Gallery

The Art Gallery at the Cambridge Centre for the Arts (CCA) presents month-long exhibitions featuring art by local artists from Cambridge, the Region of Waterloo and beyond.

Call for Exhibition Proposals

Call open June 1 - July 1

The Cambridge Centre for the Arts Gallery is accepting applications for gallery exhibitions from Winter 2027-Winter 2028!

About Submissions

Submissions are open as of Monday, June 1 and close Wednesday, July 1.

All submissions should include the following:

  • Up to 10 digital images of your work
    • Images should be representative of the work proposed for exhibition
    • Images should be clearly identified to correspond to the image list
  • Image list with titles, media, date of creation, and dimensions of the artwork
  • Current CV including name, contact information, and links to website and social media (if applicable)
  • Combined artist statement and proposal describing your work, influences and themes for your intended exhibition (150-500 words)

Please save your submission as a PDF using the file name "Your Name Exhibition Proposal" and email your submission to artcentre@cambridge.ca with the subject line "Your Name Exhibition Proposal".

Artists not selected for the Cambridge Centre for the Arts Gallery may be considered for additional opportunities for exhibition at the Cambridge Centre for the Arts including our Atrium Gallery and Alleyway Gallery.

Criteria for Submissions

This call is open to solo artists or proposals for curated exhibitions. 

Submissions will be juried by a selection committee comprised of Cambridge Centre for the Arts staff and two guest artist jurors. 

The call for submission is open to all Ontario artists, with priority given to artists residing in or connected to Cambridge. We welcome and encourage submissions from artists of diverse backgrounds, identities, and lived experiences. 

The City of Cambridge is committed to providing accessible, inclusive services to all community members. If you require information in an alternative format, please contact artcentre@cambridge.ca or call or visit the Cambridge Centre for the Arts at (519) 740-4681 (ext. 4376), 60 Dickson Street, Cambridge, ON.

Compensation

Solo exhibiting artists will receive an honorarium based on the 2027 CARFAC fee schedule (according to Section A.1.7.).

We thank all applicants but only those selected by the committee will be contacted.

Aidan Frenette

Something Worth Remembering 

June 13 - July 11

Opening reception: June 13 1-2:30pm 

Something Worth Remembering explores the subtle details hidden in our everyday habits of consumption. Arranged food-based compositions are placed on photo sensitive silver gelatin paper, revealing rich and varied patterns that exist just beneath the surface of the ordinary things we often overlook.


Dissected grape on photo sensitive paper, orange and red hues
Grape Lumen, 2026

Aidan Frenette 

June 13-July 11 

Reception: Saturday June 13, 1pm-2:30pm

Jessica Penney  

July 25 – August 22 

Laura Heaney and Kendra Lightfoot 

September 5-October 3 

Reception: Saturday September 5, 1pm-2:30pm 

23rd Annual Juried Art Exhibition  

October 17-November 14  

Reception: Saturday October 17, 1pm-2:30pm  

STUDIO 30  

November 21-December 19 

Reception: Saturday November 21, 1pm-2:30pm  

Artists who are residents of Cambridge can submit up to two works in any media to be considered for inclusion in the Annual Juried Art Exhibition which takes place annually each fall.

The Jill Summerhayes Award (Juror’s 1st), 2nd and 3rd place awards, and three Honourable Mentions will also be chosen.  Awards are generously sponsored by the Cambridge Arts Guild and are announced at the Opening Reception in October.

The 2025 guest juror was Guelph-based artist Lisa Hirmer. Ms. Hirmer is an interdisciplinary artist whose work explores the collective nature of being, particularly in human relationships with the more-than-human world. She has shown her work across Canada and internationally including at Art Gallery of Ontario, Art Gallery of Guelph, University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Mississauga, Tom Thomson Gallery, Art Windsor-Essex, Doris McCarthy Gallery, Peninsula Arts, CAFKA, Queens Museum, and Flux Factory, among others. She has done artist residencies with Arts House Melbourne, the Santa Fe Art Institute, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, the Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World, KIAC and Camargo Foundation, and was the 2022 Waterfront Toronto Artist in Residence. She has received grants from Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, Musagetes and the Culture and Animal Foundation, and has a Master of Architecture from the University of Waterloo.

How to Participate

Watch this space for the 2026 Call for Entry information, available early September 2026.

 

School Programs at the Cambridge Centre for the Arts

In 2026, Cambridge Centre for the Arts and the Waterloo Catholic District School Board began their partnership to deliver contemporary art lessons and gallery tours to local school groups visiting the Art Centre.

With art activities led by CCA instructor Alyssa Haynes, over 100 young artists in Grade 6, 7, and 8 created abstract watercolour paintings inspired by their tour of the Cambridge Centre for the Arts Gallery.