ColorWheels is Fleisher’s mobile art studio, launched in 2012 and delivering creative experiences directly to community members in neighborhoods throughout Philadelphia.

The van is equipped with the tools and supplies needed for Fleisher’s teaching artists to guide community members in hands-on, culturally inspired mini-workshops, collaborative public art projects, and demonstrations of art techniques.

Fleisher Art Memorial (FAM) is excited to announce the call for entries for the 48th exhibition season of the Wind Challenge. Established in 1978 as The Challenge and now known as the Wind Challenge, Fleisher's annual juried competition is committed to enriching people’s lives through art by featuring the work of exceptional artists living in the region. Artists living within a 450-mile radius of Philadelphia are welcome to apply. 

For this series, nine selected artists will be featured in a trio of Wind Challenge Exhibitions—each featuring three artists—to be hosted at Fleisher in 2027. The jurors for this year’s competition are SEAN STAROWITZ and ALPESH PATEL. The selected cohort of artists will work closely with the Director of Exhibitions in curating their work and exhibition-related programming.

The Wind Challenge Exhibition Series is made possible thanks to generous support from the Wind Foundation.

SELECTION PROCESS

Applicants are reviewed in a two-stage selection process:

Round 1: Jurors review submitted artwork online. From this initial review, finalists selected to advance to the second round will be notified via e-mail or phone call by May 15, 2026. 

Round 2: Finalists deliver one original artwork to Fleisher the week of May 18, 2026, to be reviewed along with their original image submissions by the jurors. Installation artists being considered as finalists will be encouraged to come to Fleisher for a site visit if interested in submitting a specific proposal for the Fleisher galleries. The resulting round 2 submission could include a plan for the space and/or physical work related to the proposed installation). During this round the jurors will select 9 artists to be part of the Wind Challenge 2027. They will also assign the exhibiting spaces in our gallery (please note that there are three available spaces with different dimensions).

FINAL NOTIFICATIONS to selected artists sent by Friday, June 12, 2026. 

JURORS

ALPESH KANTILAL PATEL is an associate professor of global contemporary art at Tyler School of Art and Architecture and was previously a curator at large at UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, where they organized a series of exhibitions under the theme, “Forever Becoming: Decolonization, Materiality, and Trans* Subjectivity.” They are the author of Multiple and One: Global Queer Art Histories, forthcoming from Manchester University Press and Productive Failure: Writing Queer Transnational South Asian Art Histories (2017); coeditor of the dossier ‘conceptualizing TRANS-ASIA’ for ASAP/Journal (2024), the anthology Storytellers of Art Histories (2022), and a special issue of Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art (2021) commemorating Okwui Enwezor, among other publications. Grants and fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation, Loughborough University, Arts Council England, Cranbrook Academy of Art, and New York University have supported their research. They are associate editor of visual arts, architecture, and art history for ASAP/Journal and an editorial advisory board member of the Getty Research Journal.

SEAN STAROWITZ Sean M. Starowitz has worked in a variety of community-based contexts, spanning more than a decade of socially engaged art practice. He uses archival research and public memory as material to reframe our current understanding of natural history and political imaginaries. Starowitz served as the Assistant Director of the Arts for the City of Bloomington, IN, during this time, he directed the 1% for the Arts program and managed cultural grants on behalf of the City. Prior to his work in local government, he was the artist-in-residence at the Farm To Market Bread Company in Kansas City and is a graduate of the Interdisciplinary Arts program at the Kansas City Art Institute. Starowitz has exhibited his work at Living Arts of Tulsa, KMAC Museum, and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, as well as, numerous artist-run spaces. He has contributed writings to Proximity Magazine, Ruckus Journal and Belt Magazine. And has lectured at various universities throughout the US,  including Queens College, UCLA, Indiana University, University of South Dakota, SVA, and at American University in D.C.  In 2023, Starowitz received his MFA in Sculpture from the Tyler School of Art and Architecture. He currently lives and works in Philadelphia, PA, and spends his summers teaching at the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts in Lexington, KY.

Sean Starowitz was a 2024 Wind Challenge Artist

ELIGIBILITY

• Applicants must live within a 450-mile radius of Philadelphia.
• Selected artists must not be showing the same major body of work in a local gallery or alternative space in the same year as the Wind Challenge exhibition.
• Selected artists must be available to install their work, participate in the Wind Challenge Artist Exchange public program (a panel conversation led by the selected artists in which they ask each other questions and share insights into their creative process), and be present at the opening reception.

Please note that students enrolled in a full-time degree/certificate granting program during the year of the exhibition and previous Wind Challenge artists are ineligible.

EXHIBITION SCHEDULE

The Wind Challenge Exhibition Series will be held in the Dene M. Louchheim Galleries at Fleisher Art Memorial. The exhibitions are scheduled throughout the 2027 year and each exhibition will run approximately four-weeks. Exhibition dates will be disclosed to artists in JUNE 2026. 

SELECTED ARTISTS RECEIVE:

• The opportunity to display recent work in a three-person exhibition.
• The opportunity to work with Fleisher’s Director of Exhibitions in one of the country’s first community art centers, helping to curate their work in the selected gallery space.
• $800 honorarium.
• Opportunity to gain exposure and promote your practice through participation in the Wind Challenge Artist Exchange and public reception.
• Promotion in Fleisher publications, online materials, and related marketing.
• Optional: Opportunity to engage with Fleisher's audience by creating a one-hour workshop. Please keep in mind that clearances are needed to engage with youth.

DEADLINE: 11:59 pm on Sunday, April 26, 2026

For more information about the Wind Challenge Exhibition Series, visit fleisher.org.

Please direct inquiries to: Gerard Silva, Director of Exhibitions and Community Outreach at gsilva@fleisher.org 

ABOUT FLEISHER ART MEMORIAL

Founded by industrialist Samuel S. Fleisher in 1898 as one of the nation’s first community-based art centers, Fleisher Art Memorial is renowned for its long-standing mission of making art accessible regardless of economic means, background, or artistic experience. After 128 years of serving the creative community, Fleisher continues to provide free and low-cost studio art classes along with opportunities for emerging and seasoned artists to exhibit their work. Extensive arts education and community-based programming also reflects the organization’s commitment to serving and strengthening communities in Philadelphia by developing, sharing, and promoting creative resources.