Currently 12 active cross-disciplinary and social impact grants, fellowships and residencies open to applicants in the US. 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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Bloedel Reserve's residency programme exists to foster creative thinking inspired by nature and to explore the connection between humans and the environment. It is open to professional and emerging artists, composers, writers, botanists, landscape architects, researchers and others working on themes of nature and human connection to it. Residents get a three-week stay at a 140-acre internationally recognised public garden and forest preserve, housed in a small home hidden in the woods off the main paths. Note for non-US applicants: the funding is structured as expense reimbursement rather than a stipend, capped at USD 1,000, which for transatlantic applicants is unlikely to cover airfare plus meals over three weeks.
The Harvard Radcliffe Institute Fellowship offers scientists, writers, scholars, public intellectuals, and artists a year to pursue ambitious projects in a vibrant interdisciplinary setting amid the resources of Harvard University. The Institute welcomes innovative work that confronts pressing social, scientific, and policy issues and seeks to engage audiences beyond academia. Reflecting Radcliffe's history, it welcomes (but does not limit eligibility to) proposals focused on women, gender, and society, or that draw on the Schlesinger Library's collections. It also invites proposals relevant to the Institute's 2024-2029 focus area, academic freedom and connecting across difference (intellectual virtues, free and open inquiry, diversity of thought, political polarization, peace and conflict, inequality, religious pluralism, and related higher-education policy issues), including work that constructively challenges disciplinary orthodoxies or advances transformative perspectives. SUPPORT: USD 78,000 stipend plus USD 5,000 for project expenses, with relocation, housing, and childcare funds available; fellows must reside in the Cambridge/Boston area from September through May. ELIGIBILITY: open to individuals across career stages; tenure is not required and applicants need not be academics. This is NOT a postdoctoral fellowship; those currently enrolled in a degree program are ineligible, as are former Harvard Radcliffe fellows (1999-present). Applicants must meet discipline-specific criteria. APPLY: register on the online portal and select an area (Humanities and Social Sciences; Creative Arts; Nonfiction and Journalism; or Science, Engineering, and Mathematics). Materials: application form, CV, 1,400-word project proposal (with bibliography when appropriate), a writing or work sample, and three references. DEADLINES: humanities, social sciences, creative arts, and nonfiction and journalism by 10 September 2026, 5pm ET; science, engineering, and mathematics by 1 October 2026, 5pm ET.
The Jentel Artist Residency offers approximately three-week residencies in the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains near Banner, Wyoming, giving artists, writers, and composers dedicated time for creative work. Sessions run from mid-January through early December, hosting six residents at a time. It is open to visual artists in any medium, writers of fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry, and composers across musical genres. Residents receive a private bedroom, a separate studio, shared living and kitchen space, and a USD 100 weekly stipend to help cover food and personal expenses. Applicants must be at least 25 years old and be U.S. citizens or foreign nationals whose primary residence is in the U.S. during the application year, and may not be enrolled full-time in a degree program. There is a USD 30 non-refundable application fee, with deadlines of September 15 for Winter and Spring sessions and January 15 for Summer and Fall sessions.
The Fulbright-Iméra Mediterranean Studies Award supports US faculty to conduct research at the Iméra Institute for Advanced Study at Aix Marseille Université. ELIGIBILITY: mid-career, senior, or community college faculty affiliated with a US institution of higher education; US citizens residing outside France (permanent residents of France are ineligible); any discipline relating to Mediterranean studies; English sufficient (French desirable). 1 or 2 grants awarded. PROVIDED: €2,400/month stipend; fully equipped apartment with linens; office in co-working space; visa fees waived; academic event organisation expenses covered; school placement assistance for dependents. DURATION: 5 or 10 months (September 2027 – June 2028, flexible). DEADLINE: 15 September 2026. Apply via the Fulbright Scholar Program at https://fulbrightscholars.org/award/fulbright-imera-mediterranean-studies-award-aix-marseille-university.
Open Interval is a Simons Foundation program that supports trios consisting of an artist, a scientist, and a representative from a 501(c)(3) arts organization to collaborate around a shared scientific theme. The current cycle centers on the theme of turbulence, a phenomenon at the edge of chaos and beauty. Awarded trios receive USD 30,000 to support a sustained period of thought partnership and exploration rather than the production of finished works or exhibitions. The program runs from April to December 2027 with a touchstone meeting in May 2027 and possible cohort convenings. Trio members must be regionally co-located anywhere in the United States so they can collaborate in person. The scientist should hold a Ph.D. and be conducting basic research, with priority given to fields such as astrophysics, neuroscience, quantum physics, biology, or mathematics. The application portal opens September 9, 2026, and all three trio members must submit for the application to be complete.
The Nebraska Arts Council's Individual Artist Fellowship awards up to $5,000 for a one-year period to support professional development: creating new work, presentations, training and/or research. The fellowship rotates among three umbrella categories; the 2026 round accepts Performing Arts applications in theater/playwriting, choreography, filmmaking/screenwriting, and music/sound. ELIGIBILITY: Nebraska resident for at least 24 months before application, remaining resident during the fellowship year (attestation required); 19 or older; not enrolled in an undergraduate program in the discipline applied for (graduate and certificate programs allowed); applicants must be the originator of the submitted work, not an interpreter. Previous winners may reapply after three years with new work if prior grant requirements were completed. SUBMISSION: artist biography, artist statement (name redacted; themes, influences, techniques), and five work samples with descriptions or synopses. Questions: meagan.dion@nebraska.gov. DEADLINE: 17 November 2026.
The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico runs one of the oldest artist residency programs in the United States, established in 1954, on a 15-acre campus in Taos, New Mexico. The residency is open to visual artists, literary artists, and music composers, including painters, sculptors, photographers, filmmakers, writers, poets, playwrights, screenwriters, and songwriters. Selected grantees receive rent-free and utility-paid housing in a furnished casita for a session of 10 to 12 weeks, with access to a Commons House offering WiFi, a library, and bicycles. No stipend is provided in most cases, and residents cover their own food and transportation. Applications are open to creative artists worldwide regardless of age, experience, or nationality, and the annual deadline is January 18 for residencies the following calendar year. There is a non-waivable USD 30 application fee.
The Nathan Cummings Foundation (NCF), pursuing 'a Justice Journey', seeks innovative partners and proximate changemakers driving impact. Over three decades NCF has awarded nearly half a billion dollars to support movements, organizations, and individuals pursuing justice for people and the planet, embracing a 'totality of assets' approach that leverages the full power of its financial and non-financial resources. It works with organizations that share its commitment to advancing racial, economic, and environmental justice (REEJ). NCF welcomes proposals for partnerships via its Letters of Inquiry (LOI) portals year-round; grant and Program Related Investment proposals use the same portal. GRANT TYPES: (1) Venture Grants, up to USD 100,000 for one year, short-term support to expedite backing for social entrepreneurs with breakthrough, emerging, and innovative solutions, and to mutually explore new relationships; (2) Advancement Grants, up to USD 250,000 annually for up to two years, for project-based work and/or to help scale organizations and promising solutions; (3) Enterprise Grants, USD 250,000+ annually for more than two years, invitation-only, providing multi-year unrestricted funding to partners with deep alignment across NCF's REEJ focus areas. NOTE: this is a social-justice funder rather than an arts or technology programme; relevance to creative or tech practice depends on how a project connects to racial, economic, and environmental justice. Apply via the LOI portal at nathancummings.org/become-a-partner.
The Artist Response Fund (ARF) is an emergency relief program from the Artist Communities Alliance (ACA) for artists who experience threats to their safety or mental health during a residency and must leave before completing their term. Qualifying situations include assault, harassment, or systemic harm where the artist has attempted to address the issue without success. Grants of up to USD 1,500 help cover relocation costs such as transportation home, temporary lodging, supplies or basic needs, and rent upon returning. Eligible applicants are individual artists currently at, or having attended within the past 12 months, an ACA Organizational Member residency. There is no application fee, and the fund operates on a rolling basis with applications typically processed within one week. Artists apply directly through an online form and can also contact ACA staff with questions.
The Musicians Foundation provides one-time financial assistance to professional musicians facing a specific time of need caused by an unexpected hardship such as a medical or dental situation, a natural disaster, or a housing crisis. Eligible applicants must be professional performers, composers/arrangers, or educators who have worked as professional musicians in the United States for five or more years, currently reside in the U.S., and have filed taxes as a musician for at least five years. The application has a rolling, always-open structure with a Pre-Application followed by a more detailed second part for those who qualify. Grants are issued as vendorized checks made payable directly to the biller and mailed to the applicant's home address. Processing typically takes between one and twelve weeks depending on volume.
Kaatsbaan Cultural Park offers subsidized residencies for artists of all genres to create, live, and collaborate on its 153-acre campus in the Hudson Valley near Tivoli, New York. Residencies are individually designed between the artist, Kaatsbaan, and partners to fit the needs of the artist or company, welcoming disciplines from dance, theater, music, and visual arts to writing, composition, design, and film. The program is generously subsidized and includes individual hotel-style rooms, healthy locally sourced meals, and access to professional studios with sprung floors and pianos, a 160-seat black box theater, and exhibition space. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis through an inquiry form, with early inquiries encouraged to secure preferred dates. Artists at any career stage worldwide may apply, individually or as collaborative teams. There is no application fee and no artist stipend.
First round of grantmaking for the newly launched Just Futures Initiative at Borealis Philanthropy, within its Community Safety & Justice pillar. It resources frontline power-building organizations, emergent formations and coalitions advancing community safety, democracy protection and belonging in communities most impacted by criminalization. THREE PRIORITY LANES: (1) Movement Defense and Protection of Civil and Human Rights (defending protest, dissent, civil liberties, and communities facing criminalization, surveillance or state repression); (2) Community-Defined Safety and Innovative Alternatives to Criminalization (care-based safety infrastructure, crisis response, local policy/system shifts, place-based safety models); (3) Local Democracy Protection and Belonging Infrastructure. ELIGIBILITY: US-based or US-territory 501(c)(3) organizations or fiscally sponsored projects; annual operating budget generally under $2 million; grassroots organizations or coalitions rooted in and accountable to impacted communities, with a clear power-building and community-mobilization strategy. Priority to organizations in underfunded Southern, rural and high-threat geographies and those led by most-impacted communities. Applications are accepted on a ROLLING basis while funding remains available: complete the Just Futures Eligibility Quiz first; eligible organizations receive the Letter of Interest form, and selected applicants are invited to submit a full proposal.