Most public-art open calls ask who will review your proposal. Beam Center’s annual Project Open Call asks something more unusual: who will build it, and the answer is over 100 kids, ages 10–17.
The nonprofit’s 2027 Beam Camp Project Open Call, open since September 11 and closing November 30, 2026 at 11:59 PM EST, invites proposals for a large-scale public artwork to be realized at Beam Camp in Strafford, New Hampshire during its Summer 2027 session — built by 100+ campers and 20+ staff over roughly 50 hours of hands-on construction. The selected proposer receives a $5,000 award, separate from an approximately $15,000 fabrication budget that covers materials and construction costs.
Eligibility is genuinely wide. Per Beam Center’s own event page, confirmed directly: “We welcome proposals from all over the world and from people of any age.” The invitation names artists, engineers, architects, builders, filmmakers, musicians, designers and technologists explicitly and equally — this isn’t a public-art call with a token nod to STEM, it’s built around the idea that a maker-camp-scale project needs exactly that mix of skills. The only real qualifier is that proposers “should have a general understanding of the relevant processes, techniques, and materials” their idea requires.
The submission itself is lightweight: a single compiled PDF with a project title, detailed description, visuals (sketches, diagrams, renderings, or a video link), and co-designer information if the proposal involves a team. Selected proposers commit to bi-weekly planning meetings starting six months before the build, and reasonable travel to camp is reimbursed for whatever portion of the session they choose to attend in person.
Two info sessions run on Zoom before the deadline — Thursday, October 22 (already past) and Saturday, November 21, 2026, at 2:00 PM, both requiring registration through Beam Center’s events page.
This is Beam Center’s fifth consecutive year running the open call in roughly this shape — past cycles produced similarly ambitious camp-scale builds — which is worth knowing if you’re deciding whether to trust a nonprofit’s one-off promise: this one has a track record of actually fabricating what it funds. One thing worth flagging plainly rather than papering over: the event page itself carries an internal inconsistency, describing the build as happening both in Summer 2027 and, in one leftover line, “at Beam Camp in July 2026” — almost certainly unupdated text from last year’s cycle. Go by the 2027 completion date and the November 30, 2026 deadline stated at the top of the listing.