GRANT OPPORTUNITIES FOR ARTISTS

In partnership with the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts

The Folk & Traditional Arts Program offers two types of grant opportunities designed for individual artists:

Fellowships in Performing and Craft Traditions

Apprenticeships in the Traditional Arts

Free grant seminars will be conducted by ICP and other regional folk arts support centers accross the state during the Spring and Summer 2005. For a schedule of seminars, please click here.

To obtain program guidelines and an application form by mail, please contact Amy Skillman, Director for Arts & Heritage Programs. To obtain technical assistance with your application within your region of residence, including assistance with worksample preparation, please contact one of our Regional Folk Arts Support Centers.

Note: Performing arts ensembles and troupes operating as non-profit organizations may be eligible to apply for funding through other PCA funding tracks. See Folk Arts Funding for Organizations under the services offered by ICP to arts organizations.

Fellowships in Performing and Crafts Traditions

Folk & Traditional Arts Fellowships are designed to honor and recognize excellent practitioners of traditional arts. They are awarded to individuals for their outstanding contributions to the practice and conservation of their art form within their community.

Fellowships are available to individual artists who have been residents of Pennsylvania for two years prior to the application due date and who are not enrolled in a degree granting programs in a related arts field. Though artistic excellence is the primary criteria for selection, the depth of the applicant’s knowledge of the tradition and their contribution to the preservation and/or development of the art form within their cultural community is of fundamental importance in the evaluation process.

The program provides awards of $5,000 and inclusion in the annual catalogue of fellowship recipients. Yearly grant awards alternate between two categories: Performing Traditions (even years) and Craft Traditions (odd years). Click here for a list of recent fellowship recipients.

Apprenticeships in the Traditional Arts (ATA)

Apprenticeship grants are available to support a master traditional artist and an apprentice practicing traditional arts found in communities across the Commonwealth. To be eligible, the apprentice must be a resident of Pennsylvania and have demonstrated competency in the basic skills in the specific tradition of the apprenticeship.

Multiple apprentices may apply to work with a single master. Preference is given to apprenticeships involving a master residing within Pennsylvania; masters from outside Pennsylvania may be sought if no master in the tradition is available within the Commonwealth. Click here for a list of recent apprenticeship recipients.

Funding of up to $4,000 is available to compensate a master's time (the time of an apprentice cannot be paid); to compensate travel for a master or apprentice, to purchase supplies, or to document the apprenticeship through audiotape, video tape, or photographic film.

Deadline and Application Forms

Deadline for applications to the 2006 Fellowship and Apprenticeship grants is August 1, 2005.

Click here to obtain a downloadable version of the Fellowship and Apprenticeship guidelines and forms in Adobe PDF format (File size: 1.14 MB).

Click here to obtain a downloadable version of the Fellowship form in Adobe PDF format (File size: 111 KB).

Click here to obtain a downloadable version of the Apprenticeship form in Adobe PDF format (File size: 112 KB).