Installation view of the 2018 CAM Perennial Exhibition at Artpace. Photo: Ronald Cortes For The San Antonio Express News
San Antonio’s Contemporary Art Month (CAM) announced this week that it is now accepting applications for its annual CAM Perennial exhibition. The origins of CAM date back to 1986 when the celebration was founded as a way to connect local San Antonio artists with their community during slow summer months. It was later moved to March (because: July in San Antonio), and now, every spring, CAM operates a calendar of performances, talks, and art shows highlighting the diversity of San Antonio’s art community. The CAM Perennial, an annual exhibition juried by a curator from outside San Antonio, was added to the festivities in 2012. Past CAMH Perennial curators include Francis Colpitt (2012), Bill Arning (2013), and Leslie Moody Castro (2014). This year’s curator is Kevin Burns, the education and curatorial associate at the El Paso Museum of Art.
For the first years of its run, the CAMH Perennial show was hosted by the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, but after the center pulled out of the exhibition in 2016 (more on that here in an article by Leslie Moody Castro), the show has bounced around: the 2017 edition took place at the Southwest School of Art, and the 2018 show was hosted by Artpace. This year, the show announced a partnership with the Blue Star Contemporary and El Paso, Texas.
Applications for the CAM Perennial are due by midnight on October 7, 2018. more on how to apply is below, via CAM:
“CAM’s open call is for all artists currently living and practicing in San Antonio who are interested in being considered for the CAM Perennial, an annual exhibition of work chosen by a professional curator from a partnering city. CAM is dedicated to accessibility and equity for artists in San Antonio, and in order to keep this process transparent, artists will be asked to apply yearly for this opportunity. The open call will allow artists to establish contact with guest curators from around the world, which may lead to an increase in an artist’s visibility and will help expand their professional network. By submitting their information, artists are eligible to receive a visit with the curator, which may lead to the opportunity to participate in the CAM Perennial. Selections of artists to be visited and exhibited are made solely by the guest curator with no input by the CAM board. While the CAM Perennial is an outcome of this open call, all artists who participate are offered the opportunity to build relationships with guest curators by sharing their work and therefore, expanding their network to increase their professional opportunities.”
