Are you a talented emerging artist? Have you been thinking about applying for a grant in 2021? This is the blog post you need to read! We will take a look at what are artist grants, which ones are available, how much they offer, and tips for successfully applying for grants. To help you along this process, we’ve compiled a list of grants for artists available for the period of November 2021 to January 2022 or on a rolling basis.

What are Artist Grants?

Artist grants are financial support geared towards helping artists achieve their goals and afford necessary expenses to be able to continue to create and progress in their career. These sums of money are typically awarded by individual philanthropists, corporate and nonprofit organizations, museums and universities, etc.

Grants can be limited quantities of cash or larger totals. They can be intended for explicit activities or for general tasks. For example, there are general support grants that are designed to provide financial aid for your personal desired expenses that will assist in your artistic process and there are project-specific grants which are more restricted in what you can use them for. These are more stringent than general purpose grants because upon receiving the former, you must use it to achieve a specific project related objective outlined in your application.

Grants Available for Emerging Artists in 2021

1. Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant

DEADLINE: rolling basis

The Foundation for Contemporary Arts offers an emergency grant that is designed to provide urgent funding for visual and performing artists whose work is of a contemporary, experimental nature and who have last-minute opportunities or unexpected budget shortfalls related to public presentations of their work. As an applicant, you must be currently living in the United States or U.S. territories and have a U.S. Tax ID Number (SSN, EIN, ITIN). must also have committed performance or exhibition opportunities, and be able to provide specific dates at the time of application.

Each month, they award approximately 12-15 grants ranging in amount from $500 to $3,000 USD, and the average grant is now $1,700 USD. Given the last-minute focus of this program, they advise you to apply no sooner than 8 weeks in advance of your confirmed performance or exhibition dates. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and are considered monthly by a panel of established artists.

The Emergency Grants provided by FCA are project-specific grants meaning that you may only use them for last minute expenses that are necessary for a project's completion and public presentation. In your application, you are encouraged to demonstrate why each cost is urgent and necessary for a project's completion. The Emergency Grant program is not intended to support life emergencies (food, rent, medical bills, childcare, and other basic necessities), youth or educational programming, the production of CDs, albums, or music videos, participation in residency programs, professional training, workshops, conferences, or competitions, projects with no scheduled exhibition or performance dates, or reimbursement for expenses already incurred. According to FCA, “framing is generally not considered to be an urgent need unless the framing of the work is clearly demonstrated to be an essential part of the work that will be presented.”

HOW TO APPLY: Applicants may submit through an online form linked here. You are required to submit a project budget as part of your application to FCA. They have provided examples of these budgets. FCA has included example performance and visual arts budgets that you can review as well as a blank budget form that you can use as a reference for creating your Emergency Grant application budget. They state that if you have difficulty with internet access, please call or email the Foundation for a hard-copy application. Any technical issues with the online application or questions about the grant, you can contact FCA's Program Assistant, Pooja Seshadri: grants@contemporary-arts.org grants@contemporary-arts.org.

If interested in this grant, we recommend that you review all of their eligibility guidelines and FAQs before applying. You may also complete our Eligibility Questionnaire, but please note that the questionnaire is not a substitute for a thorough review of program guidelines.

2. The Adolf & Esther Gottlieb Emergency Grant

DEADLINE: rolling basis

The Adolph & Esther Gottlieb Emergency Grant provides interim financial assistance to 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. It is important to note that this grant program is not intended as exhibition, project funding or funding of educational purposes. Funding of up to $15,000 USD provided is typically based on the needs and circumstances of the individual applicant and the Directors assess each applicant’s circumstances to to determine the amount.

HOW TO APPLY: You can access the application form here. Applications must be submitted using their online application process by the individual who is in need of assistance unless the applicant is physically incapable of completing an application. In those cases, they permit others such as close friends or relatives to submit an application on their behalf but the applicant must have participated in completing the application, and must sign or indicate that the applicant confirms the information submitted on his or her behalf.

3. The Hopper Prize

DEADLINE: 16th November 2021

The Hopper Prize is a grant-making institution and digital archiving platform offering a series of individual artist grants on a bi-annual basis totaling $22,000.00 USD. They offer grants in the amount of $3,500 and $1,000 to artists around the globe. This autumn, they are providing 6 grants: 2 valued at $3,500. and 4 valued at $1,000. Their grants are geared to supporting artists from diverse cultural backgrounds at all stages of their professional careers who work in any media.

The Hopper Prize is a merit based grant. Recipients are chosen based on the quality of their work as determined by the guest curators for that award cycle. Grant awards are unrestricted and may be used any way the recipients choose. Furthermore, grant recipients and shortlisted artists will all receive the opportunity to publish an interview to include any work of their choosing as a means of providing continued support beyond the open call. In addition tot his, a selection from the submissions will be featured on their Instagram feed and additional exposure will be available to winners through their Journal: Insights into Contemporary Art.

HOW TO APPLY: You are able to submit 10 images for $40 USD. You will be forwarded to the application page after payment. You will also receive an email confirmation with a link to the application form. To apply, click here.

4. Artist Grant

DEADLINE: 15th January 2022

Artist Grant is a charitable organization that has supported artists since 2017 by providing a modest competitive grant of $500 USD to one artist every quarter, and $100 USD each to 2nd and 3rd place recipients. There are four grant cycles per year – January 15, April 15, July 15, and October 15. The deadline for the current grant cycle is January 15, 2022. If you are interested in receiving deadline reminder notifications, you can subscribe to their mailing list. They do not require proposals or any indication of how you will use the funds. They invite visual artists aged 18 and older working in any media (painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, sculpture (of any type of material), ceramics, mixed/multiple medias, installation, and other new or alternative medias) from anywhere in the world to apply.

HOW TO APPLY: The application process is very simple.

By January 15, 2022 email the following to submit@artistgrant.org:

• A link to your website OR 3-5 digital images of your work

• A CV, resume or brief bio that includes your name

In addition, please contribute your $25 USD application fee by the deadline. This helps defray the costs of administering this grant so that they may continue to support and fund artists' important work. If the name on your payment account differs, please indicate this in your application email. To find out more about payment methods, you can visit their website.

Each applicant is notified of the results at the conclusion of their review process (approximately 2-3 weeks after each deadline), and they will display the name and work of each grant recipient and a link to their website (if applicable) on their website and social media. You can see current and past grant recipients’ work by scrolling through their ‘Grant Recipients’ page. 

If you have questions, you can contact them through our contact form on their website or email info@artistgrant.org.

5. Innovate Artist Grant

DEADLINE: 14th December 2021

Innovate Grant supports artists and photographers through quarterly grants. They distribute (2) $550.00 grants each quarter to one visual artist and one photographer. Grant cycles are in the Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter and the deadline for the autumn cycle is 14th December 2021. visual artists and photographers aged 18 years and older from all around the world are eligible to apply. All media and genres are accepted. Innovate Grants are unrestricted. This means that you may use the grant award in any way you see fit, whether it is applied directly toward a new project, materials, rent, travel, a car payment, etc. We do not require receipts or progress reports after you receive your grant award. You can visit their website, to read up on the FAQs.

HOW TO APPLY: All that they require are your name, email, website (optional), grant category, 3-5 images of your work. The application fee of $25 USD (non-refundable) helps offset their administrative costs, enabling them to continue to support artists and the creation of their innovative work. Click here to apply.

6. North Carolina Arts Council Support Grants

This program, funded by the N.C. Arts Council, provides the opportunity for regional consortia of local arts councils to award project grants to artists in their regions. These grants support professional artists in any discipline and at any stage in their careers to pursue projects that further their artistic and professional development. Types of fundable projects include:

• Creation of new work

• Purchase of equipment and materials

• Professional development workshops

• Travel support for expenses associated with a professional opportunity such as participating in an exhibition or a conference

• Development or upgrading of promotional materials such as brochures, DVDs, CDs, and websites

Artist fees are also allowable expenses under the new program. Grant amounts vary from region to region. Statewide, most grants are between $500 and $2,000. Projects must be completed by December 31, 2022. A list of participating counties, deadlines for each region, and a primary contact for each consortium appears below. Regions are listed from west to east.

All regions are currently accepting applications for year two of the N.C. Artist Support Grant. You can visit their website to see the particular sum is offered according to region.

Tips for Applying for an Artist Grant

Tip #1: Create a budget proposal

Your budget proposal is a breakdown of how you will allocate the money obtained from the grant as well as indicating how much you will need. Your proposal is exactly what it’s called - a proposal, that means you may come across expenses that you didn’t foresee due to the unpredictable nature of life. Worry not because it’s normal for your proposed budget to slightly vary from your actual budget. Nina Berman from Fractured Atlas has created a step by step guide on how to Create a Budget for Your Artistic Project. Definitely check it out as it will be a great aid in your process.

Tip #2: Adjust your application for each grant opportunity

The thing is - every grant opportunity will have their own requirements so, you want your application to be tailored specifically for each opportunity to optimize your chances of gaining financial support. It’s important to carefully make note of the requirements because they shape the basis of a successful application for that particular grant.

Tip #3: Showcase your best work

This one is given, right? But seriously, you want to always showcase your best work and here’s why. Mentioned in an article by Artist Archive, Director of ArtistGrant.org, Dennis James explains that “We select almost entirely on artwork images. It doesn’t matter to us if an artist has a great deal of training or is self-taught. People become artists in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons—all valid.” Equally, Executive Director Carolyn Ramo of the Artadia awards takes a similar stance by stating that “images matter a tremendous amount. CV matters very little—as we give merit-based awards, there is almost no consideration of exhibition history. A statement is considered mostly during the last conversation, if at all, which is why we ask that it be brief. Each juror is different though and some do read the statements carefully.”

Tip #4: All you need to submit is what is required… literally

We understand that this is one of the many moments in your career to shine and you want to put your best foot forward and of course, we support that but here’s the thing. You need to submit only what is required because you have a limited time to showcase yourself and your work and frankly, most artist grant juror panels, don’t review more than the required materials. As James highlights, “[disregarding any of the guidelines] gives an institution a legitimate reason for disqualifying a submission. Do not send unasked for materials. The committee is trying to be equitable in viewing all the same type of materials from each candidate and will not consider the extra materials.” Your best bet is to allocate your energy and time into ensuring you’ve included everything required and that you’ve completed the application to the best of your ability. It’s also a great idea to have someone such as a friend or fellow artist review your work before submitting to ensure it adheres to all the requirements and that it showcases you and your work effectively.

Additional Grant Research Resources

We’ve included the websites that were helpful in our research for grants so that you will also be able to access these resources at any time.

1. ArtDeadline.com

2. Artwork Archive - Call For Entry

3. Re-title.com

4. Transartist.org

5. Coronavirus Relief Funds for Artists [Database]