2019 FIRST NATIONS EXHIBITION PROJECT Proposal 

APPLICATIONS OPEN | Due midnight Sunday 17 March 2019

Applications are now open for the annual First Nations Exhibition Project, supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria and the City of Melbourne. After a successful pilot program in 2018, BLINDSIDE is thrilled to continue its First Nations Exhibition Project into 2019, supporting creative practitioners of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage to present an ambitious exhibition project at BLINDSIDE.

Through this exciting initiative the successful applicant will conceive and develop a critical exhibition project in both BLINDSIDE galleries in July 2019. 

The project will develop over a number of months leading up to the exhibition, with support from BLINDSIDE Board of Directors and Gallery Coordinator.  The successful applicant will present a project that is considerate of context, time and relevance, engages with contemporary methodologies, and considers various artistic viewpoints.

The successful applicant will receive:

  • Technical and administrative support

  • Regular feedback on the curatorial and conceptual development of the project

  • Support with budget development and project management

  • Marketing and promotional support

  • Project support in the form of venue and exhibition budget of $4000 (to be used for exhibition development artist fees, writers fees, and the production of an accompanying catalogue)

Please note that while applicants are required to submit an application which outlines their proposed exhibition, alternative application formats are also accepted. We encourage you to chat with us about your project before applying.

Gallery Floorplans

BLINDSIDE is located on the seventh floor of the Nicholas Building, on the corner of Flinders Lane and Swanston Street in Melbourne’s Central Business District. We have two gallery spaces and we accept applications for one or both of these spaces.

Gallery One is 40 square metres with a ceiling height of 3.4 metres. The north-facing wall is MDF. The other walls and floors are concrete.

Gallery Two is 25 square metres with a ceiling height of 3.4 metres. The west and south-facing walls of the gallery are MDF and the remaining walls are concrete.

Have a look at our GALLERY FLOOR PLANS for detailed measurements, as well as a 3D MODEL.

PLEASE READ PRIOR TO SUBMISSION | Support Material Guide

BLINDSIDE only accepts support material as an online weblink. Please provide us with a weblink that will share us into a Google Drive (or alike) folder that contains all of your support material. Please provide us with ONE link, that will share us into a folder containing ALL your support material. Please provide us with the following:

  • A CV or bio for each participating practitioner

  • An indicative image that relates to your exhibition, project or your practice for use in marketing material

  • Up to 10 images or up to 6 images and 6 minutes of sound/video for each participating practitioner

  • If you are providing sound/video please provide a seperate document with links to an external hosting site such as Soundcloud or Vimeo. Please include passwords where applicable

  • A document that contains a list or description of your linked support material

Please do not upload zipped files. Please ensure all uploaded files are saved with your name in the file name, for example:

Lastname_Firstname_2017-Proposal.pdf / Lastname_Firstname-CV.docx / Lastname_Firstname-Image01.jpg

Please ensure you indicate whether the work is the actual work to be exhibited, or examples of past work. Please take note of maximum limits and stick to them. 

BLINDSIDE would prefer your support material to be uploaded via Google Drive.

When you are creating a sharable link please click through the below link for precise instructions of how to correctly set your sharing permissions: 

https://support.google.com/docs/answer/2494822#link_sharing

Follow the instructions very carefully, making sure that when you generate a sharable link for your folder you select "Anyone with this link can VIEW". 

Please note that these are our preferred online hosting platforms. There are also a number of other free and easy to use third party hosting sites, most of which allow you to password protect material. 

Name *
Name
Address *
Address
Please include area code.
http://
Are you applying as an artist, curator or collective?
Participant Confirmation
If you are proposing a collective or group project, have the other participants been confirmed?
Please provide a brief summary of your project. Max 50 words.
This is a written account of the intention and conceptual premise of your proposed project — the thoughts, themes, ideas and cultural relevance of the proposed exhibition project and why it should be developed into an exhibition at BLINDSIDE. Your answer may also include a list of potential artists that you wish to include in your project. (Max 200 words)
Please provide a clear written description of the work(s) that you are proposing for this project and what you hope to achieve through the BLINDSIDE First Nations Exhibition Project. (Max 150 words)
Please provide a short biography. (Max 100 words)
If you are a curator applying from interstate, please briefly outline how you plan to manage the development and installation of the exhibition
Please provide a link that will share us into a Google Drive or Dropbox folder containing your support material. If you are uploading video/multimedia works please provide a document with links to a third party sharing site such as YouTube or Vimeo. Please include passwords for files if applicable.
http://
Optional Data
BLINDSIDE is funded by government arts funding sources and is often requested for information regarding our demographic of exhibitors. Please tick any box that you feel describes you. Please feel free to tick more than one box. Please note that this section will not affect your application in any way.
I am aged:
I live in:
Terms of Submission *
By clicking submit I agree for BLINDSIDE to use submitted text and support material to promote my project should my proposal be successful.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR APPLICATION

Applications will be assessed by the BLINDSIDE Artistic Directors following the proposal period. We will provide a response as to whether your application was successful no later than April. Please note due to the high volume of applications, BLINDSIDE is unable to provide feedback.