The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship program is a vital source of
funding for the visual arts and art history in Virginia. VMFA is
committed to supporting professional artists and
art students who demonstrate exceptional creative ability in their
chosen discipline and, as such has awarded nearly $5 million to
Virginia’s artists since the program’s creation over 70 years ago.
The
VMFA Fellowship program was established in 1940 through a generous
contribution made by the late John Lee Pratt of Fredericksburg,
Virginia. Offered through VMFA Statewide, Fellowships
are still largely funded through the Pratt endowment, and supplemented
by annual gifts from the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation and the J.
Warwick McClintic, Jr. Scholarship Fund. The Fellowship program has a
long and established history of supporting Virginia’s
artistic talent and has helped to further the careers and studies of
many distinguished individuals, including recent recipients Rick
Alverson of Richmond, Michelle Erickson of Hampton, and Megan Marlatt of
Orange.
VMFA
offers $8,000 awards to professional artists, $6,000 awards to graduate
students, and $4,000 awards to undergraduate students. Applicants may
apply in the disciplines of Crafts, Drawing,
Film/Video, Mixed Media, New/Emerging Media, Painting, Photography,
Printmaking, Sculpture, and Art History (graduate students only). All
applicants must be legal residents of Virginia and student applicants
must be enrolled full-time in degree-seeking programs.
Applicants’ works are reviewed anonymously by distinguished jurors and
awards are made based on artistic merit. The deadline for Fellowship
applications is Friday, November 7, 2014.
We
ask that you please encourage interested students and professional
artists to apply. Full eligibility criteria, an application, and a
printable PDF flyer can be found at
www.VMFA.museum/fellowships.