Immerse yourself in a world of creativity this September.
These opportunities are your chance to experience, connect, and grow within the creative community. Whether you’re a creative professional, artist, filmmaker, or curator, there’s something to spark your inspiration, from open calls and screenings to exhibitions and curated events. Explore what resonates with you and join the creative momentum before the deadlines close.
Featured Opportunities & Events for Creatives:
1. Lakritz THE MAGAZINE: Open Call – “After the Collapse”: Deadline: 15 September 2025
A digital publication inviting contemporary artists worldwide to submit works responding to environmental, societal, and emotional shifts. All visual mediums welcome. Selected artists will receive 2–4 pages in the magazine and international online exposure.
🔗 lakritz.co.za/call-for-art
2. Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2026: Applications Open | Deadline: 26 September 2025 | 20–22 February 2026
Africa’s largest international art fair returns for its 13th edition, bringing together galleries, artists, collectors, and curators from around the world. The theme for 2026 is Listen, inviting everyone to engage deeply with the work on show and explore what is often unseen or unheard.
Application Notifications: October 2025
🔗https://www.investeccapetownartfair.co.za/apply
3. KZNSA Gallery: 2026 Exhibition Proposals | Deadline: 15 September 2025
Open call for solo or group exhibitions for the 2026 calendar. Artists, curators, galleries, and institutions are welcome to submit proposals for one or more of the gallery’s three spaces: Main Gallery, Mezzanine Gallery, and Media Gallery. Exhibitions can run 1–6 weeks, with in-house publicity and installation photography provided.
Applications will be reviewed by the KZNSA selection committee, and successful applicants will be notified by 1 November 2025. Late submissions will not be considered.
🔗 kznsagallery.co.za/events/open-call-2026-exhibition-proposals
4. AVIJOZI Festival 2025: 13–14 September 2025, Johannesburg
Africa’s premier festival for film, animation, VFX, gaming, AI, and interactive tech. Expect showcases, portfolio reviews, industry connections, and two days of creative energy.
Free access.
🔗 https://avijozi.zohobackstage.com/AVIJOZI
5. Sthenjwa Luthuli: ‘Umkhangu/Birthmark’ | 11 September 2025, Norval Foundation
Luthuli’s upcoming solo exhibition, Umkhangu (“Birthmark”), explores memory, identity, and African spiritualism through carved wood reliefs and richly textured prints. The works consider the human body as a vessel of inherited knowledge, a site of resistance, transformation, and belonging, connecting the personal to the ancestral.
Sthenjwa Luthuli is hosting a public walkabout of the exhibition on 13 September at 11 am, for those who wish to fully grasp the themes and inspirations behind the work.
Exhibition Opening: 11 September, 18:00
Tickets via Webtickets (Norval Foundation Members enter free): https://www.webtickets.co.za/v2/event.aspx?itemid=1506385962
6. Southern Guild: Kamyar Bineshtarigh: Group Show | 21 August – 10 November 2025
Bineshtarigh’s second solo exhibition with the gallery, Group Show, repeats and refines his surface transfer technique, lifting walls and floors from the studios of South African artists. The immersive mixed-media works capture the layers of history and energy from each studio, blurring the line between artist and curator, studio and gallery. Through these transfers, the exhibition offers viewers a rare glimpse into intimate creative spaces, presenting them as both historic ruins and memorials within the gallery setting.
🔗https://southernguild.com/exhibitions/group-show
7. Electric South: New Dimensions Lab 2025 – Open Call | Deadline: 17 September 2025, 23:59 SAST
Now in its 8th edition, the New Dimensions Lab brings together 10 experienced African artists and creative technologists to develop nonfiction stories using VR, AR, or a combination of both. Participants will work alongside leading industry advisors in discussions, masterclasses, and project workshops over one week in South Africa.
Two selected projects may receive $20,000 each from Electric South to complete their work.
Lab Details:
- Dates: 7–14 December 2025 (in-person, full-time)
- Notification: Mid-October 2025
🔗https://electricsouth.org/open-call-for-the-8th-new-dimensions-lab/
8. AI & Immersive Media Convening 2025: 15–17 September 2025, Johannesburg
Returning for another edition, this three-day event centres African voices in AI, immersive media, and tech-powered creative futures. Expect knowledge-sharing, co-creation, artist-led policy discussions, masterclasses, innovation tours, and networking across Johannesburg’s creative hubs.
Invite-only event. Sponsors and organisations can contact the organisers to support delegates or express interest in attending.
🔗 info@electricsouth.org and Read about last year + AI Toolkit
9. Goethe-Institut Project Space (GPS) 2026: Open Call – Deadline 30 September 2025, 12:00 PM CAT
The GPS grant offers up to R100,000 to support three artistic projects in rural and peri-urban South Africa, Lesotho, and Eswatini in 2026. Projects should engage local communities and focus on professional arts production, including collaboration between rural and urban spaces.
Social development projects or projects only in major cities (Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban) are not eligible.
🔗 https://www.goethe.de/ins/za/en/kul/kul/g26.html#i10899965
