NORTHAMPTON BANNER PROJECT

CALL FOR ART

The Northampton Center for the Arts (NCFA) proudly announces the next phase of the Northampton Banner Project. Building on our initial Main Street Banner Project, we aim to showcase more of the talented local artists by bringing their artwork into the heart of Northampton. Final selections will be made by a jury dedicated to presenting a diverse mix of works across various mediums and experiences. This is a wonderful opportunity to be a part of beautifying downtown Northampton!

This project is a fundraiser for the Barn Door Gallery at 33 Hawley, helping us fulfill our mission of supporting the local creative community. Submissions will be accepted through May 30, 2026, with a donation of $5- $50 per submission (multiple submissions welcome). A total of 40 images will be chosen for display on 20 vibrant banners throughout Northampton this summer. This opportunity is open to any local artist who is not currently represented on a banner; 2025 banners will remain on display.

The Northampton Banner Project is made possible through the generous support and vision of Craig Stevens of LandScapes inc, a dedicated design/build landscape company working in Western Mass for the past 25+ years. Craig has been a steadfast supporter of NCFA and our community, working with local residents and recovery clients to build sustainable landscaping projects. His contributions also include the collaboration with colleagues that donated the large River Birch downtown pots, support for Habitat for Humanity and Hairston Recovery House, and organizing community events throughout Northampton, including a free movie night at the Academy. Financial support for the Northampton Banner Project is being provided by LandScapes and Paradise Copies, which provides full-service printing and design solutions for our community.

We encourage everyone to take part in this vibrant project that celebrates creativity and community spirit.

HOW TO APPLY:

Artists must fill out this GoogleForm and submit images through the form or by emailing them to gallery@nohoarts.org. Along with your submission, please include a donation of $5-$50 per artwork (multiple submissions are welcome). To ensure your image is accepted for consideration, a donation must accompany each submission. Payments should be made via this payment link, and in the memo, include the following: "[applicant's name] Banner Project [donation amount] for [total number of] submissions." 100% of these donations will go to support the Barn Door Gallery. (The amount donated is not a part of the selection criteria, and the jury will not know how much was donated during the selection process.)

SUBMISSION SPECIFICATIONS:

Submit images at 300 DPI with a 1:1.61 aspect ratio, or 8400 x 13500 pixels. The final display size is 28" W x 45" H. Ensure submissions are tall and vertical to fit the banner. All hi-resolution images will be accepted for review, but NCFA reserves the right to crop any images for printing that are not sent in this aspect ratio. File names for review should be labeled as first-name_last-name_name-or-number-of-work.

If you don't know how to figure out pixels or DPI, please just send the highest resolution image you possibly can. An image that is 3MB or higher (CHECK THIS JOIE) is best, and if the number is followed by KB, it’s definitely too small and you should ask for help from a tech-savvy friend or family member. 

If emailing your images, please don't label the images in the body of the email. The actual image files need to be named so that we can sort them easily. If they're on your computer, you can double-click (or right-click) on the image, and the option to rename it should pop up. If they're on a device, you may need to export them to files to rename them. Here is a YouTube tutorial if you need a visual aid.

By submitting artwork for this project, you acknowledge and agree that, if selected, your design may be used by the Northampton Center for the Arts and the project sponsors who have funded the Northampton Banner Project. Selected designs may be reproduced and publicly displayed with credit throughout downtown Northampton for an extended period of time, potentially up to five years.

Let’s come together to make downtown Northampton more beautiful than ever!