Hillside Festival is seeking an artist to create the artwork for our 2027-28 festival branding!
This is a paid commission that requires the conception and execution of two graphics that form a unified pair with similar looks and concepts, as well as a custom wordmark for the 2027 festival and Hillside Inside that meshes with the illustration. The main artwork will be for the summer festival (July 16-18, 2027), with the supplementary piece for our winter festival (Hillside Inside, first weekend of February, 2028).
Deadline for submissions: October 18, 2026.
BACKGROUND
The selected artwork will be used throughout all marketing, including posters, website, social media, advertising, T-shirts, and other merchandise. We will help direct the selected artist to craft the final product.
Hillside’s core values are creativity, altruism, equality, environmentalism, and peacemaking. We seek to promote these values through artistic expression, community engagement, and environmental leadership. We are a festival built upon belonging, volunteerism, and, of course, great music. We are also a community festival, so themes related to the creation of ties and bonds are also of importance. In the past, many artworks have highlighted the festival’s natural location, on an island at Guelph Lake Conservation Area, but this is not necessary. We are looking to evoke some aspect(s) of the festival.
Because the artwork will be used in many media and sizes, a simple, iconic graphic would be an asset. It should work well when screen-printed with a single colour on T-shirts – either as is or as a variation to be supplied by the artist. The graphic designer can assist in this process. Please refer to the timeline below to ensure you will be available during the creation and consultation period.
The selected artist will receive $1,500 (plus HST, if applicable) as well as two weekend passes (valued at $490) to Hillside Festival 2027, a sales space in our Merch Tent at the summer festival, a campground campsite for the summer festival weekend, and admission to ticketed shows at Hillside Inside.
WHO CAN SUBMIT
The call is open to anyone who is interested – illustrators, painters, printmakers, etc. Students, hobbyists, and professionals are all welcome to submit concepts, and all will be given equal consideration. Your artistic style’s suitability to translate well into a single-colour vector graphic for screen-printing will be considered an asset, but is not a requirement.
PROJECT TIMELINE
The artist selected will be expected to work in consultation with the Festival in accordance with the following schedule:
- Due date for submissions is October 18, 2026.
- A decision will be made on the art selection in November, with the artist being then notified.
- The artist will work with the Festival to finalize the artwork for the summer festival. The final submission deadline is December 13, 2026.
- The process will then repeat in January and February for the winter 2028 artwork. The final submission deadline is March 28, 2027.
HOW TO SUBMIT
- Email to: [email protected]
- OR, you can mail your submission to: Hillside Festival, 341 Woolwich St., Guelph ON N1H 3W4.
WHAT TO SUBMIT
- Bio and/or artist statement.
- If you choose, share a short description of how your cultural background, lived experience or connection to community informs your artistic practice and respects the communities portrayed in your work.
- Link to your online portfolio and/or up to 5 images of your work (if emailing, please ensure your email is less than 2.5 MB total; larger files may be sent via Google Drive, Dropbox, or WeTransfer).
- NO CONCEPT IS NECESSARY. We select artists based on their portfolio. However, if you have an idea and would like to share it with us as a verbal description or rough sketch, we would be happy to consider it as well.
The selected artist will work with the Hillside Festival Artwork Committee and graphic designer to develop the final artwork.
Please see our Past Events page to view the artwork and branding we have had previously!