Category: 2026 Bermuda Biennial

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2026 Bermuda Biennial BNG Kids Education

5 tips for submitting Junior Biennial Artworks

In 2024, juror Molly Bretton reviewed over 600 artworks for the inaugural Junior Bermuda Biennial! The exhibition featured 83 artworks by artists ages 5 to 17. If you have a young artist that is considering submitting artwork for consideration, we have some advice.

1. Seek out inspiration
Encourage young artists to get inspired! Take them to visit current exhibitions at the Bermuda National Gallery or visit our virtual exhibitions online. Try to encourage artists to engage with artwork critically. Ask them what they like and why, what they don’t like and why, and encourage them to reflect on how different artworks are made.

2. Submit multiple artworks
Increase your chances by submitting multiple pieces. When creating the exhibition, the juror also looks at how some of the artworks may look next to each other. Sometimes, a really great piece may be submitted, but may not get in if it doesn’t fit into the overall exhibition.

3. Ensure the artist statement is in the artist’s voice
Artist statements are meant to show the thought process of the artist – not parents. You can ask some guiding questions to start the conversation, then pick one or two sentences to be their artist statement.

4. Take a clear photo
Artworks will be reviewed and selected digitally using only a photo – so making sure you have a good photo is helpful. When possible, try to ensure photograph the artwork on a neutral background – and make sure there is bright lighting. Do not use flash, and try to avoid shadows.

5. Set clear expectations
Not every artwork that is submitted will be selected for the final exhibition. Be clear with your young artist now to avoid disappointment later. Remind your artist that if they do not get in, it does not mean their work is not good – they should keep creating art!

Submit artwork now for the 2026 Junior Bermuda Biennial! Submissions are due on Sunday, July 19 at midnight.

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    2026 Bermuda Biennial

    Jurors Announced for 2026 Biennial

    The Bermuda National Gallery is pleased to announce that the jurors for the upcoming 2026 Bermuda Biennial are Akili Tommasino, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Dr Julie Crooks, Curator of the Arts of Global Africa and the Diaspora at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO).

    Jennifer L. Phillips, Executive Director of the Bermuda National Gallery, said, “We are thrilled to welcome Akili Tommasino and Dr Julie Crooks as jurors for the 2026 Bermuda Biennial, sponsored by the Green family. BNG’s flagship exhibition stands apart as a critical opportunity for Bermudian and Bermuda-based artists to have their work reviewed by esteemed international art professionals. We continue elevating the Biennial in its newest iteration, with the participation of curators from The Met and the Art Gallery of Ontario.”

    Akili Tommasino joined The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2021, where he most recently organized Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876-Now (November 17, 2024–February 17, 2025). Previously, Tommasino held curatorial positions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and at the Museum of Modern Art. In 2020, along with his wife, Dr. Amanda Herrera Tommasino, he launched Pana Projects, an arts and education initiative in the Caribbean. A former Fulbright Fellow at the Centre Pompidou, Tommasino is a PhD candidate at Harvard University, where he earned his MA and BA.

    “I am thrilled and honored to serve as a Juror for the 2026 Bermuda Biennial along with my friend and outstanding curatorial colleague Dr Julie Crooks, and to connect with the community of artists in Bermuda, a place that has always been special to me as the home of a large contingent of my extended family,” said Tommasino. “I am deeply grateful to the Bermuda National Gallery’s Executive Director Jennifer Phillips and Director of Exhibitions Eve Godet Thomas for their tremendous invitation.”

    Dr Julie Crooks has been a curator at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) since 2017. Her recent curatorial projects at the AGO include Free. Black. North (2017); Mickalene Thomas: Femmes Noires (2018); and Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 1950s – Now (2023). She holds a PhD from the Department of History of Art and Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, UK. In 2020, Dr Crooks initiated the new Arts of Global Africa and the Diaspora department at the AGO, with the goal of addressing historic gaps and erasures related to the representation of Africa and its diasporas through programming, acquisitions, and exhibitions.

    She said, “I am deeply honored to be invited, along with my esteemed colleague Akili Tommasino, to serve as a juror for the 2026 Bermuda Biennial! I look forward to collaborating with the vibrant and multi-faceted community of artists in Bermuda.”

    The 2026 Bermuda Biennial will be the first iteration to be sponsored by the Green family, who have taken on title sponsorship of the exhibition, building on a long history of collaboration between the family and the Bermuda National Gallery.

    Submissions to the 2026 Bermuda Biennial will open in September and close in January 2026. The exhibition will be on display at the Bermuda National Gallery from June 2026 to December 2026. More information can be found at https://bng.bm/2026-bermuda-biennial.