Please note: applications for the 2024 Community Exhibitions Program have closed. We will update this page in February 2024 with the important dates for the 2025 Community Exhibitions Program.
Dreaming of your own art exhibition? Apply for the Town Hall Gallery Community Exhibitions Program for the chance to publicly exhibit your work with guidance and support from our professional curatorial team.
We are proud to offer this free program each year to artists, community groups and schools from the community as a wonderful opportunity to improve professional skills and confidence in a supportive environment. These exhibitions proudly showcase the diversity and depth of creative talent in the community.
We are proud of this program and the ensuing support offered to local artists and creative organisations since its inception in December 2013.
Over the past 10 years, the Community Exhibitions Program has:
- exhibited over 2,500 artworks produced by more than 670 artists
- received over 650 attendees annually to exhibition openings
- welcomed over 5,500 online visitors
- averaged over 550 visits to each individual exhibition
- facilitated over $140,000 of art sales directly back to local artists of Boroondara.
Application eligibility
To be eligible for our Town Hall Gallery Community Exhibitions Program, applicants must meet at least one of the following criteria:
- An emerging artist living in Boroondara
- An emerging artist with a studio in Boroondara
- A practicing artist not represented by a commercial gallery living in Boroondara
- A practicing artist not represented by a commercial gallery with a studio in Boroondara
- Students at a school/institution located within the City of Boroondara
- A School, University or TAFE group based in Boroondara
- An historical group or community group based in Boroondara
- An arts organisation or arts community group based in Boroondara
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who live, work or study in the Eastern Metropolitan Region on Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country (Boroondara, Monash, Manningham, Whitehorse, Knox, Maroondah and Yarra Ranges).
Artists and community members who live, work or study in Boroondara are encouraged to apply, including applications from:
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples
- people who are culturally diverse
- people from the LGBTQIA+ community
- people with disability
- people who are D/deaf.
For information about the accessibility of our venues, visit our Town Hall Gallery page. For any assistance, please reach out to the Curatorial Team on (03) 9278 4770.
Artists and groups who have exhibited in the Community Exhibitions Program in the last 2 years will only be eligible for the Boroondara Summer Salon. Community groups may still submit a proposal for the Community Exhibitions Program if a majority of the artists featured have not exhibited in the past 2 years. Successful applicants to the Boroondara Summer Salon will not be excluded from future opportunities to exhibit with the Community Exhibitions Program.
How the application process works
Selection criteria
Applications will be assessed by the Curatorial Team against the following set of criteria:
- Connection to community, including working with Boroondara community
- Clarity of theme/concept of the exhibition/project
- Appropriateness of the exhibition/project to the space and available resources
- Innovation, excellence, or diversity represented in artistic practice
- Quality of documentation provided, including good quality images indicative of the proposed exhibition or artwork.
Types of community exhibitions
Each exhibition is on display for 4 to 6 weeks, and there are up to 12 exhibitions scheduled per year.
The annual Community Exhibitions Program consists of:
- solo exhibitions
- group exhibitions by application
- curated group exhibitions
- the Boroondara Summer Salon.
Solo exhibitions
An exhibition allocated to an individual artist, based on the body of work proposed in their application.
Group exhibitions by application
An exhibition allocated to a group of artists who have applied via a single application, or an application submitted on behalf of a community group based in Boroondara such as a school, historical society, or artist collective, among others.
Curated group exhibitions
An exhibition allocated to multiple artists based on the complementary themes and concepts submitted in their individual applications. The Town Hall Gallery Curatorial Team selects the featured artists and the theme of the exhibition.
The Boroondara Summer Salon
Boroondara Summer Salon is a large, curated group exhibition including a single work from each applicant that takes place at the end of the Community Exhibitions Program each year. This exhibition celebrates the creativity and diversity of the Boroondara community and is an excellent option for artists who are emerging or have just a small body of work available.
Applicants may submit multiple works for consideration to the Boroondara Summer Salon, but only one work per artist will be selected. Applicants to the Boroondara Summer Salon will not be considered for a solo or curated group exhibition in the Community Exhibitions Program.
For applicants proposing a solo or group exhibition in the Community Exhibitions Program, they may elect to have their work considered for the Boroondara Summer Salon if they are unsuccessful in receiving a solo or group exhibition.
More information
For more information about the Community Exhibition Program, email [email protected] or call us on (03) 9278 4770.
You can see past community exhibitions on our Online exhibitions page.