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Apply for 2026 Membership
Due to circumstances beyond our control, the OSA regretfully announces that no new members will be accepted for 2025.
The OSA will begin accepting applications for 2026 Membership in June 2025, however applications will not be evaluated until the fall. The application platform will close on October 31, 2025.
Successful applicants will receive an invitation to membership before the end of the year.
QUESTIONS? Email members@ontariosocietyofartists.org with questions after you have read all the information below. Our volunteers are happy to answer your questions, however if you need a lot of help preparing your entire application, please hire a professional.
This call is open to all professional artists currently living in Ontario. Professional is a term that is open to interpretation but, as a guide, we can tell you that we have found that most successful applicants have a least five years of working and showing in a variety of settings.
Applications will be evaluated through a process which includes adjudication by a committee of experienced professionals from our membership and then a vote by the whole OSA membership.
In order to exclude the possibility of bias or racism, artists’ identities are no longer made available during the final vote. The adjudication committee serves to verify that applicants meet the basic requirements of membership. These requirements are: residency in Ontario, evidence of work as an arts professional and a significant level of achievement in the seven criteria areas (stated below). The identity of the artist has NO bearing on the application other than it must be truthful.
We accept artists working in a wide variety of visual arts disciplines including oil, acrylic, charcoal, pencil, pastel, mixed media, fibre arts, photography, digital, sculpture, video and moving images, installation/performance collage, assemblage, and other.
When you have read the instructions below, click the “Apply Now” button at the bottom of this page to begin your application.
Key Facts
- Application Fee: $45.00
- Method of Payment: by Credit Card by clicking the red "2026 New Membership Application Fee" at the bottom of this page.
- Notification Method: Accepted applicants will be notified by December 20, 2025 by email and invited to join the OSA.
- Annual Membership Fees for Successful Applicants: $130.00 due April 30, 2026
- The decision of the New Members Selection Committee and the OSA membership is final.
NO REFUNDS WILL BE GIVEN. PLEASE DO NOT PAY UNTIL YOU ARE CERTAIN YOU WANT TO APPLY FOR MEMBERSHIP AND DO NOT PAY TWICE!
Criteria
- Originality
- Fulfillment of Intent
- Inherent Meaning
- Artistry in composition and design
- Excellence and Skill in the chosen medium(s)
- Consistency in subject matter, style and medium
- Professionalism, including the presentation of the application itself.
All applicants are expected to be able to navigate basic digital processes including creating and uploading correctly sized photographs of their work and properly labelling and submitting work according to the instructions.
Entry Instructions
The application form has 3 parts.
Part One: Contact Information
Part Two: Extended Biography
Prepare ONE WORD or PDF DOCUMENT with the following information in order:
- Your standard C.V. including educational and relevant work and volunteer background. Note: your personal ID will be concealed from the jurying membership so that your application is judged entirely on merit.
- A professional Artists Statement of Intent. Avoid talking about inspiration and focus instead on medium, process and outcome.
- A complete list of all exhibitions, trade shows or other places, websites or publications your work has appeared in over the last five years. The list should be written in order by year, starting with the current year, and then going back by each year. We realize that COVID has prevented exhibitions.
- A statement indicating all professional representation with art agents or art galleries who represent your work anywhere in the world, if any.
- A complete list of online sales platforms selling your work, if any. Please include links.
- Indicate if you are willing to donate volunteer hours to the OSA. If so, suggest whether you would like to help run events or work behind the scenes on the computer. The answer to this question will have no bearing on your application.
- A list of the 10 artworks you will be submitting with the following details in this exact format: Title, Medium, Size (the unframed dimensions of your work, height by width, and in inches) and Year Completed. Please note that the first five images will make up your list of preferred images for the final jurying.
Important Note: After you choose your artwork image, you will see a small preview of it. Above the preview is a small Delete button and an Upload button. Please click Upload for each image you choose.Part Three: Upload and Describe Your Artwork Images
In this section, we would like you to upload images of 10 sample artworks. Please place them in order of importance to your portfolio.
Before you upload the images, you must resize and retitle them as follows:
- All images must be saved in .jpg format
- All image files must be less than 5MB in size.
- In terms of resolution, images should be no larger than 3000 pixels on the longest side.
- All image files should be labelled as follows:
SequenceNumber_LastName_Title_Medium_ Dimensions_YearCompleted.jpg
For example:
01_MyLastName_Sunset_OilOnCanvas_45x36_2020.jpg
02_MyLastName_AfterCoffee_OilOnBoard_40x30_2019.jpg
ONCE YOU HAVE PAID THE $45 APPLICATION FEE YOU WILL RECEIVE AN EMAIL CONFIRMING YOUR PAYMENT WHICH WILL INCLUDE A LINK TO THE APPLICATION. WE WILL NOT ISSUE A REFUND FOR APPLICATION PAYMENTS, SO PLEASE DO NOT PAY UNTIL YOU ARE CERTAIN YOU WISH TO APPLY FOR MEMBERSHIP.
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