Galleries behind two major juried events have urged artists not to be put off by their close scheduling.

The Bermuda National Gallery is to hold its Bacardi Biennial in April. The Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art has organised the Charman Prize, a new competition where the top artist is awarded $10,000, for March. Both are internationally juried exhibits of contemporary work, open to artists resident in Bermuda and Bermudians living overseas.

The galleries issued a statement to the press yesterday, urging artists to view the two events as "an opportunity, not a conflict". "There have been concerns expressed within the local arts community that the scheduling of the Bacardi Biennial and the Charman Prize presents a conflict," said BNG director Laura Gorham and Masterworks' founder and director Tom Butterfield in a joint statement.

"The Bermuda National Gallery and the Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art wish to emphasise that as far as our respective museums are concerned there is no conflict between the events. Both are juried shows but local and resident artists do not have to choose one or the other - in fact we encourage them to enter both. Work entered in the Biennial may also be submitted for the Charman prize and selection in one show will not preclude selection for the other. It is our opinion that the more juried shows there are in Bermuda can only be of benefit to local artists. Further, the BNG and Masterworks look forward to working closely together in the future, and have discussed a number of joint programming concepts."

The Charman Prize runs from March 1 through 25. The Biennial opens April 25.

The BNG Biennial was first held in 1994. Entries closed on December 10.

The Charman Prize was announced earlier this month. Selected entries will be shown in the Rick Faries Gallery at Masterworks. The $10,000 prize is to be donated by John Charman, CEO and president of Axis Capital Holdings Ltd.