Art funding in North America: a guide for artists
As an artist, securing funding for your projects and endeavors can often be a daunting task. However, there are a plethora of organizations in the U.S and Canada that are dedicated to supporting artists just like you. From government programs to private foundations, these organizations offer a wide range of funding opportunities for artists of all disciplines and at all career levels. We will explore some of the most notable organizations that offer funding for artists in north america. Whether you're a painter, musician, or performer, there's an organization out there that can help take your career to the next level.
Fiscal sponsorship
Fractured Atlas wants to help you raise money for your artistic work. As the largest arts fiscal sponsor the U.S., they provide accessibility, efficiency and affordability. They work with thousands of artists and arts organizations to provide education and support for raising funds.
Bi- and Multilateral
The Asian Cultural Council supports transformative cultural exchange by awarding grants to artists, scholars, and arts and humanities professionals, as well as organizations and educational institutions from the United States and Asia for research, study, and creative work in the United States and Asia and within the countries of Asia.
Eligibility: Individuals and institutions that advance cultural exchange between the U.S. and the countries in Asia as well as among the countries in Asia.
CEC ArtsLink
CEC ArtsLink is an international arts service organization. Their programs encourage and support exchange of artists and cultural managers between the United States and Eastern and Central Europe, Russia, Central Asia and the Caucasus. Two artist/arts manager grants are available.
Eligibility: artists, cultural managers and non-profit arts organizations from the U.S. or from the eligible countries listed here
Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation (Canada)
The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation offers financial grants of C$15,000 (first grants) and C$18,000 (second and third grants) to students and to artists in the early or developmental stage of their career. The Foundation welcomes, throughout the year, applications from visual artists who work in painting, sculpture, drawing or printmaking in the figurative or representational tradition.
Eligibility: national and international students and emerging artists working in the figurative or representational tradition.
Franklin Furnace Fund awards grants between $2,000 and $5,000 to performance artists, allowing them to produce major works anywhere in the State of New York. Artists from all areas of the world are invited to apply.
Eligibility: performance artists of all nationalities.
The Ford Foundation works mainly by making grants or loans that build knowledge and strengthen organizations and networks. Within their broad goals, they focus on a limited number of problem areas and program strategies.
Eligibility: international artists and cultural managers.
A US-based philanthropic foundation that supports institutions and individuals worldwide, funding a diverse range of projects that promote the understanding and conservation of the visual arts in Los Angeles and throughout the world. Through strategic grant initiatives, it strengthens art history as a global discipline, promotes the interdisciplinary practice of conservation, increases access to museum and archival collections, and develops current and future leaders in the visual arts.
Eligibility: scholars of all nationalities.
Global Connections Program by TCG
The Global Connections program by TCG makes grants to US-based theatre organizations and individual artists. The program has two initiatives. Global Connections – On the Road awards 12 grants to foster new relationships with international colleagues that will inspire each other’s work and aesthetics by creating opportunities for cultural exchange. Global Connections—In the Lab will award six grants to further pre-existing international collaborations by supporting residencies that either advance the development of a piece or explore elements leading up to full production.
Eligibility: U.S. located organizations and individual artists with U.S. citizenship or permanent resident status. For the On the Road program applicants must seek new relationships with artists outside the U.S. For the In the Lab program applicants must have a history of producing or developing work with professional artists from other countries.
Gottlieb Foundation was established according to provisions in the will of Adolph Gottlieb in order to award financial assistance to mature, creative painters, sculptors, and printmakers. They provide financial support to individual artists who have shown a lifetime commitment to their art.
Eligibility: national and international artists.
The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts makes project-based grants to individuals and organizations and produces public programs to foster the development and exchange of diverse and challenging ideas about architecture and its role in the arts, culture, and society.
Eligibility: Graham Foundation grantmaking focuses on individuals and organizations in the U.S., however, a small percentage of international grants are made.
Lighton International Artists Exchange Program
The Lighton International Artists Exchange Program (LIAEP) provides support for visual artists and arts professionals to travel to international residencies and artist communities and for foreign visual artists to travel to and work in the United States.
Eligibility: national and international individual artists but the program is especially interested in funding artists who have not yet worked in a foreign country and in funding travel and residencies to countries that are less Westernized. Artists from Kansas City and the Central Plains/Midwest area receive first priority for funding.
NPN offers various programs in order to support creation, development and mobility of new artistic work, and the live experiential exchange between artists and communities through a network of cultural organizations. Their own Artist Engagement Fund operates between USA and Mexico, and application is available only through a NPN partner organization. Check the Performing Americas webpage for up-to-date information or to consult last year's guidelines and view previously funded projects.
The Netherland-America Foundation
The Netherland-American Foundation (NAF) strives to enhance awareness and support of cultural exchange in both the United States and the Netherlands. The Foundation supports cultural events and projects in the two countries.
Eligibility: individual artists who are citizens or permanent residents of the U.S. or the Netherlands.
The Pollock Krasner Foundation offers grants to mid-career artists. The Foundation welcomes, throughout the year, applications from visual artists who are painters, sculptors and artists who work on paper, including printmakers.
Eligibility: national and international mid-career artists.
Trust for Mutual Understanding
The Trust for Mutual Understanding awards grants to American nonprofit organizations to support the international travel component of cultural and environmental exchanges conducted in partnership with institutions and individuals in Russia and Central and Eastern Europe. While the Initial Inquiry may be made by an individual or institution in any of the countries in which TMU is active, the Final Proposal must be submitted by an American nonprofit organization with 501(c)(3) tax exempt status, as TMU does not make grants directly to institutions or individuals abroad. Check past grantees to know if your project can fit in TMU programs.
Eligibility: American non-profit organizations that collaborate with partner institutions and individuals in Russia and Central and Eastern Europe.
Per Country
The Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant Program supports individual writers whose work addresses contemporary visual art through grants in the following categories: Article, Blog, Book, New and Alternative Media, and Short-Form Writing. Grants range from $3,000 to $50,000, depending on the needs and scope of the project.
Eligibility: individual art historians, artists, critics, curators, journalists, or practitioners in an outside field who are strongly engaged with the contemporary visual arts, and who are a U.S. citizen, permanent resident of the United States, or holder of an O-1 visa.
Canadian Film Centre established The Feature Film Project (the FFP) in the summer of 1992 as a programme dedicated to overseeing and providing 100% of the financing and mentorship needed for the successful development, production and marketing of low-budget dramatic feature films for first-time filmmakers.
Eligibility: Canadian residents
Creative Capital supports work financially with the potential for significant artistic and cultural impact. They are interested in artists who are deeply engaged with their art forms and exhibit a rigorous commitment to their craft, as well as projects that transcend discipline boundaries.
Eligibility: individual artists with U.S. citizenship or legal residence, at least 25 years old and at least 5 years working experience.
Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grants
In keeping with FCA's mission to encourage, sponsor, and promote work of a contemporary, experimental nature, applicants must demonstrate that their artistic practice falls within this context. Created in 1993, Emergency Grants provides prompt funding for innovative visual and performing artists who have unanticipated, sudden opportunities to present their work to the public when there is insufficient time to seek other sources of funding and/or incur unexpected or unbudgeted expenses for projects close to completion with committed exhibition or performance dates.
Emergency Grants is the only active, multi-disciplinary program that offers immediate assistance of this kind to artists living and working anywhere in the United States, for projects occurring in the U.S. and abroad. Grants range in amount from $200 to $2,500. Note: Emergency Grants does not support residency participation fees.
Eligibility: individual artists and artists collectives, who are living, working and paying taxes in the U.S.
Nathan Cummings Foundation programs include arts and culture, relating to climate change and inequality in particular, for non-profit organizations. With the Nathan Cummings Foundation Fellowship it also offers fellowship programs for three individuals each year to work within the same priority topics.
Eligibility: U.S. non-profit organizations and individual artists with U.S. citizenship for the fellowships.
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities. Through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector, the NEA supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community across America. It offers project grants for organizations, makes grants for individuals as well as supports partnership agreements.
Eligibility: U.S. organizations and individual U.S. citizens or permanent residents
New York Foundation for the Arts
New York Foundation for The Arts serves individual artists throughout the state New York in order to empower emerging artists and arts organizations across all disciplines at critical stages in their creative lives and professional development. NYFA serves individual artists through providing financial and informational assistance across four flagship programs, Fiscal Sponsorship, Learning, Online Resources and Artists’ Fellowships.
Eligibility: individual artists who are a current resident of the New York State, at least 25 years old.
The Warhol Foundation grants are made on a project basis to curatorial programs at museums, artists' organizations and other cultural institutions to originate innovative and scholarly presentations of contemporary visual arts.
Eligibility: the foundation's grant program is primarily focused on supporting institutions within the U.S. However, in rare cases, it will make grants outside the United States.
