Open Call for Digital Artists

Who is this for?

This opportunity is for all graphic designers or digital artists. Any digital art style is welcome, but all designs must be created by the artist and cannot be generated through AI models.

We recognize and value the lived experience and deep knowledge of artists from historically marginalized communities, including those who are disabled and/or chronically ill. Such lived expertise is what makes our work possible. An important part of the collective's work is crafting accessible structures for collaboration, to ensure we not only welcome marginalized artists, but actively create space for and support their important needs. We have designed the application and design process with accessibility in mind, and invite artists to further reflect on and share their specific accessibility needs in this form.

Please note that all artists will retain copyright and ownership over their created designs. The Nest Collective will receive rights to use the images for not-for-profit purposes for the duration of the project (2 years), with artist citation. These may include use on the project's website, social media accounts, graphics for flyers or other outreach material, and internal team branding. All uses of the images will include an artist citation, written in consultation with the artist.

What is The Nest Collab?

The Nest Collab is a project based on disability and chronic illness justice. We are working to amplify, craft, and nurture spaces where disabled and chronically ill communities can share learning, care, and resources. We are guided by values of care, access, intersectional justice, interdependence, and collective power.

Our name is inspired by many creatures' practices of making nests - safe, comfortable spaces built with bits of often-undervalued things, but that are gathered with care and woven together in the dream of making a home. It is also inspired by the many nests that disabled and chronically ill people create for ourselves. These are beds, couches, and other sites of rest and recovery that we have crafted into spaces of dreaming, laughing, crafting, protesting, and more. We hope our project will be a "nest" that safeguards and nurtures the insights, wisdom, and expertise of disability and chronic illness justice work.

In their designs, we invite artists to integrate whatever resonates with you from these ideas of nest, safety, rest, home, dreaming, and care.

What is the timeline for the whole process?

Application Process Timeline

• Jan 9: Applications are due by 11:59pm PT.

  • The application is an opportunity for us to get a sense of you and your style as an artist. We ask you to share basic background information (name, email, access needs, link to an artist website or Instagram if you have one), a brief artist statement where you describe yourself and any relevant experience you would like us to know about, and 2 art samples showing previous work.

• Jan 20: Interview requests will be emailed.

  • Interviews are expected to be scheduled during the following 2 weeks. But there is flexibility built in to account for applicants' scheduling needs.

  • The interview will be 30 minutes long, held over phone or Zoom with 2 interviewers, and with pre-circulated questions.

  • This is meant to be a two-way interview, where the team will share more specifics about the requested pieces and collaboration process (technical details about the site, design specs, more in-depth timeline, etc.), and the artist will share how they prefer to collaborate and design commissioned pieces. The goal of the interview is for both the artist and the team to gather enough information to each make an informed choice about whether they wish to work together.

• Mar 2: Three artists will be selected, and all applicants will be emailed with final decisions.

Collaboration Process Overview

• The selected 3 artists will have approximately 5 weeks to draft their hero image and share both the design and an accompanying image description with the team. There is flexibility to adjust the deadline to account for applicants' access needs.

• The team will review all three design drafts, choose 1 to serve as the website's hero image, and invite that artist to collaborate further. This artist will have approximately 8 weeks to share their finalized hero image, logo, 3 digital pieces, accompanying image descriptions, and artist notes/statement with the team. There is flexibility built into this deadline to account for applicants' access needs.

How do I apply?

Please fill out the application form at tinyurl.com/NestCollabArtistCall. 

If Google forms is inaccessible to you, please email thenestcollab@gmail.com to receive a copy of the questions and respond directly over email. 

You will receive a confirmation message once you submit this form or once you email in your responses. We will then ask a few artists to join us for an interview over phone or Zoom, and will communicate final decisions to all respondents by March 2, 2026.

You are very welcome to email thenestcollab@gmail.com with questions. 

We hope to hear from you!