Mass Cultural Council is accepting applications for their 2022 Artist Fellowships in the following six categories:

Choreography
Drawing & Printmaking
Fiction/Creative Nonfiction
Painting
Poetry
Traditional Arts

The Fellowships are direct grants to artists to recognize exceptional creative work.

Fellows will receive $15,000, and finalists receive $5,000. Applications are open to artists in Massachusetts who meat the criteria below:

Eligibility

You may apply for an Artist Fellowship if you are:

18 years or older.
A legal resident of Massachusetts for the last two years. You should also be a legal resident when the grants are awarded. We define “legal resident” as someone who meets the definition of a “full-year resident” in the Massachusetts tax code. Visit the Mass Department of Revenue web site to learn more.
An artist who creates original work. Artist Fellowship Finalists from previous years may also apply this cycle.

You are ineligible (for now) if you:

Received a Mass Cultural Council Artist Fellowship in the past five years. For FY22, this includes 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021.
Are a high school or undergraduate student, or a graduate student in a degree program (such as an MFA) directly related to the discipline to which you are applying. We encourage you to apply for an Artist Fellowship after you have completed your studies.
Are a governor-appointed Mass Cultural Council member. Mass Cultural Council staff and family are likewise ineligible to apply.
Are an artist who interprets or translates the work of others applying for any discipline other than Traditional Arts. (We hope to support your work through other Mass Cultural Council programs and initiatives.)

If you are unsure whether you are eligible, please contact Mass Cultural Council.

Review Criteria

Artistic quality and creative ability are the two review criteria used for most of the Artist Fellowships. For each fellowship category, the panelists make their evaluations based solely on the work sample(s) you submit. In the Traditional Arts category, there are three review criteria: artistic quality as culturally defined by the living tradition; significance to members of the community in which the art is valued and practiced; and artist’s role in safeguarding the tradition.

For all Artists Fellowships except the Traditional Arts category, the fellowship review process is anonymous.

Review Panel

Mass Cultural Council invites a group of grant panelists to review applications in each category. The panelists are artists and arts professionals with expertise in the field. Mass Cultural Council is committed to assembling panels with a diverse range of perspectives and backgrounds. If you would like to register to be a potential review panelist, you may do so in Mass Cultural Council’s grants management system.

Each panel makes recommendations for Fellows and Finalists. These recommendations are presented to the governor-appointed Mass Cultural Council members for final approval.

Award Notification

Mass Cultural Council plans to award 55 Fellowships and 95 Finalist awards in the 2022 grant cycle. The exact totals in each discipline depend on the number of applications, and the decisions of the grant panels and the Mass Cultural Council staff.

Mass Cultural Council will announce final award decisions via email by February for the Fall deadline and by June for the Winter deadline. Results will also be published on Mass Cultural Council’s web site.

Application Instructions

For applications in all disciplines, use Mass Cultural Council’s grants management system.

Anonymity
In all disciplines except Traditional Arts, your name should not appear in your work sample(s), Work Sample Title, or Work Sample Description. Please include your name only where requested in the application.

Discipline Category
Select the discipline category that best fits your work. You may apply only once per category. You can, however, apply in more than one category. Please note that we will award only one monetary grant to an artist in a fiscal year. Also, we require that you submit different work samples for each application.

Artist Resume
Except for Traditional Arts, we ask all applicants to upload a resume/bio into the online application. The resume will be used for administrative purposes only and will not be reviewed by the grants panel. For applicants applying to the Traditional Arts category, resumes are not required.

Collaborators
Except for Traditional Arts, if you create art as part of a collaborative team, you can apply together. Fill out a single application and provide resumes for each collaborator. A collaborator may reside out of state, as long as the primary applicant is a legal resident of Massachusetts.

Work Sample Instructions

Please make certain your work sample(s) follow the instructions given by Mass Cultural Council. For tips on applying for an Artist Fellowship, please visit our blog, ArtSake.

Since your work samples are reviewed anonymously by each panel except for Traditional Arts, your name should not appear anywhere in your work sample(s), Work Sample Title(s), or your Work Sample Description(s). Mass Cultural Council appreciates all efforts to avoid identifying information like commissions, awards, or organizations.

Naming and uploading your work samples. Please name each file with the title of the corresponding work sample.

Please submit work completed 2018 or later. Works in progress are eligible.

Detailed work sample requirements and instructions are provided below for each discipline category.

For the application to be considered, complete the online application form and any accompanying work sample(s) by 11:59pm (ET) on the deadline day. We cannot accept late applications.