Call for Artists! 2025–2026 Synergy Project
Art League RI is currently accepting ARTIST APPLICATIONS for the 2025–2026 Synergy Project. Please read the details below, where you will find application requirements and a link to the application form. The application deadline is September 12, 2025. For questions about the application process, please contact nancym@artleagueri.org.
The Synergy Project is an art and ocean/environmental science collaboration between Art League RI (ALRI), the University of Rhode Island’s College of Environment and Life Sciences, Graduate School of Oceanography, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Designed as an innovative initiative, the Synergy Project seeks to enhance public engagement with science through art. Artists and scientists form partnerships through an extensive interview process designed to stimulate the “synergy” between the artist and scientist.
Recruitment of a new group of artists to participate in this exciting program is starting now! An application form can be accessed HERE. Applications are being accepted through September 12, 2025.
Application Requirements: 1) Complete Application; 2) CV or Resume; 3) Artwork Samples; 4) A $50 application fee grants a one-year “Synergy Artist Membership” in ALRI. The application fee will be billed separately, and the fee is not required for current ALRI members.
Why would artists want to participate in The Synergy Project?
Artists participating in this program will gain insights into their scientist-partners’ research through regular conversations and will collaborate to design a project that communicates the research in an artistic form. Artists are encouraged to think deeply about the parallels between the scientific method and the creative process and independently find opportunities to learn more about their partner-scientist’s research topic.
Synergy artists have expressed how participating in the Synergy Project has affected both their personal and professional lives.
“Being part of the Synergy Project changed the trajectory of my art practice. The collaborative process with my partner scientists challenged and enriched my artistic storytelling in ways I never imagined… It has been gratifying to see my artwork become an effective tool for climate science conversations with multiple audiences, including children, scientists, museum docents, and climate science activists.”
“The collaboration helped me see things in new ways, because I was required to look through a different lens… But perhaps the more important outcome was that it prodded me to deeper thought about how my art is understood, provoked new ideas about perception, and enhanced my ability to communicate abstract thought.”
Project TImeline
September 2025 through late fall 2026