Schaefer Portrait Challenge 2025

Maui Arts & Cultural Center announces the call to artists for Schaefer Portrait Challenge 2025. Held as a triennial since 2003, this marks the eighth iteration of this statewide juried exhibition, which presents the unique diversity of the people of our islands through explorations in portraiture.

The jurors for SPC 2025 are:
Sonnet Coggins, Executive Director at The Merwin Conservancy, Maui
Mina Elison, Curator at Donkey Mill Art Center, Hawai‘i Island
Wendy Kawabata, Professor of Art at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Oʻahu

Jurying will take place in Fall 2024. See the prospectus for entry dates at four island sites.
Exhibit Dates: January 14 - March 22, 2025

The Challenge carries three substantial cash awards:

• The Jurors’ Choice Award for $15,000, sponsored by Carolyn Schaefer, will be selected by the jurors.
• The Gene Freedman Artists’ Choice Award for $5,000 is a new addition to the exhibition, and will be selected by the vote of SPC 2025 exhibiting artists.
• The Ruth Freedman People’s Choice Award for $5,000 will be based on the popular vote of gallery visitors.
• These two awards are sponsored by the Eugene and Ruth Freedman Family Foundation and will be presented at a gallery reception on Sunday, March 16, 2025.