New Fellowship for Socially Engaged Art

Application Deadline: Monday, December 2, 2013

 
We are excited to announce the launch of the ABOG Fellowship for Socially Engaged Art. Seven Fellows will be selected to receive an unrestricted stipend of $20,000 to realize an innovative community-based project. The program will also offer tailored professional support to socially engaged artists including documentation and assessment of each project, and workshops that teach skills that are particularly relevant to artists working directly with communities to enact social change.
Through active training, incubator-style workshops and professional consultations, the artists will be given tools to evaluate their own progress, as well as gain feedback from peers, community stakeholders, and objective, third-party evaluators. In addition, A Blade of Grass will conduct interviews with each of the artists and produce three-to-five minute documentaries on each project that will be accessible on the A Blade of Grass website.
Selection Process
Artists nationwide are invited to submit proposals through a two-stage, open application process. A distinguished Selection Committee, made up of artists, educators, curators, critics and other art professionals, along with community leaders and advocates, will evaluate the proposals in terms of their artistic excellence, their ability to position artists in leadership roles to promote social change, and their relevance to communities. Click here for application guidelines. Letters of inquiry will be due Monday, December 2, 2013. Finalists will be invited to submit full applications in January 2014 and selections will be made and announced in April 2014.
Informational Workshops
A Blade of Grass will hold two informational Fellowship Workshops prior to each annual application deadline. This year, they will be held on September 17 and November 4. The Workshops will be open to all interested artists and are designed to bring artists face-to-face with former Fellows and staff, in order to provide a transparent overview of the ABOG SEA Fellowship experience, as well as introduce successful social engagement methods in general. For those unable to attend, the workshops will be videotaped and made accessible online. The programs should help the artists determine if they are a good fit for the program and maximize their ability to construct a competitive proposal. Attendance is strongly encouraged.