Art at What If

Building our temporary community is an expansive experience, and one that appreciates the hard work and vision that artists contribute. What If is an event that supports and celebrates art in our community. From the most simple line drawings to the most complex multidimensional interactive sculptural pieces, we encourage you to bring and share your work.

Have questions?
Curation Producers for general Curation questions: [email protected]
Placement questions: [email protected]
Grants Committee questions: gvias.org/art-grants-committee

How Can Artists Contribute?
How Am I Supported?
How Can I Apply?

Updates for What If 2026 are being made as information becomes available.

How Can Artists Contribute?

One of the main ways to contribute to What If is by bringing your art, whether it’s a sculpture, an interactive installation, or any other creative idea you can dream up.

Your contribution, no matter how big or small, will enrich the collective tapestry of the event. The goal of What If is to support your beautiful, interactive, or interesting ideas, which is why we bring together a community of experts and doers who can provide on-the-ground and financial support to help bring your vision to life.

How Am I Supported?

Grants

To help support your build, the GVIAS Art Grant Committee generously donates tens of thousands of dollars a year to participants.

They offer art grants to placed art, transportation, and artistic elements located in theme and sound camps.

Placement

For medium to larger art pieces or those with safety considerations that are displayed in open areas, a placement application is required. This allows our team to provide you with support in case of unforeseen issues, ensure safety, and enhance the beauty and inclusivity of the event space.

Have questions?
Curation Producers for general Curation questions: [email protected]
Placement questions: [email protected]
Grants Committee questions: gvias.org/art-grants-committee

Apply for Grant & Placement

If you’re looking for an art grant and will probably need placement, take this route, it’s easier!

After your grant application we’ll redirect you back to the What If placement form (for you to complete) but with all common information copied over.

Grants & Placement

Grants Committee questions: gvias.org/art-grants-committee

Apply for Art Placement Only

Don’t need a grant?
Or already applied for one and for some reason you’re back here?

Great, this path is for people who just need placement of their art at the event!

The deadline for art placement with Steward Tickets is June 11th 2025, Steward Tickets are subject to availability any later than that.

Deadline for placement is TBD for 2026.

Art Project Placement Only LINK TO COME WHEN OPEN

Placement questions: [email protected]

Art Placement FAQs

The art placement application allows multiple team leads to view and share all the important information about your project in order to give it the best placement possible.

YES!

If you filled out an art grant application, you should have been offered an opportunity to fill out a placement form after completion. If you haven’t, please fill out a placement form ASAP, otherwise you may not be able to bring your art to the event.

YES! Each project is different and will be placed according to things like size, sound, and interactivity.

When you submit the form, there should be a message confirming that it went through. Within a few days you should receive an email from the art placement leads thanking you for your submission and giving you further information about the process.

If you do not receive confirmation and/or an email, please contact us at [email protected]

The number of tickets each project receives will depend on the number of projects and the number of people in each project. Although we try to fulfill everyone’s needs, we cannot guarantee that you will get all the Steward Tickets that you asked for.

A good portion of tickets for What If go to those that are volunteering and/or participating in the event. Each pod (volunteers, art, theme camps etc.) receives a certain number of Steward Tickets.

ALL WHAT IF ATTENDEES ARE EXPECTED TO PAY FOR THEIR TICKETS!

If you do not claim your Steward Tickets by the cut off date, they will go into the OMG last minute sale.

You can request a specific spot in the application, but so many factors go into deciding where things go, including size, sound, safety, and interactivity.

We cannot guarantee that you will receive the spot you request.

YES! Sections of the application go to other leads such as safety, sound, fire and power. We need to know who is bringing what so that we can give everyone the best placement possible! This also allows your project to appear on the site map and in the What Where When guide.