Funding for Research and Creative Activity in the Arts
We are here to help
Faculty in the Arts interested in pursuing external funding for their research and/or creative projects have a wealth of exciting opportunities to choose from.
FSU Research Development (RD) wants to be your first stop as you embark on your funding search. We have a Research Development Coordinator hired specifically to serve Arts faculty. Dr. Carolyn Bradley is committed to promoting and facilitating grantsmanship in the Arts, Humanities, and Anthropology at FSU.
Just reach out!
Carolyn is happy to guide FSU's Arts faculty through the process of securing grants, both large and small. Reach out to Carolyn for help any time at any stage of the process: cbradley@fsu.edu. Carolyn works on campus in the Westcott North Annex Room 2020 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. She works remotely on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
RD provides a range of services and resources for faculty in the Arts, including:
- Circulation of Arts-related notices of funding opportunities (NOFOs)
- Group workshops on topics related to Arts grantsmanship (e.g., costs and benefits of applying for grants, the goals and operations of diverse grant agencies, designing creative/research projects, building effective collaborations, composing persuasive proposal narratives, etc.)
- One-on-one consultations with faculty members to discuss goals and strategize funding-search efforts
- Proposal development support including the creation of checklists of materials needed and timetables to ensure that the proposal will be ready by the submission deadline
- Proposal crafting resources including copies of successful proposals and boilerplate language
- Mock Review Sessions featuring FSU faculty field experts as review panelists
- Reviewing (for adherence to NOFO guidelines) and editing (for content and/or final polish)
While RD sends out regular alerts regarding general Arts funding opportunities, we encourage all Arts faculty to devise an ongoing funding search tailored to their unique research and artistic interests. Pivot is the best resource at FSU for obtaining weekly updates on grant opportunities relevant to you. For assistance with Pivot, reach out to Carolyn for a personalized meeting.
Prominent Awards Available to Arts Faculty: Extraordinary Accomplishment Program Awards, Additional External Awards, and Internal Awards
1. Extraordinary Accomplishment Program (EAP) awards
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Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award Program The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program offers diverse opportunities for U.S. academics, administrators, and professionals to teach, research, do professional projects, and attend seminars abroad. (Deadline: TBD, likely Sept. 2027) |
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John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Guggenheim Fellowships are for individuals who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts. Recipients can work for six to twelve months with as much creative freedom as possible. (Deadline: TBD, likely Sept. 2027) |
2. Additional External Funding Opportunities
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American Antiquarian Society's (AAS's) Fellowships for Creative and Performing Artists and Writers This program offers residential fellowships for historical research by artists, writers, filmmakers, journalists, and other persons whose goals are to produce imaginative works dealing with pre-twentieth-century American history, literature, and culture. (Deadline: Oct. 5, 2026) |
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Brigham Young University's (BYU's) Barlow Prize for Music Composition This program offers grants for commissions to musical composers. The winning composer will receive a $15,000 commission for a major new work of 15 minutes for two pianos and two percussionists. (Deadline: TBD, likely June 1, 2027) |
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The Clark's Fellowships at the Clark This program offers fellowships to established and promising scholars and artists with the aim of fostering a critical commitment to inquiry in the theory, history, and interpretation of art and visual culture. (Deadline: Oct. 15, 2026) |
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Cornell University Society for the Humanities's Society Fellowships This program offers year-long residential fellowships to scholars and artists whose projects reflect on a determined theme. Fellows spend their time in research and writing. They also teach one small seminar and participate in a weekly Fellows Seminar workshopping other fellows' projects and discussing readings based on the yearly theme. (Deadline: TBD, likely Sept. 1, 2027) |
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Council on Culture and Arts's (COCA's) Cultural Grants Program This program supports non-profit arts and cultural programs that enhance the quality of life, economic development, and tourism industry in Leon County. (Deadline: TBD, likely May 2027) |
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Center of Craft's Craft Research Fund Project Grant This program supports scholarly craft research in the United States. The grant is intended to encourage innovative research on critical issues in craft theory and history, investigate neglected questions on craft history and criticism, and support new cross-disciplinary approaches to scholarship in craft. (Deadline: TBD) |
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This program supports innovative and original new project proposals in visual arts, performing arts, film/moving image, technology, literature, multidisciplinary, and socially engaged forms. (Deadline: TBD) |
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Florida Division of Arts and Culture's (FDAC's) General Program Support (GPS) This program supports the general program activities of an organization that is realizing its stated mission and furthering the state's cultural objectives by conducting, creating, producing, presenting, staging, or sponsoring cultural exhibits, performances, educational programs, or events or providing a professional services as a State Service Organization or Local Arts Agency. Special Conditions: This is a Limited Submissions program with an earlier internal deadline--see RD's Limited Submission portal. FSU may submit only one General Program Support application or one Specific Cultural Project application per annual grant cycle. (FSU Notice of Interest Deadline: TBD; Agency Deadline: TBD, likely June 2027) |
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Florida Division of Arts and Culture's (FDAC's) Specific Cultural Project (SCP) This program supports a single cultural project, program, exhibition or series taking placing within the grant period (July 1 – June 30). The grant activities must support the mission of the organization or artist and further the state's cultural objectives. Organizations and individuals are both eligible to apply. Special Conditions: This is a Limited Submissions program with an earlier internal deadline--see RD's Limited Submission portal. FSU may submit only one General Program Support application or one Specific Cultural Project application per annual grant cycle. (FSU Notice of Interest Deadline: TBD; Agency Deadline: TBD, likely June 2027) |
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This program supports independent, documentary film, video, and emerging medical projects that explore timely social justice issues, with a focus on reducing inequality. (Deadline: TBD) |
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Fromm Music Foundation's Commission Award This program supports commissions of new music by American composers. This award is available for all types of compositions regardless of idiom, instrumentation, style, or the use of technology. Submissions in jazz, hybrid, electronic, or other idioms are welcome. (Deadline: TBD; information about the next cycle will be posted in April 2027) |
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Getty Scholar Program at the Villa This program contributes to the understanding and preservation of cultural heritage through advanced research on the arts and cultures of antiquity. While in residence, Scholars spend significant time at one of the world's leading art collections, engaged with an international community of curator, conservators, and visiting colleagues committed to intellectual exploration and exchange. Scholars work at the Getty Villa near Malibu, the site of the Getty Museum's collection of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman art, the antiquities conservation labs, and a reference library dedicated to the ancient Mediterranean world. The 2027-28 Getty Villa theme is "the Classical World in Context: Glocalization." (Deadline: Oct. 1, 2026) |
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Harpo Foundation's Grants for Visual Arts This program supports under-recognized visual artists 21 years or older. Proposals with an interdisciplinary approach may be considered as long as they have strong visual components. (Deadline: TBD) |
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This program supports artists in any field who work beyond or between recognized arts genres and practices, particularly those which engage digital, multimedia, or other innovative technologies. (Deadline: Nov. 1, 2026) |
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The Huntington: Long- and Short-Term Fellowships and Travel Grants for Study Abroad The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens offers long- and short-term residential fellowships to scholars working on projects in fields in which its collections are strong. Travel grants to support research to be carried out in libraries or archives outside of the United States or Canada are also available. (Deadline: Nov. 15, 2026) |
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Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen's Fellowship Program for Art and Theory This program supports a five-month fellowship for visual and media artists, art critics, theorists, and curators. (Deadline: TBD) |
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This program offers residential fellowships for artists in the following disciplines: architecture, film/video, interdisciplinary arts, literature, music composition, theater, and visual arts. (Deadlines: Sept. 10, 2026; Jan. 15, 2027) |
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National Endowment for the Arts's (NEA's) Grants for Arts Projects (GAP) This program supports arts projects in the following disciplines/categories: Arts Education, Challenge America, Dance, Design & Our Town, Folk & Traditional Arts, Literary Arts, Local Arts Agencies, Museums, Music, Opera, Presenting & Multidisciplinary Arts, Theater & Musical Theater, and Visual & Media Arts. The programs' grants are cost share/matching grants ranging from $10,000 to $100,000. Special Conditions: This program has two deadlines annually. For 2026, FSU will not be submitting an application for the Feb. 12th GAP deadline. Also, this is a Limited Submissions program with an earlier internal deadline--see RD's Limited Submission portal. FSU may submit only one application total per calendar year. (FSU Notice of Interest Deadline: TBD, likely April 2027; Agency Deadline: TBD, likely July 2027) |
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National Endowment for the Humanities's (NEH's) Media Projects This program supports the development, production, and distribution of radio programs, podcasts, documentary films, and documentary film series that engage general audiences with humanities ideas in creative and appealing ways. (Deadline: May 5, 2027) |
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Harvard Radcliffe Institute's Radcliffe Fellowship Program This program offers year-long fellowships to scholars from a broad range of fields and perspectives, allowing them access to Harvard's resources. The program has two application deadlines, with the first for applications in humanities, social sciences, and creative arts. (Deadline: TBD, likely late Summer/early Fall 2027) |
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Pollock-Krasner Foundation's Grant Program This program provides financial resources for visual artists who are painters, sculptors, and artists who work on paper including printmakers. Grants amount up to $30,000. (Deadline: Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.) |
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Puffin Foundation's Annual Artist Grant Program This program supports projects in the genres of environmental artistic activism; film/video; fine arts; music; photography; and theater. Genres rotate in 2-year cycles, meaning that each genre is open for project proposals every other year. The only exception is environmental artistic activism, which is open every year. (Deadline: Nov. 20, 2026) |
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This program supports three- to six-site jazz tours at an array of venue types, often in rural communities and other areas traditionally underserved by the genre. Grants range from $5,000 to $15,000. (Deadline: TBD) |
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Southern Documentary Fund's Filmmaking Grants This program supports nonfiction documentaries in production by Project Directors in one of twelve Southern states including Florida. (Deadline: TBD, likely Aug. 2027) |
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Terra Foundation Exhibition Grants This program provides support for organizations (e.g., museums, art centers, community-based cultural organizations, etc.) to plan and present temporary exhibitions comprised primarily of loans. Individual grants range between $25,000 and $250,000. (Deadline for required Letter of Inquiry: March 2, 2027) |
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Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA) Fellowships This program offers residential fellowships to writers, visual artists, and composers at the center's locations in Amherst, Virginia and Auvillar, France. (Deadlines: Dec. 15, 2026; May 15, 2027; Sept. 15, 2027) |
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Wellesley College's Suzy Newhouse Center for the Humanities Fellowship This program is a residential fellowship for scholars or artists with a stipend of $50,000. Residencies are ordinarily for the full academic year, but one-semester residencies may also be considered. Resident fellows devote themselves primarily to their own research, but they also participate actively in the intellectual life of the institution, attending fellows' lunches and sharing their work in progress with one another and with the larger Wellesley community. (Deadline: Dec. 4, 2026) |
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This program offers residential fellowships to artists in the following disciplines: choreography, film, literature, musical composition, painting, performance, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and video. (Deadlines: Dec. 20, 2026; July 1, 2027) |
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Yale University Institute of Sacred Music's (ISM's) Fellowships This program brings scholars to the interdisciplinary ISM center to pursue scholarly and creative projects at the intersection of religion and the arts. Long- and short-term fellowships are available. (Deadline: Oct. 15, 2026) |
3. Internal Funding Opportunities
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Equipment & Infrastructure Enhancement Grant (EIEG) Program This program from the FSU Council on Research & Creativity (CRC) Internal Funding Programs provides roughly $40,000 for new interdisciplinary equipment or infrastructure enhancements (such as upgrades to existing equipment, data set purchases, and data or tracking systems) that cannot be obtained through other channels. (Deadline: Sept. 28, 2026) |
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This program from the FSU Council on Research & Creativity (CRC) Internal Funding Programs provides funding for a new direction or continuing early support of existing research or creative activity, with the expectation that this assistance will lead to the application for external funding or support within one year of the completion of this award. (Deadline: Sept. 28, 2026) |
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Arts & Humanities Program Enhancement Grant (AHPEG) This program from the FSU Council on Research & Creativity (CRC) Internal Funding Programs provides funding up to $20,000 for arts and humanities research and creative activity. (Deadline: TBD, likely Dec. 2026) |