Last year saw approximately 30,000 visitors. Shibuya-born "SHIBUYA AWARDS 2026-27" opens call for entries. Aiming for a cultural support model that fosters artist presentation opportunities in collaboration with companies, regions, and cities.

SHIBUYA AWARDS 2026-27 Main Visual / Design: Kenzo Hara(HYPHEN)

SHIBUYA AWARDS General Incorporated Association (Representative Director: Kenji YONEDA) has opened the call for entries for the 12th "SHIBUYA AWARDS 2026-27" starting June 8, 2026 (Mon). The application deadline is July 31, 2026 (Fri). This year's theme is "CROSSING|交差".

SHIBUYA AWARDS aims not only to solicit and judge works but also to expand opportunities for the next presentation of awarded and selected artists. Through exhibitions in Shibuya, collaborations with local communities and companies, AIR awards, and online exhibitions, we create a space where artists' expressions meet society.

Furthermore, for companies and regions, art support is not merely sponsorship or exhibition. It is developed as an initiative to foster new cultural value together with artists, utilizing their respective places, histories, technologies, and activities.

Application Page & Related Links

・Application Page: https://shibuyaawards.com/OPEN-CALL/ ・Official Website: https://shibuyaawards.com/

About the 12th "SHIBUYA AWARDS 2026-27" Call for Entries

SHIBUYA AWARDS is a public call art award that began in Shibuya in 2014. We are seeking artists who will create future urban culture together, regardless of genre, including painting, sculpture, photography, film, digital art, AI art, and installations.

The theme for 2026-27 is "CROSSING|交差". Starting from Shibuya, where people, cultures, commerce, technology, public spaces, and daily life intersect, we create a place where different expressions, regions, companies, and viewers can meet.

We are accepting applications for original art works. There are no restrictions on the year of creation, method of expression, or genre. We accept diverse expressions such as flat works, sculptures, photographs, films, digital works, and works displayed on portable devices.

To Applicants: From the Intersection of Shibuya to Your Next Exhibition, Residency, and Presentation

SHIBUYA AWARDS 2025-26 Nomination Exhibition / Shibuya Station East Exit Underground Plaza

SHIBUYA AWARDS is not just a call for applications that ends there.

We aim to create a cycle where works are selected, exhibited, critiqued, documented, and lead to the next presentation opportunities.

Through selection, nomination, and awards, artists are connected to various opportunities such as exhibitions in Shibuya, judging by stakeholders, interaction with general visitors, features on the official website and in publications, and awards from sponsors, special awards, and AIR awards.

This year, we are also considering online exhibitions and archives, as well as collaboration with SAPP2026, to foster pathways for works to reach not only those who view them in urban venues but also people in local communities, companies, international viewers, collectors, curators, and cultural professionals.

What is important for artists is not just receiving an award. It is about their work being seen, discussed, documented, and leading to future creation and presentation.

SHIBUYA AWARDS 2026-27 implements its public call as a platform for artists to encounter the city and society, using Shibuya as an entry point.

Previous Achievements: 398 applications, approximately 30,000 visitors. From Public Call to Urban Presentation

SHIBUYA AWARDS 2025-26 Achievement Visual / Nomination Exhibition, Related Programs, Awards Ceremony Records

The previous nomination exhibition was held at the Shibuya Station East Exit Underground Plaza, attracting approximately 30,000 visitors. It became a place where not only art enthusiasts visiting museums and galleries but also diverse people passing through Shibuya for commuting, school, shopping, and tourism had chance encounters with the artworks.

This "encountering art within daily routes" is a major characteristic of SHIBUYA AWARDS. By placing works in urban public spaces, art is made accessible not only to those highly interested in art but also to people who do not usually visit exhibitions.

In addition, last year, in addition to the nomination exhibition, we expanded to related programs, award announcements, award ceremonies, regional collaborations, and artist-in-residence (AIR) type special prizes. The award is not only a place to select works but also a place to visibly document the artists' activities for society and connect them to future presentation opportunities.

This year, we will further develop this flow and integrally design the application, judging, exhibition, documentation, regional/corporate collaboration, and online expansion.

Companies Supporting Art: Turning Corporate Locations, Technologies, and People into the Next Stage for Artists

SHIBUYA AWARDS 2025-26 Related Program / Talk Session

Corporate support for art is not just about displaying logos.

Companies have places, technologies, products, employees, and relationships with local communities that they have cultivated through their daily operations. These become important points of contact for artists to deliver their works to society.

Offices and stores become exhibition spaces, corporate materials and technologies become triggers for new creations, and encounters with employees and customers create opportunities for talk events and workshops. By purchasing and exhibiting works, they can also be preserved as cultural assets within the company.

In SHIBUYA AWARDS 2026-27, we offer multiple participation methods such as title awards, special awards, exhibition collaborations, artwork purchases, appreciation sessions for employees, artist talks, regional collaborations, and online exhibitions, allowing sponsors and partner companies to participate according to their respective objectives.

What we value is not a one-time advertising effect, but supporting artists' challenges, documenting their activities, allowing employees and customers to encounter art, and fostering relationships with the local community. The places, technologies, people, products, and relationships with the local community that companies already possess become the gateway to connecting works with society.

Value for Regions, Municipalities, and Public Facilities: Rediscovering Local Charm Through the Artist's Perspective

Many regions face challenges such as population decline, outflow of young people to urban areas, transient tourism, and the inheritance of local culture and landscapes.

Artist-in-residence (AIR) and regional collaboration exhibitions are initiatives where artists stay in a region, walk around the town, meet people, and experience history and daily life while creating and presenting their works.

By collaborating with SHIBUYA AWARDS, regions can encounter artists selected through the public call art award. Artists re-examine the region's nature, history, industry, and people's lives from their own perspectives and express them as new attractions through their works and exhibitions.

The results can be disseminated through exhibitions, articles, social media, online exhibitions, etc., providing an opportunity to convey the region's charm both internally and externally.

SHIBUYA AWARDS creates a sustainable system that does not overly burden the region, while valuing the number of participants, residency period, local events, residents' lives, and consideration for local collaborators.

For artists, it creates encounters and opportunities for creation that cannot be obtained solely through urban exhibitions. For the region, it provides an opportunity to re-examine their town with a new perspective. For companies and organizations, it serves as a practical field for contributing to the region and supporting artists simultaneously.

Precedent Case: Collaboration between ABIKO A-LIFE Award and Shirakaba Art Festival ABIKO

Record of Residency Production (Photo by Shoichi Nakamura) / SHIBUYA AWARDS Winner Miho Sato, Konan Land Co., Ltd. Yoichi Nakazawa

Last year, as a special award for regional collaboration, we implemented the "ABIKO A-LIFE Award" based in Abiko City, Chiba Prefecture. This award was developed in collaboration with Yoichi Nakazawa of Konan Land Co., Ltd., who is involved in regional development in Abiko. It was implemented as an initiative to connect the activities of artists selected in SHIBUYA AWARDS not only in Shibuya but also to the cultural resources, people, places, and art festival of the Abiko region.

In the ABIKO A-LIFE Award, the winning works were exhibited at the Shirakaba Art Festival ABIKO, creating opportunities for awarded artists, their works, and regional viewers to meet through artist talks and other events. Awarded artists were also invited to Abiko for residency production and archiving of their regional activities. By artists visiting the region, meeting people, observing places, and forming relationships through creation and dialogue, it became an initiative that left new perspectives and memories in the region, not just opportunities for presenting their works.

This case exemplifies the cultural support model that SHIBUYA AWARDS aims for. That is, the award selects artists, companies and regions create subsequent activity spaces, document the relationships between works and people, and connect them to future presentations and exchanges.

For artists, their activities expand beyond the city after receiving an award. For the region, local resources and living culture are re-examined from new angles through external artists. For companies, it allows them to demonstrate their region-based cultural support to society with concrete results and documentation.

Based on the achievements of the ABIKO A-LIFE Award, SHIBUYA AWARDS 2026-27 will further expand the design of special awards that foster artist presentation opportunities in collaboration with companies, organizations, and regions.

A-LIFE Award Exhibition

Exhibition view of ABIKO A-LIFE Award / Konan Land Co., Ltd.

Shirakaba Art Festival ABIKO 1

5,000 visitors in one day / Shirakaba Art Festival Abiko Station Square Special Venue

Open Studio

Production scene of artist residency in Abiko City / Kaoru Shibuta

Shirakaba Art Festival ABIKO 2

25,000 people visited Abiko during the period / Shirakaba Art Festival Talk Event

AIR Award & Special Awards: A System to Increase Artists' "Next Places"

In SHIBUYA AWARDS 2026-27, we are co-creating AIR awards and special awards in collaboration with regional bases, cultural facilities, companies, and organizations nationwide to expand the opportunities for awarded and selected artists.

The AIR award serves as a prize that provides artists with opportunities for residency production, research, exhibition, exchange, and documentation/dissemination.

For regions, it is an opportunity for external artists to experience local resources and living culture and discover new perspectives and values. For companies, it can be undertaken as cultural support, regional contribution, and a way to create cultural touchpoints with employees and customers.

SHIBUYA AWARDS does not stop at "discovering artists." We are fostering a system that connects them to presentation, residency, exchange, documentation, sales, and international introduction.

A characteristic of SHIBUYA AWARDS is the ability for regions and companies to co-create unique title awards and special awards by utilizing their respective cultural assets, places, people, technologies, and histories.

For example, there are diverse ways to increase artists' "next places," such as awards for residency production in a region, awards for creating works using corporate materials or technologies, awards leading to exhibitions in facilities or stores, awards for workshops with employees or local residents, and awards leading to artwork purchases or collections.

Gekkoso AIR Award: Connecting Historical Cultural Assets with Contemporary Artist Support

Gekkoso AIR Award / Residency production and presentation opportunities planned based at Gekkoso Falbe

As a specific initiative for AIR awards and special awards, this year we are preparing the "Gekkoso AIR Award / Gekkoso AIR Prize" in collaboration with Gekkoso.

Gekkoso Co., Ltd. (Ginza, Chuo-ku) is a paint and art supply store founded in 1917, with a long cultural history of manufacturing art supplies and supporting artists.

The Gekkoso AIR Award is a special award that creates opportunities for awarded artists to proceed with residency production, outcome exhibitions, open studios, and documentation/dissemination, based at Gekkoso Falbe (Miyoshi Town, Saitama Prefecture).

With the aim of discovering and supporting young artists, promoting the appeal of art supplies, fostering exchange between the region and participants, and creating opportunities for collaboration with external organizations, we will open up artists' activities to society, including not only the completed works but also the production process, dialogues during residency, engagement with materials, and interactions with viewers.

Selection will primarily consider artists and works that use oil paints, based on the purpose of Gekkoso AIR. Specific implementation details, residency periods, outcome presentation formats, and support scope will be announced sequentially after confirmation with Gekkoso and SHIBUYA AWARDS.

SHIBUYA AWARDS connects such historical cultural assets with contemporary artist support, expanding opportunities for artists to create, present, and leave records in new places.

Collaboration with SAPP2026: Expanding to Shibuya's Urban Spaces, Public Programs, and Online Exhibitions

Planned expansion to Shibuya's urban spaces, public programs, and online exhibitions through collaboration with SAPP2026

From autumn onwards, in collaboration with "SHIBUYA ART PUBLIC PLATFORM 2026 (SAPP2026)・ARTE TOKYO Partner Program," an urban art program based on SHIBUYA AWARDS, we plan to sequentially develop presentation opportunities connecting Shibuya's public spaces, cultural facilities, commercial facilities, online exhibitions, and collaborative programs.

SAPP2026 serves as a platform to connect artists and works discovered through the award with viewers, companies, regions, and online audiences within the city.

We design the entire process from public call, judging, exhibition, documentation, sales, to international introduction as a single flow, creating a cultural circuit that opens from Shibuya to Tokyo, nationwide, and overseas.

Online exhibitions are not merely about displaying images of artworks. They serve as gateways for works to reach across time and space, including exhibition records, artist profiles, artwork information, critiques, purchase consultations, English introductions, and connections to international archives.

By designing both the experience of encountering works by chance in urban public spaces and the experience of deeply understanding works online, SHIBUYA AWARDS opens up the energy of Shibuya as a city to a wider audience and stakeholders.

Call for Diverse Expressions: From Flat Works, Sculptures, Photography, Film, Digital, to Installations

Grand Prize / Maruki Ono ABIKO A-LIFE Award / Kaoru Shibuta Komatsu Takahiro Award / Naoyuki Sakai Tomio Koyama Prize / Hayasuke Okano Nomination / PieniSieni Selected / Soma Tsuchida

SHIBUYA AWARDS 2026-27 broadly seeks original art works.

There are no restrictions on the year of creation, method of expression, or genre. We accept diverse expressions such as painting, sculpture, photography, film, digital art, installations, and works displayed on portable devices.

Urban, social, physical, memory, nature, technology, daily life, region, history, future. The themes, materials, and methods handled by the works do not need to be limited to one.

We look forward to seeing how each artist responds to this year's theme "CROSSING|交差" from their own perspective, and how expressions for the next era will emerge from the intersection of Shibuya.

Application Overview

Name:

SHIBUYA AWARDS 2026-27

Theme:

CROSSING|交差

Application Period:

June 8, 2026 (Mon) to July 31, 2026 (Fri)

Application Content:

Original art works. No restrictions on year of creation, method of expression, or genre.

*Please check the official application guidelines for details.

Application Fee:

General: ¥9,900 for up to 2 works

Student: ¥6,600 for up to 2 works

Additional works: ¥3,300 per work

Maximum of 3 additional works, up to 5 works per person or group.

Awards:

Grand Prize (¥300,000 cash prize), judges' awards, sponsor awards, AIR awards, and special awards in collaboration with regions and companies are planned.

Application Page:

https://shibuyaawards.com/OPEN-CALL/

*Details of each project, venues, dates, and collaborators will be announced on the official website as they are confirmed.

Selected Works Selected Works Selected Works Selected Works

Selected Works Selected Works Selected Works Selected Works

Main Schedule Going Forward

June 8, 2026: SHIBUYA AWARDS 2026-27 Call for Entries Begins

July 31, 2026: Application Deadline

Mid-August 2026: Announcement of Selected Entries

Mid-September 2026: Announcement of Nominees

From Autumn 2026: Exhibition, Online Projects, and Collaborative Programs in conjunction with SAPP2026 to be sequentially rolled out

2027: Awards Ceremony, Touring/Collaborative Projects, Outcome Reports, etc. planned

Record of SHIBUYA AWARDS 2025-26 Awards Ceremony / Mayor Ken Hasebe (Co-hosted by Shibuya Ward)

Representative's Comment

SHIBUYA AWARDS is not just an award for selecting works; we want it to be an entry point for artists to encounter the city and society.

Shibuya is a town where various people and cultures continuously intersect. Under this year's theme "CROSSING|交差," we will create a space where undiscovered expressions meet viewers, regions, companies, and future presentation opportunities.

For companies and regions, supporting art goes beyond simply exhibiting works. By supporting artists' time, places, challenges, and presentation opportunities, their own cultural stance is also communicated to society.

As seen in the ABIKO A-LIFE Award and Gekkoso AIR Award, connecting awarded artists with regions and cultural assets, leading to exhibitions, dialogues, residency production, and documentation, greatly expands the possibilities of the award.

SHIBUYA AWARDS aims to open up art not just within specialized fields but into the public sphere of the city and people's daily lives.

We look forward to meeting artists, regions, companies, and organizations who will participate in this endeavor.

SHIBUYA AWARDS General Incorporated Association Representative Director, Kenji YONEDA

Inquiries Regarding Media Coverage, Sponsorship, and Collaboration

We are accepting inquiries regarding media coverage, sponsorship, co-creation of special awards/AIR awards, regional collaborations, corporate collaborations, artwork exhibition/purchase consultations, online exhibitions, and more.

Examples of potential collaborations:

・Title awards and special awards linked to corporate CSR, cultural support, anniversary projects, and regional contributions

・Exhibition collaborations in offices, commercial facilities, hotels, restaurants, public spaces, etc.

・AIR awards and residency programs in collaboration with regions, municipalities, and cultural facilities

・Artwork purchases, exhibitions, and talk events for awarded and selected artists

・Appreciation sessions, workshops, and artist talks for employees

・Themed awards utilizing corporate materials, technologies, products, and brand philosophy

・Exhibitions and public productions utilizing regional bases, stores, factories, and showrooms

・Online exhibitions, international dissemination, and creation of English articles/archives

We welcome consultations not only from artists applying but also from those who wish to foster regional and corporate value through arts and culture.

About SHIBUYA AWARDS General Incorporated Association

SHIBUYA AWARDS General Incorporated Association is a cultural and artistic organization based in Shibuya that conducts art awards, exhibitions, public space installations, regional collaborations, and online initiatives.

We aim to form a cultural platform that integrally supports artists from discovery to presentation, documentation, and social connection.

Official Website:

https://shibuyaawards.com/

OPEN CALL:

https://shibuyaawards.com/OPEN-CALL/

Contact:

SHIBUYA AWARDS General Incorporated Association Secretariat

E-mail: [email protected]