scale, terrain, materiality, and public space; provoking curiosity, inviting movement, and reimagining how art lives in shared environments. Artists are encouraged to submit pieces that demonstrate technical excellence, conceptual depth, and a strong sense of spatial dialogue.
Through Common Ground: NJ Artists Think Monumental, the Morris Museum continues its commitment to presenting contemporary art beyond traditional gallery walls - celebrating the power of sculpture to transform open space into a site of reflection, discovery, and wonder.
All artists over the age of 18 who either work or live in the state of New Jersey are eligible to apply. All mediums are eligible. There is no entry fee.
Submission deadline: February 13, 2026
Accessibility: The Arts Council is committed to ensuring its programs are accessible to all people. For accessibility services related to filing this application, please contact Access Coordinator Lindsay Dandeo: lindsay.dandeo@sos.nj.gov | 609-984-7020 (NJ Relay 711).
For questions about this program, contact Steph Nerbak.
With funds from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Council partners with the NJ Department of Environmental Protection to develop and implement the Community-Based Art Grant Program. The program addresses the need to involve and inform the public about coastal hazard impacts and risk reduction by offering grants to organizations to work with artists to create temporary public art projects that engage the community.
For questions about this program, contact Danielle Bursk.
In partnership with Forecast Public Art, the Council hosts free, virtual workshops open to New Jersey artists at all career levels and of all disciplines who are interested in expanding their art-making practice into public spaces. For FY26, Making It Public will begin in February 2026 and run weekly for five weeks. The Council anticipates opening registration in January 2026.
For questions about this program, contact Steph Nerbak.
By undertaking this online archive of public art from across the state, the Council aims to make New Jersey’s vast collection of art in public spaces easy to find and enjoy. This online tool provides open access to public art for anyone visiting, studying, or passing by, and helps residents locate art in their own communities.
For questions about this program, contact Danielle Bursk.
In partnership with Monument Lab, New Jersey Historical Commission, and RevolutionNJ, the Council will commission a new performance series – Revolutionary Acts – that will animate stories of the American Revolution in time for the 250th anniversary in 2026. A selected artist will create performance-based work that will unfold across specific, historically significant sites in Camden, Trenton, and Fort Lee, and work with local community partners to activate these locations, weaving together stories of the state’s and nation’s past, present, and future. In May 2025, the Council shared an Artist Dossier with information about the project as part of the open call for artists.
In December 2025, it was announced that Nandi Jordan and Anika Grant (Idlewild Experiential) were selected as the Artist Team for the project. Their performance series, Ceremony for Revolutionary Seeds, will be a traveling public art installation that shines light on the pivotal yet under recoginzed roles of Black women in New Jersey during the Revolutionary War. Read the press release.
For questions about this program, contact Danielle Bursk.
The New Jersey Senior Citizen Art Show has celebrated the creative power of New Jersey’s older artists for more than half a century. Since 1998, the Council has administered the Senior Citizen Art Show because the arts and creative expression are important throughout a lifetime. The Show includes artists from all 21 counties, made possible by a multiagency partnership, coordinated since 2014 by the Mercer County Division of Culture & Heritage. The winners from each county show are exhibited at the Meadow Lakes Senior Living Community and on the program website.
For questions about this program, contact Steph Nerbak.
The Council hosts this annual, multipart series of professional learning for artists. The Business of Being an Artist series is free and open to any artist, teaching artist, or folk artist who lives and/or works in New Jersey. Sessions are led by local and national experts, covering topics such as writing artist statements, crowdfunding, health insurance options, and more.
The Business of Being an Artist FY26 Series
Every NJ Artist Insured | October 2025
Workshop Recording - October 2025
Workshop Materials – October 2025
NJ Department of Human Services Resources
Work Samples that Wow! | January 2026 | Registration Now Open!
When: January 21, 2026 | 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM
What: Work samples – in a portfolio, application, or website – are often the best way to show audiences and funders what you do. Join the Arts Council for an in-depth look at what makes for great work samples and discuss ways to improve how you capture and present your work. This free webinar will present current best practices in presenting work samples from the perspectives of working artists who also administer large-scale programs that rely on work samples to select artists. This webinar will cover a range of art forms and close with a Q&A period.
Who: This session will be led by Junious L. Brickhouse, Educator, Choreographer, Cultural Preservationist, Founder of Urban Artistry, Director of Next Level, and Jackie Domenus, Author, Poet, Educator, and Program Director for Fellowships at Mid Atlantic Arts. Read their full bios.
Registration is free but required to access the workshop materials and the Zoom links. Registration will close on Wednesday, January 14, 2026. No late registrations will be accepted.
Register here.
Accessibility: Automated captioning will be made available in the Zoom virtual platform. If you require additional accessibility services, please contact Access Coordinator Lindsay Dandeo at least two weeks prior to the event date: lindsay.dandeo@sos.nj.gov | 609-984-7020 (NJ Relay 711).
Upcoming Workshops
April 2026 | Getting Established: LLCs and Nonprofits
June 2026 | Networking with NJ Service Organizations and Arts Councils
For information about the FY26 series, be sure to sign-up for the Council’s Artist Services and Opportunities for the Field newsletters. To access previous workshops in this series, check out the Series Overview and Series Recordings.
For information about this program, contact Steph Nerbak, Samantha Clarke, or Sally Van de Water.
In partnership with NJ TRANSIT, the Council created the TRANSITional Art Project, a temporary public art program specifically for transportation centers in New Jersey. The goals of TAP are to connect NJ TRANSIT customers and the surrounding community by bringing new and exciting experiences to the spaces customers pass through every day, as well as providing New Jersey artists exhibition opportunities and a supportive environment in which to create public art.
For questions about this program, contact Danielle Bursk or Steph Nerbak.
Official Site of The State of New Jersey