Carlsbad Canon Biennial drops entry fee, expands awards and aims for 60+ artists

The City of Carlsbad's Canon Biennial returns this fall with a revised process intended to be more artist-forward: curator Lisonbee Benford said the biennial will have no entry fee, accept one work per artist, and use a single online digital submission form designed to auto-populate back-end fields for easier processing. The open-call period runs August 1'31, participating artists will be notified by Sept. 9, and the exhibition will be on view Oct. 23 through Jan. 3; the artist reception and awards are scheduled for Nov. 7 from 3 to 5 p.m.

Benford said the biennial has $4,000 available in equal awards and a $1,000 community choice award and that the program's goal is to include 60 or more artists. "My personal goal is 90 or more," Benford added. She also described changes to loan agreements and the open-call prospectus to reduce barriers for individual artists and said the biennial will be internally curated with community award judges.