44th Annual Michigan Fine Arts Competition

June 20 – August 14, 2025

Click here for the application.

The Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center (BBAC), a nonprofit community art center serving the Detroit region, has hosted the Michigan Fine Arts Competition annually since 1982 when the Detroit Institute of Arts turned the statewide competition over to the BBAC. Every year, more than 500 artists from Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois & Wisconsin enter the competition. The MFAC is juried by artist(s) or curator(s) of distinction, who select current works of the highest quality. Cash awards support working artists, while recognizing the contributions they make to the cultural fabric of our region.

About the Juror: Laurie Ann Farrell

Laurie Ann Farrell is a globally recognized curator, art historian, and writer based in Dallas, TX. She has written extensively on contemporary art and culture, including exhibition catalogs, journal articles, and artist monographs. Her work has been profiled and featured in The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, African Arts, Vogue, CNN, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, ArtNews, Flash Art, and Artforum, among many others. As the former head of modern and contemporary art and curator at the Detroit Institute of Arts, she oversaw one of the USA’s most important postwar art and modern art collections, including the GM Center for African American Art. In December 2018, Farrell curated the Ruben & Isabel Toledo: Labor of Love exhibition, featuring new works made in response to the DIA collections and Diego Rivera Detroit Industry Murals and encyclopedic art collection.

DATES & DEADLINES

• Online Application Process Opens — Friday, March 14, 2025
• APPLICATION DEADLINE — May 9, 2025
• Juror Results — Friday, May 30 — All accepted artists will be posted on BBAC website by 5 PM, BBArtCenter.org.  Accepted & declined artists will be sent an email. NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE.
• Intake of Accepted Artwork — Monday – Friday, June 9 – 13, 10 AM–4 PM
• Award Notification (by email) — Thursday, June 19 (by the end of the day)
• Exhibition Opens –  Friday, June 20, 5 – 7 PM
• Exhibition Closes –  Thursday, August 14, 4 PM
• Exhibition Outtake  – Friday, August 15 & Saturday, August 16, 10 AM–4 PM

BBAC Gallery Summer Hours

Monday – Saturday, 9am-4pm

About the BBAC

The Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center has been providing “art for all” since 1957 and is a regional non-profit art center committed to promoting visual arts experiences.  Each year more than 500 classes are offered for all skill levels and ages preschool to senior citizens.  Throughout the year, nearly 9,000 individuals are served by classes, workshops, art camps, ArtAccess programs, special events,  and exhibitions that are free and open to the public (with an additional 75,000 impacted by Art Birmingham, the BBAC’s annual fine art fair).   The BBAC also supports hundreds of artists each year, with opportunities to teach, exhibit, and sell their work.  The BBAC is a 25,000-square foot facility, with nine classroom studios, five exhibition galleries, and a retail Gallery Shop.  

The BBAC is supported by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information: BBArtCenter.org or 248.644.0866.