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Founded during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, Open Call India began as an Instagram page sharing opportunities for artists and has since evolved into a creative resource platform sharing grant opportunities, open calls, workshops, artist takeovers, and community networks for Indian creatives.
In July 2020, Sanah Rehman started Open Call India (OCI) as an Instagram page sharing work and funding opportunities to support a circle of artist friends amid the uncertainty of the COVID-19 lockdown, when many artists struggled with lost opportunities, cancelled exhibitions, and an increasingly precarious creative economy. Since then, Rehman has single-handedly nurtured and grown the platform into a larger resource hub connecting creatives with grants, open calls, workshops, exhibitions, and each other. Today, OCI connects people from across the art world — including curators, gallerists, academics, and practitioners.
OCI attempts to address the persistent gap in access to information which continues to plague India’s creative landscape. For many emerging artists, the right opportunities remain difficult to find, understand, or navigate. By making resources freely available, OCI aims to reduce barriers that often determine who gets visibility and support. Over the years, OCI has moved beyond simply sharing calls for submissions and funding opportunities. The platform has organised offline events focused on photobooks, screenings, and art entrepreneurship, while also hosting online workshops around practical, technical aspects of creative careers such as grant writing, portfolio reviews, and navigating legal matters like intellectual property rights and laws within the arts. One of its longest-running initiatives is the Artist Takeover, where artists get temporary access to OCI’s Instagram page, with over 30,000 followers, to share their practices, processes, and personal journeys with the community. Rehman also regularly shares free resources for creators and maintains city-based WhatsApp groups where artists can connect, collaborate, and exchange opportunities.
“The idea has always been to share practical knowledge that helps artists at every stage of their journey,” Rehman says. “Everything OCI does is about building a community that puts artists first.”
However, sustaining a platform built around accessibility and collective support has its own challenges. Rehman describes OCI as something that exists between a brand and a community space — a constantly evolving project shaped by the needs of the people who participate in it. “I don’t think of it as just a brand or just a community page. It is whatever I want it to be,” she says. “It’s an internal battle of capitalism versus community.”
Rehman hopes to bring more people into OCI’s fold in the future, allowing others to help shape and sustain the platform. Instead of imposing a rigid roadmap, she believes the initiative should grow organically. “I think like an artist sometimes,” she says. “The platform will become what it’s meant to. For now, I want to focus on bringing meaningful resources to people.”
After six years of building networks, opening conversations, and helping creatives find opportunities, OCI remains a work in progress — much like the community it serves. “The platform, like me, is a work in progress,” Rehman says. And perhaps that ongoing process is what has allowed it to remain responsive, relevant, and rooted in the sense of community Rehman sought to create in the solitude of the lockdown six years ago.
Follow @opencallindia on Instagram.
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