by Steven Tagle
Four Graduate and Post-Graduate Fellowships for Creatives
Applying for grants and fellowships is an important and sustaining part of many artists’ practice. Besides the recognition these competitive, highly sought-after awards bestow, they provide significant time and money so that creators such as writers, musicians, composers, visual artists, filmmakers, and photographers can pursue long-term projects and develop their craft without worrying about making ends meet.
In this post, we’ll discuss four graduate and post-graduate fellowships for artists. Although some do not solely target creatives, they nonetheless welcome and support them. These fellowships can provide you with funding for your graduate school studies or offer a year or two of stable funding for your work or research after graduate school. So if you’re applying to or currently enrolled in a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program, it’s good to have these opportunities on your radar. It never hurts to apply, and they could change your life!
1. Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans
The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans provides merit-based graduate school funding for immigrants and the children of immigrants who are poised to make significant contributions to U.S. culture, society, and academia. Each fellow receives up to $90,000 in financial support over two years. Daisy Soros is a big supporter of the arts, and every year, the 30-person Soros class includes a handful of writers, photographers, musicians, and filmmakers.
Here’s a personal story about the difference a Soros Fellowship can make. I applied for the fellowship at the same time that I applied to MFA programs in creative writing. Although I was overjoyed to be named a Soros Fellow, my anxiety mounted as I was rejected from one MFA program after another. By April, I’d received rejections from all 12 top-tier writing programs that I’d applied to. A mentor advised me to call the programs that had rejected me to inform them about my Soros funding and ask whether they’d be willing to take a second look at my application. Thanks to the fellowship and my last-minute calls, the University of Massachusetts, one of my top choices, reconsidered my application and ultimately admitted me to its program.
Read tips about how to tackle the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship application essays.
2. Fulbright U.S. Student Program Fellowship in Creative and Performing Arts
Fulbright is the United States’ premier international exchange program, and the U.S. Student Program funds American citizens to study, conduct research, or teach English abroad for nine to 12 months.
But few realize that you can apply for a U.S. Student Program fellowship in a variety of creative and performing arts fields, including architecture, creative writing, jazz performance, world music, dance, animation, filmmaking, drawing, painting, and photography. The glass sculptor Dale Chihuly, the Grammy-award-winning soprano Renée Fleming, and the Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Julia Wolfe are just a few famous Fulbrighters in the arts.
Fulbright arts candidates must submit a portfolio of materials as part of their application. Their applications are reviewed by a discipline-specific screening committee in the United States that is “comprised of faculty within the selected artistic field of study.” Only candidates who clear these U.S. committees advance to the committee for their proposed country.
I applied for a Fulbright in creative writing in my final year of grad school, and it literally changed my life and the direction of my work, leading me to spend eight years in Greece, traveling the country and learning about its mythology, history, and culture.
3. Fine Arts Work Center Fellowship
Each year, 20 emerging visual artists, fiction writers, and poets receive seven-month residencies at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The fellows each receive an apartment, a studio (for visual artists), and a monthly stipend. Residencies run from October 1 through April 30, allowing fellows to pursue their work independently in a diverse and supportive community.
Since 1968, the center has hosted more than 1,000 fellows. Alumni have gone on to win notable awards, including Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellowships, Pulitzer Prizes, and the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Applications include a work sample and artist statement; they are due in early February.
4. Artist Residencies
In addition to the fellowships listed thus far, artist residencies gift creatives with time and space to work, usually for shorter periods of time, generally ranging from two weeks to two months. MacDowell, Yaddo, , the Vermont Studio Center, and the Virginia Center for Creative Arts are just a few of the most well-known multidisciplinary artist residencies in the United States, but there are many others, depending on your discipline, and even more abroad.
Applications usually include a work sample and artist statement; deadlines vary.
I encourage you to do your own research, ask peers and mentors which fellowships and residencies they recommend, and keep a spreadsheet of opportunities you’d like to explore, either now or in the future. I created a spreadsheet of writing fellowships during grad school, and I still revisit it, adding opportunities, checking deadlines, and deciding which to apply to in the upcoming year. The more frequently you apply, the better your chances of success!
Steven Tagle has 20 years of experience teaching and mentoring students and has expertise in crafting standout personal statements and statements of purpose. Steven is eager to share his know-how to help applicants achieve their dream acceptances. Want Steven to help you get accepted? Click here to get in touch.
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