Call to Artists: Application for Boise Contemporary Theater Lobby Artist
Boise Contemporary Theater (BCT) invites artists to apply to display their two-dimensional artwork in our lobby bar (3-D work will be considered if it can be hung on drywall within the available areas). 

BCT's lobby bar is located on the main floor of BCT and is not open to the public, but opens for theater patrons one hour before MainStage productions begin and briefly after the show ends. Our building is an old seed warehouse and we have kept the industrial vibe with exposed brick and ductwork, plus swanky lighting. 

The display period is variable, but generally offers 4-5 weeks of display time prior to and during the run of the play BCT is producing. See below for specific dates.

The lobby wall space allows for hanging artwork on white finished drywall using your hanging hardware and one section with existing screws in brickwork. The number of artworks to be displayed depends on the size of the artwork and your chosen hanging spaces. We will schedule a walk-through tour with you if selected and you may take measurements/notes then. Photos and linear measurements are available here.

The lobby bar typically features one local artist per theater production, but we are not be opposed to featuring several local artists at once.

Preference is given to art that has themes similar to the play that will be on stage during the display period, but this can be a loose similarity and is open to interpretation. Each of our plays offers select BCT donors an invitation only preview of a rehearsal (generally the Thursday before the show opens), and we think having your art up for this event both elevates our event and puts your work in front of supporters of The Arts. BCT's 25|26 Season:
  • October 1-18, 2025 – Eureka Day, by Jonathan Spector
  • December 3-21, 2025 – All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914 by Peter Rothstein, Vocal Arrangements by Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach
  • February 4-21, 2026  – Primary Trust by Eboni Booth
  • March (dates TBD) - A variety of events similar to our LOCALS ONLY Summer Series
  • April 22-May 9, 2026 – World Premiere! Ajax by Habib Yazdi
Our season offers a wide variety of topics from October to May. We open with a show at an elementary school in the midst of a mumps outbreak that has the Berkeley, Californians disagreeing on what is truth. In December, we return to our successful collaboration with Opera Idaho to show a moment of truce in No Man's Land on Christmas Eve in 1914. For February, we celebrate friendship in a small lake town. Closing our season is the World Premiere of BIPOC Playwrights Festival author Habib Yazdi’s comedy about the 1953 American coup in Iran, told poolside at a peaceful villa. Read more about our season here.
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Eligibility

This call is open to applicants regardless of ethnic or national origin, race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socioeconomic class, disability status, parental status, veteran status, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

Preference is given to artists who call the Treasure Valley home. However, application is open to other artists with the caveat that the artist must be present for scheduled installation and removal. The responsibility for hanging and removal lies solely with the artist, and while they may bring their own helpers, BCT is not able to offer assistance with this labor or tools. If selected, the artist will be offered terms for display period, commission split (90% artist/10% BCT), etc., and required to reach an agreement with BCT setting forth specific conditions prior to display.

Preference is also given to artwork that can be displayed in conversation with the theater work being produced on our MainStage. We would love your art to stimulate theater patrons to have thought-provoking conversations. If those conversations are extensions of what we are currently producing, even better!

First Name *
Please provide your legal first name (the one you use for checks, etc.).
Last Name *
Please provide your legal last name (the one you use for checks, etc.).
Email *
Please provide the inbox where you're most likely to see our response! This is the primary way we'll communicate with you.
Phone number *
Let's text!
What city do you live in? *
Where are you driving from when you plan to come to BCT?
Do you have an online portfolio, website, or other platform where we could browse your work? *
No is an okay answer; we'll follow up! If you have an IG account for your art, give us your handle (and please feel free to follow @bctheater).
Describe your 2D art. *
Please don't give us your artist statement here. How do you think the art you are thinking of displaying suits the shows we're doing? This can be brief, just make the connection for us, please, we're theater people. :)
Availability
Eureka Day
by Jonathan Spector
October 1-18, 2025
 *
Play synopsis: The Eureka Day School in Berkeley, California, is a bastion of progressive ideals: representation, acceptance, social justice. In weekly meetings, Eureka Day’s five board members develop and update policy to preserve this culture of inclusivity, reaching decisions only by consensus. But when a mumps outbreak threatens the Eureka community, facts become subjective and every solution divisive, leaving the school’s leadership to confront the central question of our time: How do you build consensus when no one can agree on truth?

Would love to have art that reflects elementary schools, students, school boards, etc.

Please check the boxes for all the dates you are available.
Required
All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914
by Peter Rothstein
Vocal Arrangements by Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach
December 3-21, 2025
 *
Play synopsis: The Western Front, Christmas, 1914. Out of the violence of World War I, a silence, then a song. A German soldier steps into No Man’s Land singing “Stille Nacht.” Thus begins an extraordinary night of camaraderie, music, and peace. An a cappella chorale, All Is Calm is a remarkable true story in the words and songs of the men who lived it.

Would love to have art that depicts WWI, Silent Night, letters to/from home, their "football" game, a shared drink, or other activities illustrating the humanity of this real moment in history.

Please check the boxes for all the dates you are available.
Required
Primary Trust
By Eboni Booth
February 4-21, 2026
 *
Play synopsis: Kenneth is a 38-year-old man living in a small town outside of Rochester, New York. For 15 years, his life has been the same: he works at the bookstore during the day and enjoys mai tais with his friend Bert at night. However, when the bookstore owner closes shop, it forces Kenneth to make changes and push past his comfort zone – sometimes that means making new friends, and sometimes that means reconciling with the past. In Kenneth’s own words, “This is the story of friendship. Of how I got a new job. A story of love and balance and time. And the smallest of chances.”

Would love to have art that depicts Cranberry Lake, NY, friends at a bookstore, or enjoying mai tais at a tiki bar.

Please check the boxes for all the dates you are available.
Required
The March Thing (We're still cooking this event up!)
March, 2026
 *
We don't know precisely what this looks like yet, we've never done it before! But, as Vincent Van Gogh is often quoted as saying, "I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it."

Please check the boxes for all the dates you are available.
Required
World Premiere
Ajax
by Habib Yazdi
April 22-May 9, 2026 *
Play synopsis: A comedic play about the 1953 American coup in Iran.

It’s a hot summer in August 1953, when a clean-cut American arrives at a peaceful villa in North Tehran. Kambiz, the villa’s gardener and pool boy, wonders if the new guest may be his ticket to a better life. As their friendship deepens, Kambiz finds himself entangled in strange affairs involving the Shah of Iran and the country’s elected prime minister. How will it end? Only the pool knows…

Would love to have art that depicts life in 1953 Tehran, Iranian tea service, or a villa with a pool.

Please check the boxes for all the dates you are available.
Required
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