Currently 15 active visual and media arts grants, fellowships and residencies open to applicants in Worldwide. Hand-curated and updated weekly. Almost every entry is funded; a few notable unpaid open calls and festival submissions are included as clearly flagged exceptions. Browse the list below, or use the interactive desk for filtering and shortlisting.
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Production grants for newly commissioned works of visual art exhibited beyond museum walls, in the public realm, or in non-traditional exhibition environments. Grants are awarded to projects that best exemplify VIA's three core values of Artistic Production, Thought Leadership, and Public Engagement. Two-stage application process: Letter of Inquiry due 5 November 2026; invitations to submit a full application sent 15 December 2026 (by invitation only); full application deadline for invited applicants 25 January 2027; grant award notification April 2027. Projects must start after 15 June 2027. VIA runs Fall and Spring cycles each year; Spring 2027 is the current open call. Start with the eligibility form linked from the apply page; full program description, eligibility requirements and LOI guidelines are in the program PDF.
The Judson-Morrissey Excellence in New Media Award (JMEM) is the New Media Caucus's scholarship program supporting BIPOC students in new media art fields. It gives multiple unrestricted monetary awards of up to USD 500 each, funded through donor contributions, and features awardees in an NMC Header/Footer Gallery exhibition and a digitally published interview. ELIGIBILITY: BIPOC undergraduate and graduate students working as artists, practitioners, historians and/or critics in new media art. TO APPLY: submit the Google Form with an application letter (max 500 words), a 100-200 word biography, and either 3-5 artwork samples or 2-3 writing samples. DEADLINE: 8 November 2026, 11:59 PM EST. Questions to NMC co-president Chanhee Choi.
Creatives for Our Future is the Swarovski Foundation's global grant programme for emerging creatives aged 21 to 30. Each selected participant receives a EUR 20,000 grant to support their creative project, alongside a mentorship and education programme. DISCIPLINES: fashion, design, art, architecture and engineering, which makes it a direct fit for fashion-tech, wearable and smart-textile projects. ELIGIBILITY: applicants must be aged 21 to 30 at the time of application and working on an initiative that uses creativity to accelerate awareness, technology, or solutions toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals; open worldwide. DEADLINE: 9 November 2026 at 11:59 pm BST.
Busan Metropolitan City invites individuals and teams from around the world to propose a site-responsive work of land and ecological art for Eulsukdo, an estuarine island at the mouth of the Nakdong River, South Korea's longest river. The island sits in a brackish estuary where river meets sea and is an important stopover for migratory birds on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway; once heavily altered by agriculture, landfill and urban development, it has been restored as wetlands and bird habitat, a layered history the call frames as an invitation to reflect on coexistence between human and more-than-human life. Proposals must respond to Eulsukdo's ecology, landscape, history and changing environment while minimising ecological disturbance and demonstrating environmental responsibility across the work's whole lifecycle. ELIGIBILITY: individuals or teams professionally active in art, landscape architecture, architecture, design or related fields; interdisciplinary teams welcome. SELECTION: one proposal, with artwork support of KRW 380,000,000 and an artist fee of KRW 20,000,000. SUBMISSION WINDOW: 2 November 00:00 to 22 November 2026 24:00 KST (UTC+9). Provisional opening of the realised work May to June 2027. Full guidelines via the official website (eulsukdo-ecoart.com); inquiries to eulsukdo.ecoart@gmail.com.
The Fondation Francois Schneider's Talents Contemporains competition, in its 16th edition, supports contemporary creation on the theme of WATER. Submissions can be a project for an installation or sculpture, or an existing unique work in painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, photography, video, textile art or other fine and visual arts; performing arts and music are excluded. A Grand Jury (chaired by international museum figures) designates 4 to 7 laureates. WHAT YOU GET: EUR 15,000 per laureate as a merit prize and official acquisition of the artwork (EUR 8,000 for editioned works); installation and sculpture projects share up to EUR 50,000 in production assistance (existing works get no production budget); plus an exhibition at the foundation's centre in Wattwiller, a bilingual publication, inclusion in the collection and a video portrait. ELIGIBILITY: visual artists of all nationalities, of legal age, with a solid professional background and/or an art school degree and a recent continuous track record over the past five years (exhibitions, publications or residencies); one artwork or project per candidate per year. Applications in French (French speakers) or English (all others), via the foundation's online platform. DEADLINE: 22 November 2026.
Sadler's Wells Digital Stage commissions three new Dance on Screen films of up to four minutes on the theme The Future Remembers, asking artists to consider legacy, responsibility and the futures we are creating together. WHO: filmmakers and dance artists of any style working across dance and moving image, aged 18 or over, applying as individuals, groups or companies; international applicants are welcome and filming can happen anywhere. WHAT YOU GET: a flat GBP 6,000 per commission regardless of team size, which must cover equipment and any external filmmaker or producer; a Sadler's Wells producer helps shape the idea and source collaborators, and the in-house filmmaker may support editing. Finished films premiere at the Dance Digital Film Festival in November 2027. APPLICATION: online form describing your practice and the idea; shortlisted artists are interviewed in early December 2026. Contact digitalstage@sadlerswells.com. DEADLINE: midnight, 22 November 2026.
The Palestine Film Fund, set up by the Palestine Film Institute in 2025 so that Palestinians can tell their own stories, gives financial and professional support to Palestinian filmmakers worldwide in two rounds a year. This is the autumn round. WHAT IS FUNDED: short films up to 30 minutes at development, production or post-production stage, and medium or feature-length films at development or post-production stage only; fiction, documentary, animation, hybrid, experimental and essay forms are eligible, series are not. WHO: the director must be Palestinian, living in Palestine or the diaspora, with a recognised link to Palestine, and aged 18 or over; a non-Palestinian producer may apply if the director is Palestinian. Feature and medium-length applicants need at least one previously directed short. Only producers (or director-producers) may apply for post-production. One project per director per cycle, and not while holding an active PFF grant. WHAT YOU GET: up to EUR 3,000 (short, development), EUR 7,000 (short, production or post), EUR 5,000 (feature, development) or EUR 15,000 (feature, post-production). APPLICATION: online form in English or Arabic; questions to fund@palestinefilminstitute.org. DEADLINE: 4 December (the fund page gives no year; read as 2026 from the round schedule; past rounds closed at 23:59 Palestine time).
Winter round of Germany's flagship open, non-thematic federal project line, one of the largest European funders that will back a festival, exhibition programme or multi-partner convening run by an organisation rather than an individual artist. It funds large innovative projects across all artistic fields, explicitly including New Media alongside visual and performing arts, music, film, photography and architecture. There is no published maximum, but the EUR 50,000 minimum total project cost sets the scale, and at least 20 percent co-financing is mandatory. This round closes 31 January 2027 at 12:00 CET, with decisions at the external jury meeting in May 2027; no project may start before its jury date, so plan four to six months of lead time. Non-German organisations are genuinely eligible, which is unusual at this scale, provided the project is visible in Germany and has an international dimension. Two practical barriers: the application form must be completed in German, and project communications must include a German-language version.
WOW is the world's largest wearable-art competition, culminating in a staged show in Wellington, New Zealand, with the 2027 awards night on 17 September 2027. The Kinetic and Avant-garde sections regularly attract technology-driven wearables, making this a natural target for e-textile, robotic and sensor-driven garment work. WHAT YOU GET: a prize pool exceeding NZD 200,000 across 25 awards; in the published 2026 schedule the Supreme WOW Award paid NZD 30,000, the runner-up NZD 15,000 and each section winner NZD 8,000 (the 2027 schedule was not yet posted at the time of listing). KEY DATES: the 2027 section themes are published and entries open in November 2026; international designers must lodge an intention to enter by 11 February 2027 and submit their entry by 25 February 2027 (New Zealand designers: 31 March and 14 April 2027); finished garments ship to New Zealand with a final delivery cut-off of 2 June 2027. ELIGIBILITY: designers worldwide, entering under their own names rather than as a business; teams of up to three allowed; entrants must be 18 or over. There is no entry fee.
apexart's Open Calls turn a curatorial idea into a funded apexart exhibition, selected by a crowdsourced international jury of more than 600 people in 70 countries. WHO CAN SUBMIT: anyone, from anywhere, with no fees at any level: trained and student curators, artists, writers and creative people regardless of experience, background or location. HOW: a 500-word proposal for a focused, idea-driven, original group exhibition, submitted through the online form during the proposal window. TWO ANNUAL WINDOWS: every October for exhibitions in apexart's NYC space, and every February (to early March) for exhibitions taking place anywhere in the world except NYC; for the international call you must propose a location you have actually visited, with the specific venue settled after selection. SELECTION: jurors vote anonymously online (each proposal gets an equal number of views, submitter names hidden); proposals are judged on the strength of the idea and how well it is communicated, not on connections or CV. WHAT WINNERS GET: a USD 10,000 budget (USD 8,000 for expenses, up to USD 2,000 curator honorarium, plus up to USD 1,000 venue-rental match outside NYC), with apexart covering insurance, publicity, the printed brochure, the opening reception and most logistics including loan agreements and shipping, and staff working closely with the guest curator. Winning proposals become part of apexart's next exhibition season. Check the site for the current window's exact dates; submission forms only go live during the proposal periods.
Applications for the 2027 Bertha Artivism Awards are open (confirmed 23 September 2026). The awards fund up to USD 20,000 for a one-year activist-art project made in collaboration with a social justice organization, campaign or movement, and the cohort also receives peer exchange and support from the Bertha Foundation network. Open worldwide to artists and collectives across disciplines. IMPORTANT: no closing date is published on the award page, and the cohort starts January 2027, so apply early rather than waiting; the call has historically opened around August and closed in the autumn. TO APPLY: submit the application form linked from the Artivism Awards page at berthafoundation.org.
FfAI gives grants to individuals active in visual art and culture (artists, curators, critics, researchers, writers, organizers) for independent travel and research, and to small institutions for general activities and projects. AMOUNTS: USD 10,000 for individual research grants; institutional grants typically USD 10,000 to 25,000, limited to organizations with annual budgets under USD 1,000,000 (US organizations must be IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofits; non-US organizations must be created and operated exclusively for charitable and/or educational purposes, with a signed statement from an authorized officer). NOT FUNDED: scholarships, residency programs, production of work, or major equipment; research and travel must be independent of institutional or professional obligations, and funds cannot be transferred to anyone else. PROCESS: two-stage and rolling; anyone can submit an inquiry via the form at apply.ffaiarts.net, but a full proposal must be invited; if you do not hear back within four months, the inquiry was not selected. DEADLINE: none (rolling inquiries). NOTE: there is no conventional 'open call' page; the grants page only sketches the two grant types, the guidelines page holds the amounts and rules, and the entry point is the inquiry form at apply.ffaiarts.net.
The Mondriaan Fund's International Art Presentation grant helps art institutions and festivals abroad present current work by living visual artists from the Netherlands or the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, covering costs that raise the work's visibility and fall outside the host's regular budget. WHO: internationally recognised institutions outside the Kingdom whose main purpose is showing contemporary art (not sales); commercial galleries are excluded (they use Art Fair International). Dutch and Caribbean-Kingdom artists with at least one year of professional practice can apply for their own personal costs. WHAT IS FUNDED: return travel for the artist and guest curator (one production trip and one opening visit), up to EUR 1,000 per person for lodging, transport and insurance of the work, up to 50 percent of production costs for new site-specific commissions (the host must pay the artist a realistic fee), up to 25 percent of publication costs and up to 50 percent of film subtitling. Artists may not be asked to pay to take part. Guest curators from the Netherlands need at least two years of curatorial experience. APPLICATION: via the Mondriaan Fund's My Fund system with a plan, presentation plan, CVs, consent declaration, itemised budget excluding VAT, quotes above EUR 1,000 and visual documentation; processing takes about three months. DEADLINE: rolling.
Pro Helvetia supports presentations outside Switzerland of contemporary artists, photographers and architects from Switzerland, with applications generally made by the host institution or festival. WHO: established cultural institutions and organisers with international reach based outside Switzerland; exhibitions normally run at least four weeks, which does not apply to festivals and similar events. WHAT IS FUNDED: transport and insurance, equipment rental, materials for temporary artworks, fees for the participating artists, photographers and architects from Switzerland, and their economy-class travel (no accommodation). TIMELINE: requests up to CHF 25,000 can be submitted year-round with a decision within eight weeks; CHF 25,001 to 50,000 year-round with a decision within four months; over CHF 50,000 by 1 March, 1 June, 1 September or 1 December. Projects need a clear connection to Switzerland, and only complete, on-time applications are considered. APPLICATION: via the Pro Helvetia online portal. DEADLINE: rolling (fixed dates for requests over CHF 50,000).
Pro Helvetia funds thematic group exhibitions of design from Switzerland and knowledge exchange at public specialist events abroad, such as symposia and round tables, organised by institutions outside Switzerland. WHO: recognised design institutions and established festivals or design weeks outside Switzerland. WHAT YOU GET: up to CHF 10,000 for transport and insurance costs and economy-class return travel for participants from Switzerland (accommodation not covered). APPLICATION: year-round via the Pro Helvetia online portal; the project can start eight weeks after submission and decisions come within eight weeks. DEADLINE: rolling.