Exhibition Guidelines
Advance knowledge, inspire life-long learning, and strengthen communities
Selection Criteria
The Exhibitions Committee selects exhibitions that meet the follow criteria:
- Closely align with NYC/NYS curricula
- Have broad appeal for diverse, intergenerational audiences including school groups and families
- Be timely, newsworthy and generate press attention
- Showcase NYPL’s collections
Submission Guidelines and Procedure
Proposal Timeline
- Proposals should be submitted at least three years prior to the suggested opening date of the exhibition.
Review Process and Notification
- The Exhibitions Committee reviews all complete proposals.
- Notification of NYPL's decision will be made within four months of receipt by email.
Exhibition Publications
- NYPL does not produce exhibition catalogues or complementary publications for every exhibition.
Supplemental Online Exhibitions
- Select exhibitions may have an online component developed by NYPL in conjunction with the exhibition but NYPL does not guarantee the creation of a complementary exhibition website for each project.
Exhibition Proposal Submission
Complete exhibition proposals should be submitted via email to: exhibitions@nypl.org.
Exhibition proposals must include the following:
- Complete contact information as follows:
- Full name
- Email address (primary & secondary if possible)
- Phone number (primary & secondary if possible)
- Website (if applicable)
- Resume or CV
- Exhibition title
- Suggested opening date
- Description (two-page maximum)
- Goal(s) of the exhibition
- List of 10-15 objects from NYPL collections proposed for the exhibition
- Include the following information: object title, artist/author, medium, date, NYPL division
- Sample label text for three of the objects referred to above
Optional proposal material:
- If applicable, a brief description of a complementary website
- If applicable, a brief description of suggested multimedia/interactive displays
- Digital images of the proposed objects