Guide to the Best Artist Grants and Opportunities in 2024 (2025)

Once we receive and review the applications, the top 77 applicants will be designated “finalists” and will be asked to appear for virtual interviews in late January and early February of 2025. 30 of the the 77 finalists will be selected as Fellows and will be notified in March of 2025. The 2025 Fellows will be announced publicly in April of 2025 and they will begin to receive stipend and tuition support from the program in the fall of 2025, and they will also attend the Fellowship’s Fall Conference, all expenses paid, that October.

The Artadia Awards provide financial support, exposure and recognition to artists. The awards are unrestricted, allowing artists to use the funds in any way they choose.

Each year, an open-call application is made available in each of the seven active partner cities. Supporting artists equitably is a critical part of the Artadia Award process: we consider the unique populations of each community and are proud to reflect our country’s diversity with an Awardee pool that is over 50 percent female and over 40 percent persons of color.

In addition to financial support, Awardees can participate in the Artadia Network to receive structured opportunities for valuable new connections and resource sharing as well as receive a dedicated webpage on Artadia’s online Artist Registry. Connections fostered by Artadia have facilitated major steps in Awardees’ careers, such as inclusion in prominent exhibitions (e.g. five Awardees were featured in the 2017 Whitney Biennial, and six in 2019).

The A.I.R. Fellowship Program has awarded more than 120 artists the opportunity to have their first solo exhibition in New York City with the support of the A.I.R. community. The program encourages artistic experimentation and rigor by providing a space where feminist historical legacy and intergenerational dialogue are at the forefront. Essential to this process are a series of professional development workshops, close collaboration with an A.I.R. artist-mentor, and scheduled studio visits throughout the year, including one with a selection panelist.

Artistic Production grants fund the production and exhibition of new artistic commissions, in amounts ranging between $25,000 – $100,000. Often exhibited beyond museum walls in public space, these projects feature high levels of thought leadership, artistic production, and public engagement. VIA Art Fund accepts Letters of Inquiry (LOIs) on a semiannual basis for our Fall and Spring award cycles.

Artistic Production Grant: Spring 2025 Award Cycle
Letter of inquiry deadline November 4, 2024
Invitation to submit full application* December 9, 2024
Full application deadline for invited applicants January 16, 2025
Grant award notification April 2025
Projects must start after May 2025
*By invitation only

The Stanley Bleifeld Memorial Grant is a prize of $5,000 sponsored by the National Sculpture Society.

It is awarded annually to a sculptor who has demonstrated outstanding ability as a sculptor and who has created a body of work inspired by nature which includes works of sculpture in the round and in bas-relief.

The Bleifeld Grant is for a mature body of work; sculpture created in workshop or instructional settings should not be submitted. Applicants cannot be elected members of the National Sculpture Society. All applicants must be citizens of or residents in the United States with a social security number.

The jury will consist of three persons, including at least two sculptors. The grant will be awarded in June 2025.

Founded on the belief that Minnesota thrives when its artists and culture bearers thrive, the McKnight Foundation’s arts and culture program is one of the oldest and largest of its kind in the country. Support for individual working Minnesota artists and culture bearers has been a cornerstone of the program since it began in 1982. The McKnight Artist & Culture Bearer Fellowships Program provides annual, unrestricted cash awards to outstanding mid-career Minnesota artists in 15 different creative disciplines. Program partner organizations administer the fellowships and structure them to respond to the unique challenges of different disciplines. Currently, the foundation contributes about $2.8 million per year to its statewide fellowships. For more information, visit mcknight.org/artistfellowships.

Cycle 27:

For emergencies occurring April 1, 2024 and later.

Applications Open: Tuesday, October 29 at 10:00 AM ET
Applications Close: Tuesday, November 26 at 5:00 PM ET
Applicants Notified: January 10, 2024

This program provides one-time grants of up to $5,000 for recent unexpected medical, dental, and mental health emergencies to artists in financial need* who are creating in the visual arts, film/video/electronic/digital arts, and choreography. Only generative artists are eligible—artists creating their own, independent work, with recent and ongoing opportunities for the public to experience that work.
*To be eligible to apply, your average adjusted gross income for the last two years you’ve filed tax returns must be no greater than $75,000 ($150,000 for joint filers).

At TOTO BANANA, we encourage Erotic Photography with a grant of $ 2,000 USD biannually, with an easy application process on our website.

Erotic photography, to us, is one of the most important category of photography. This is why we set out to create this grant. We want to know what is erotic for YOU!
We believe a good photo is one that transcends mere visual arousal, is one that pacifies, that makes one delve into a sense of almost inexplicable beauty, gaze and charm.
Doesn’t have to be complex or complicated, a photo can be very simple, very basic, and still give out the aura we are looking for.
Photos can be full nude, part nude, in action, self-portrait, intimacy, whatever, however. Also, eroticism can be found in other things that you see on the daily, for example, a tree or a peach could just as powerfully evoke eroticism.

We warmly welcome individuals of all genders, identities, backgrounds, countries and seek to foster a diverse and vibrant community. Our criteria are simple: applicants must be adults, aged 18 years or older.

Next deadline:15 December 2024

Grant: $ 2,000 USD, twice a year (two cycles of contest: Spring & Fall) + publication on our website

Application fee: $ 25 USD

Apply on our website: www.totobanana.org

ARTNOIR is excited to announce our microgrant initiative, The Jar of Love Fund, is currently accepting applications once again. The Jar of Love Fund is intended to provide relief for artists, curators, and cultural producers of color. The Jar of Love Fund has distributed over $100,000 USD and first launched in 2020 in response to the unprecedented times of uncertainty, unrest, and the subsequent adverse impact on our community.

For the past decade, ARTNOIR has worked tirelessly to be an agent of social change catalyzing equity across the arts and culture industries. As an organization based on the foundation of community first, we want to do our part to provide love and care for artists, curators and cultural producers of color when they need it most. The unrestricted grant is designed to help remove some of the burden of thought and free up mental and spiritual capacity to continue creating and collaborating in strength. The arts and culture are the bedrock of any society. These are spaces that invite us to think critically and engage in rigorous discourse around the tough challenges we face as a community. As we reflect on the decade worth of work we have done as an organization, it is imperative that we utilize our network and resources to ensure that creatives have the capacity to create and be the spark of joy we need in our lives.

We are committed to ensuring that artists, curators and cultural producers of all gender expressions, sexual orientation, disability status, and socioeconomic class have access to the fund and will actively work to ensure outreach is targeted to groups otherwise excluded from resources of this nature. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis as funds become available. Microgrant amounts are determined on a case-by-case basis depending on the scale of the project.

THE POP CULTURE COLLABORATIVE’S VISION AND PURPOSE
Throughout America’s history, the most transformative cultural shifts—from slavery abolition to Reconstruction, “I Have A Dream” to “Yes We Can,” #BlackLivesMatter, the DREAM-ers, and Love Is Love—have been achieved by movements and leaders who have awakened people’s deep yearning to belong in a pluralist America. In each case, the tug-of-war between belonging and exclusion sparked a portal moment—a cracking open of the public imagination about what this nation is capable of becoming.

We believe our nation is on the precipice of another historic breakthrough: a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the American people to decisively choose to move in the direction of pluralism and justice. How will we respond to this call for transformation? Will we submit to authoritarian narratives that entice us to retreat back into the systems of exclusion and violence that stain our past, or will we step boldly through the portal and onto the path towards our pluralist future?

Americans have the opportunity to ask: What society do we yearn to create and who can we empower to lead the way? If, as civil rights scholar Vincent Harding once said, America is “a country that has yet to be born,” the pop culture for social change field can help prepare and guide millions of people through this process of becoming something new by clearing away the detritus of our nation’s past, replacing fetid, crumbling ideas and norms with ones rooted in justice, care, and connection.

Together, artists, organizers, strategists, and researchers can create the stories that help the American public understand and interpret the choices we face through the lens of our shared commitment to becoming a pluralist nation.

Over the long-term, the Collaborative is working to support the growth of a pop culture for social change field capable of building the yearning in most Americans (more than 150 million people) to actively co-create a just and pluralist society in which everyone is perceived to belong, inherently, and is treated as such. The Pop Culture Collaborative defines a pluralist society as a culture in which the majority of people in a community and nation are engaged in the hard and delicate work of belonging together in a just and equitable society.

GRANT ELIGIBILITY
Individuals/organizations with fiscal sponsorships as well as nonprofits and for-profits in the United States are eligible for Pop Culture Collaborative grants.

To be considered, proposals must engage, affect, center, and/or support at least one or all of our multi-community focus areas: people of color, immigrants, refugees, Indigenous peoples, and/or Muslims, particularly those who are women, queer, transgender, and/or disabled. Initiatives with an intersectional and intentional focus on gender justice, LGBTQIA rights, disability, democratic fairness, pluralist values, and economic justice are highly prioritized. The Collaborative seeks grantee partners working at the intersection of pop culture and social change who:

Are artists, activists, organizations, strategists, researchers, and/or others who identify culture change as a clear outcome of their work and pop culture strategies as a critical aspect of their culture change efforts.
The Pop Culture Collaborative provides grants to artists and organizations or companies that support artist cohorts, from various disciplines, locations, and industries to bring their artistic vision to mass audiences, while also contributing to field-wide efforts to build public yearning for a pluralist America.

We seek to create a large, networked community of artists who believe that their creative work and leadership have the power to inspire millions of Americans to actively co-create a pluralist society.

Areas of interest include:

Supporting artists and cultural organizations to conceptualize, develop, and produce creative works that can help build public yearning for pluralist culture in America.
Supporting artists to gather for shared learning, networking, community-knitting, and power-building, especially spaces that bring artists into direct and meaningful connection with frontline activists and culture change strategists.
Helping artists and organizations develop the methodology, networks, infrastructure, pipelines, and leadership skills needed to redistribute access and power in their respective industries to historically excluded communities.

The Pop Culture Collaborative accepts proposals by invitation only. However, we have created a simple process for potential grantees to self-evaluate whether they are a match with the Collaborative’s goals and guidelines, and if so, to submit an idea for our consideration. It is important to note that an idea submission is not a proposal. The Collaborative will respond only to idea submissions that the staff team has reviewed and deem a potential match.

The Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Emergency Grant program is intended to provide interim financial assistance to qualified painters, printmakers, and sculptors whose needs are the result of an unforeseen, catastrophic incident, and who lack the resources to meet that situation. Each grant is given as one-time assistance for a specific emergency, examples of which are fire, flood, or emergency medical need.

DEADLINE IS ONGOING

We established the Community Fund to provide support to professional creators during times of extraordinary hardship.

This year, we have witnessed the unprovoked, violent attacks on Ukraine and the tragic loss of innocent lives. As we see continue to see this tragedy unfold, we believe we have a responsibility to support professional creators during the growing humanitarian crisis and refugee situation in the region. We will now be focusing our Community Fund efforts on providing support to those creators who have been directly impacted by the unjustified invasion of Ukraine.

If selected, you will receive US$10,000 from the Adobe Creative Residency Community Fund. While applicants can use the money granted to them by the Community Fund at their full and lawful discretion, the purpose of the award is to allow recipients impacted by the invasion of Ukraine to support themselves and their families during this time of conflict. See the full list of qualification criteria here. https://www.adobe.com/about-adobe/creative-residency/community-fund.html

ABOUT THE FELLOWSHIP

Our mission is to champion a contemporary approach to metal casting. It’s a mindset we share with the artists & designers we work with - having the courage to ignore, bend and push the rules associated with our craft.

We’re aware that for many artists, a major barrier to working in bronze is the access & cost of the process. In response, we created the London Bronze Fellowship - an opportunity for you to pitch a new work to us, which we will then share with potential sponsors who will select & jointly fund the fellowship with LBE.

When a sponsor (Gallery / Collector / Corporate) selects an artwork, the fellowship will be scheduled in, giving the artist access to the Foundry to learn from the production. A limited Edition of 3 artworks will be made, one free copy for the Artist, one for the Sponsor & one for London Bronze Editions.

We’re open to hearing ambitious, experimental & creative ideas. It can be made using traditional or digital processes, where the work is ready to be cast, or needs development through 3D modelling.

Key information

Open to all UK-based artists, designers & creatives at any stage of their career.

There is no application fee. There will be no cost to the selected artist for production of the work.

You do not need any prior experience with bronze casting to apply.

The proposed artwork must have maximum dimensions of around 40cm H x 40cm W x 40cm D (Height, Width, Depth).

The work must not have been made in bronze before.

3 castings will be made: one for the artist, one for London Bronze Editions & one for the London Bronze Fellowship Sponsor.

The editions will be made by the technicians at London Bronze Casting. The Fellow will be given 20 hours dedicated workshop time to join the foundry staff during the making process to learn & assist in the casting process.

This can take place in-person, remotely or a combination of both.

Copyright remains with the artist.

You are able to submit 2 proposals per application. However, If you submit more than one application, only your most recent one will be considered.

What is National Lottery Project Grants?
Project Grants can support individual practitioners, communities and cultural organisations
with projects that focus on:
Combined Arts including festivals and carnivals
Dance
Libraries
Literature
Museums
Music
Theatre
or Visual Arts

When we say ‘project’, we mean a series of activities or a piece of work. Your project will
have a start and an end date, and a set of measurable aims that you’d like to achieve in
that time.
Before you apply to Project Grants you should read our ten year plan called Let’s Create.
Our plan is made up of 3 Outcomes and 4 Investment Principles.
Outcomes are what we want our plan to do.
Investment Principles are what we believe in. We think about our principles before we
give money to people or organisations.

Our 3 Outcomes are:
• We want creative people
• We want cultural communities
• We want a creative and cultural country
Our 4 Investment Principles are:
• We believe in ambition and quality
• We believe in being flexible, we call this dynamism
• We believe in being environmentally friendly
• We believe in being inclusive and relevant

Max’s Emergency Relief & Resource Fund is a one-time grant of between $500 and $1000 to assist self-employed artists who have a steady work history, but who are experiencing a temporary financial set back. MKCP assistance is designed to resolve this short term crisis, whatever it may be, and the applicant will again gain employment in the near future. Individuals seeking assistance must be residents of New York State. Exceptions are made in some cases if applicant was affiliated with Max’s Kansas City. Applicants whose arrears are so serious that assistance will not allow them relief from their difficulties are not eligible for assistance. Please be specific as to what bill the grant is needed for. Grants of financial assistance do not go to the applicant. Payment goes directly to creditor/third party. Please note, although MKCP Emergency Grant does cover medical bills, it does not cover psychotherapy costs unless the psychotherapist is an MD. MKCP only covers housing, medical and legal aid. The application and support materials must be sent by snail mail!

Created in 1993 to further FCA's mission to encourage, sponsor, and promote work of a contemporary, experimental nature, Emergency Grants provide urgent funding for visual and performing artists who:

-Have sudden, unanticipated opportunities to present their work to the public when there is insufficient time to seek other sources of funding

-Incur unexpected or unbudgeted expenses for projects close to completion with committed exhibition or performance dates. Our mission is to support experimental artistic practices.

Emergency Grants is the only active, multi-disciplinary program that offers immediate, project-based assistance of this kind to artists living and working anywhere in the United States, for projects occurring in the U.S. and abroad.

Cultural sector workers based in Greater Austin facing verifiable and immediate housing, food or healthcare insecurity (including travel, lodging and procedure expenses related to reproductive care) may apply for up to $1000 in unrestricted funds. The funding pool is limited, so applicants are asked to carefully consider the amount they request. Applications are reviewed on an ongoing basis, and are subject to verification and available funds. A short phone interview may be required. Priority will be given to ACA members. Repayment is not required, but artists who receive funding may be asked to support the ACA Community in the future.

DEADLINE IS ONGOING

The Black Artists Grant (BAG) offered by Creative Debuts as a no-strings attached financial support to help black artists. They can spend the grant on whatever they want – be that make new work, buy equipment or materials, travel, research, visit exhibitions or conferences, or to even just cover some life expenses.

This grant has been set up because black artists are systematically under-supported by the art world; by institutions, curators, the artist-led scene, major and minor funding bodies, the market, art schools, and by audiences too.

The Foundation provides financial resources for visual artists to create new work, acquire supplies, rent studio space, prepare for exhibitions, attend a residency and offset living expenses.
The Foundation welcomes, throughout the year, applications from visual artists who are painters, sculptors and artists who work on paper, including printmakers. There are no deadlines. Grants are intended for a one-year period of time. The size of the grant is determined by the individual circumstances of the artist. Professional exhibition history will be taken into consideration. Artists must be actively exhibiting their current work in professional artistic venues, such as gallery and museum spaces.
Ongoing application.

"This monthly initiative was launched to give all emerging artists around the world even more chances to win cash, publication and more!

Every month we will choose 3 artists to win $100 cash, a published interview with our Art Director & Founder Chantal Boynes, a winner’s certificate and a feature in our Newsletter going out to almost 40,000 artists, gallerists and art lovers. Each month artists will submit to a theme with all artists practicing 2D & 3D mediums welcome to apply.

The Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF+) emergency relief grant focuses on artists working in craft or materials-based folk/traditional disciplines that are 18 years or older and have resided and worked in the U.S. or U.S. territories for the past 2 years. These artists must have experienced a recent, unforeseen, career threatening emergency. Emergency Relief is available year-round.
The Get Ready Grant program provides individual craft artists grants up to $500 to conduct activities that will help safeguard their studios, protect their careers and prepare for emergencies. Artists are encouraged to use the Risk Assessment activity to generate ideas. Priority will be given to applications from people who identify in the global majority or as Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC)* and folk and traditional artists. Get Ready Grants are available multiple times a year. Check the website for deadlines.

The Awesome Foundation is an ever-growing worldwide community devoted to forwarding the interest of awesome in the universe. Created in the long hot summer days of 2009 in Boston, the Foundation distributes $1,000 grants, no strings attached, to projects and their creators. At each fully autonomous chapter, the money is pooled together from the coffers of ten or so self-organizing “micro-trustees” and given up front in cash, check, or gold doubloons.