Artist Submission Policy & Guidelines

The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art (HICA) at the College of Charleston is a cultural resource for the southeastern United States, and a partner in the global conversations about art and ideas. We are dedicated to presenting temporary innovative contemporary art exhibitions by national and international artists. We originate almost all of the exhibitions, catalogues, and videos we present. Our exhibition and educational programming is determined solely by the curatorial staff and not through unsolicited submissions. We are a non-collecting institution.

The Halsey Institute welcomes submissions from artists, curators, and other institutions for review, but asks that prior to submitting your work, you consider our mission and programming in order to determine whether your submission is appropriate to the mission of HICA. Naturally, the best way to do this would be to visit HICA and tour our changing exhibitions. If this is not possible, please explore our website and browse our current and past exhibitions. All of our exhibitions since 2002 have been archived on our website under Exhibitions/Archive.

Museum Overview & Mission Statement
Exhibitions

The Halsey Institute reviews unsolicited materials on a year-round basis, but for informational purposes only. Due to the large volume of materials we receive (over 400 unsolicited proposals per year on average), and our relatively small staff, we cannot return submitted materials unless there is a self-addressed, stamped envelope included. Please note that we do not accept original works of art or models, nor can we be responsible for any of these materials that are sent to us. Should the curatorial staff determine that a submission is appropriate to our program we will contact you. Unfortunately, we do not have the time to respond to each submission individually, and for this we are sorry. If we did this, we would not have the time to produce the quality of projects we are committed to presenting.

Submissions may be made in either digital or hard copy form in the formats suggested below. Regardless of format, no more than 10 images should be submitted.

Due to the large volume, submissions that are not in the correct format may not be reviewed. Web addresses are not considered submissions.

Digital Submissions

should be on a CD or DVD with the following files:

  1. Last Name, First Name – Cover letter (Word or PDF)
  2. Last Name, First Name – Resume (Word or PDF)
  3. Last Name, First Name – Artist Statement (Word or PDF)
  4. Last Name, First Name – Supplementary Materials (Word or PDF)
  5. Last Name, First Name – Image List (Word or PDF)
  6. Last Name, First Name – Image Title (low-resolution JPEG)

Please do not submit any PowerPoints or video, unless it is essential to the work(s). Only 5 minutes of video will be watched.

Hard Copy Submissions:

  1. Cover Letter
  2. Resume
  3. Artist Statement
  4. Supplementary Materials
  5. Image List
  6. No more than 10 images

All hard copies should be on 8.5” x 11” paper. Images should be printed in a standard image size (4” x 6’, 5” x 7” or 8.5” x 11”) mailed in an envelope no larger than 9” x 12”

Please send your digital or hard copy via mail in an envelope no larger than 9” x 12” and address your submissions to:

If sending via Fedex or UPS, send to:

Artist Submission
Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art
161 Calhoun Street, Suite 117
Charleston, SC 29401

If sending via USPS, send to:

Artist Submission
Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art
161 Calhoun Street, Suite 117
Charleston, SC 29424

Communtity Partners 2012