OPEN CALL: Women of Colour Art Award

198 Contemporary Arts & Learning, in partnership with the Rita Keegan Foundation, is proud to launch the third edition of the Women of Colour Art Award (WoCAA) — a biannual award.

WoCAA recognises the structural inequities and additional barriers that Women of Colour and people of marginalised genders often face within visual arts practice. The award provides both financial and developmental support to UK-based artists and artist collectives at a pivotal point in their careers.

For this edition, WoCAA places a emphasis on materiality and process. We are interested in how artists of colour engage with materials, making, and experimentation — not solely in thematic or narrative content.

We particularly welcome work that:

• Explores materials, processes, and methods of making
  
  
• Is experimental or process-led
  
  
• Experiments with both analogue and digital practices
  
  

All artistic mediums are welcome, including (but not limited to) sculpture, painting, textiles, moving image, sound, digital work, performance, installation, and hybrid practices.

Exhibition and Awards

Shortlisted finalists will have the opportunity to exhibit in a spring 2026 group exhibition at 198 Contemporary Arts & Learning, shown alongside and/or in dialogue with the work of Rita Keegan.

Five artists will be shortlisted:

• One artist will receive a £5,000 unrestricted bursary
  
• Four artists will each receive a £500 Rita Keegan Foundation travel bursary to support research and practice-based development
  

Who Can Apply

Applications are open to artists from the Global Majority who identify as marginalised genders, including women, women-identifying individuals, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people, and who feel comfortable in a space that centres the experiences of women.

We welcome applications from artists who are emerging, self-taught, working outside traditional art institutions, or returning to practice after a break.

Eligibility

• Artists must be living and practicing in the UK
  
• A minimum of two years of artistic practice outside of tertiary education
  
• Open to artists aged 18+
  
• Open to individual artists and artist collectives
  
• Applicants must be able to participate in the exhibition in the UK
  

Timeline

• Submission deadline: Monday 2nd March 2026
• Show to commence: April 2026

Further details on shortlisting, exhibition dates, and award announcements will be shared with shortlisted artists.

About The Rita Keegan Foundation

The Rita Keegan Foundation (CIO) exists to preserve and share Rita Keegan’s creative and cultural legacy, support creative practice among visual artists, researchers and cultural workers—with a particular focus on, but not limited to, women artists of colour, artists of colour and people from marginalised communities—and open up new ways of learning through art, creative and archival practices.

About The Women of Colour Art Award

The Women of Colour Art Award (WoCAA) is a biannual award delivered by 198 Contemporary Arts & Learning that supports Women of Colour and artists from the Global Majority who identify as marginalised genders. The award responds to the structural inequities and barriers these artists often face within the visual arts sector, and aims to provide meaningful financial and developmental support at key stages in artistic practice.

WoCAA is open to UK-based artists and artist collectives working across all artistic disciplines, including those who are emerging, self-taught, working outside of traditional art institutions, or returning to practice after a period of absence. The award places value on diverse approaches to making and supports a wide range of material, process-led, and experimental practices.

Each edition of WoCAA offers shortlisted artists the opportunity to exhibit at 198 Contemporary Arts & Learning, alongside tailored professional development opportunities. Through WoCAA, 198 is committed to fostering long-term support, visibility, and sustainability for artists from underrepresented backgrounds.

Past Winners & Finalists

2020 — First Edition

Winner: Maybelle Peters

Finalists:
• Charmaine Watkiss
• Mani Kambo
• Marcia Michael
• Sofia Niazi

2022–23 — Second Edition

Winner: Rebecca Bellantoni

Finalists:
• Jessica Ashman
• Tamara Al-Mashouk
• Arianna Cheung
• Tyreis Holder
• Shamica Ruddock
• Joyce Treasure