Resources
Funding Resources for Students
Alexia Foundation
Cash grants and educational opportunities to support bodies of work promoting peace and cultural understanding
Americans for the Arts
Programs and awards to support the arts
Broke Scholar
Scholarship search engine
Fulbright Foreign Student Program
Prestigious funding to research and/or teach abroad
Government Grants
Wide-ranging grants for individuals and institutions
National Assembly of State Arts Associations
Directory of State Arts Agencies offering opportunities and funding for artists
National Endowment for the Arts
National funding and opportunities for artists
New York Foundation for the Arts
Resource for art opportunities, funding, studios, and residencies across the country
Grants and Competitions
Year Round
Adventographer Travel Scholarship (bi-annual, fall and spring semesters)
$1500 for students for travel photography
CDS Filmmaker Award (unclear deadline)
$7500 for documentary films; selected from among films in competition at Full Frame Documentary Festival held each spring in Durham, NC
The Documentary Project Fund (twice a year)
$5000 for documentary photographic projects that benefit your community
Getty Images Creative Grants and Emerging Talent Award (unclear deadline)
Cash prizes for (mostly) editorial photography
Photo District News (ongoing)
Multiple photo contests and cash prizes throughout the year
Sony World Photography Awards (ongoing)
Multiple student and professional photo competitions with various prizes
Winter
Aperture Portfolio Prize (Jan)
$3000 cash prize for photography plus an exhibition in New York; entry fee = Aperture magazine print subscription
Barbara Deming Memorial Fund (Jan)
$500-$1500 for Visual Art and Literary Projects by feminist women in the art
CENTER Grants (Jan/Feb)
$5000 project development grant for fine art, documentary, or photo-journalist works-in-progress;
$5000 project launch grant for fine art series or documentary project; entry fee = $55
The Inge Morath Award (Jan/Feb)
Given to a woman photographer under thirty years of age to assist in completing a long term documentary project
Documentary Essay Prize (Feb)
$3000 for a documentary essay- one year, photos; one year, writing; entry fee = $50
Spring
The Daylight Photo Awards (May)
$1000 for a cohesive series or body of work; entry fee = $35
Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize (May)
$10000 for documentarians doing extended, ongoing fieldwork projects exploring the relationship between words and images; entry fee = $70
Lenscratch Student Prize (May)
$500 plus gift certificates and additional items
Photo Review International Photography Competition (May)
$500 plus exhibition at the University of the Arts Photography Gallery (Philadelphia); entry fee = $35
The W. Eugene Smith Grant for Student Photographers (May)
$4000 to complete a photographic work-in-progress; entry fee = $1
Summer
Sarah Jacobson Film Grant (June)
$2000 to support DIY filmmaking focused on social critique with an underground sensibility
Fall
International Photo Awards (Aug)
$500-$10000 awards for best photographs in a variety of categories; minimum entry fee = $15 students, $25 for non-students
Aperture Photo Book Award (Sep)
$10000 for best First Photo Book; prize for Best Photobook of the Year also; entry fee = $30 per book
Burn Magazine Emerging Photographer and Fujifilm Young Talent Awards (Sep)
$10000 for each award; the FYT award is for photographers 25 years old or younger
PHmuseum Women Photographers Grant (Sep/Oct)
Up to $6500 cash prizes for female photographers; entry fee = $25
Feature Shoot Emerging Photography Awards (Oct)
Up to $5000 and other prizes; entry fee = $40
Fotofoto National Photography Competition (Oct)
$200-$500 for photographic image; entry fee = $40
New Delta Review: Ryan R. Gibbs Award for Photography (Oct)
$400 and publication of 5-11 previously unpublished photographs that tell a story or are centered on a unified theme
The Aftermath Project (Nov)
$25000 to support photographic projects by working photographers that “tell the other half of the story of conflict”
For Alumni Only
The Aaron Siskind Foundation (Spring)
$10000 for artists working in photography or photo-based art, based on accomplishment to date and promise of achievement in the medium, and are professionally active or employed in the field
Prix Virginia (May)
$12500 for professional female photographer
The W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography (May)
$35000 for a photographer whose past work and proposed project demonstrates commitment to social issues through photographic essays; entry fee = $50
Creative Capital Award (Sep)
Up to $50000 in direct project funding plus $45000 value of additional (non-financial) support; artists must be 25 years or older with five years or more of professional experience
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (Sep)
Up to $40000 for “midcareer” artists; the size of grant varies depending on the needs of Fellows and the purpose and scope of their plans
Fellowships and Internships
Americans for the Arts (DC) (Ongoing)
Art Internships (Baltimore) (Ongoing)
Art Internships (DC) (Ongoing)
Artechouse Internships (DC) (Ongoing)
Baltimore Museum of Art (Ongoing)
DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Internships (Ongoing)
Louis Armstrong Museum Fellow Program (Feb)
10-month Fellowship, 35 hrs per week, $30,000, Queens (NY), for alumni
National Museum of Women in the Arts (Feb)
Summer, paid, DC
Smithsonian Museum Internship Opportunities (Ongoing)
Smithsonian Studio Arts Intern (Feb)
Summer, 25-40 hrs per week, unpaid, DC
The Walters Art Museum (Baltimore) (Ongoing)
Residencies
The American-Scandinavian Foundation
The Bellagio Study and Conference Center at The Rockefeller Foundation
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts
Berlin Artists-in-Residence Program
Glacier National Park Artist in Residency
Harvestworks Artist In Residency
International Artists’ Studio Program (IASPIS
Light Work Artist in Residence
Oregon College of Art and Craft
The Space Program with The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation
The Whitney Independent Study Program
Professional Memberships
Check out the below organizations for professional networking, discount student memberships, discounted insurance for photo/video equipment, contests, funding, educational opportunities, and sharing work.
American Advertising Federation
American Society of Media Photographers
College Art AssociationCreative Edge Collaborative
DesignPark 3311
DC Fashion Chamber of Commerce
National Association for the Visual Arts
Organization of Black Designers
Professional Photographers of America
Arts Organizations
Check out the organizations below for potential educational or exhibition opportunities, as well as ways to engage the community through art.
Arts & Humanities at Takoma Park (MD)
Capital Fringe (DC)
DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities
Hyattsville Community Arts Alliance (MD)
International Sculpture Center
Prince George’s Arts & Humanities Council (MD)
Pyramid Atlantic Art Center (MD)
Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts
The Washington Glass School (MD)
Local Museums, Galleries, and Non-traditional Art Spaces
Adamson Gallery (DC)
Artechouse (DC)
Art Whino (DC)
Bowie Center for the Performing Arts
Grimaldis Gallery (Baltimore)
Connersmith Gallery (DC)
Current Space (Baltimore)
District of Columbia Arts Center
Dupont Underground (DC)
Freer and Sackler Galleries of Art (DC)
Guest Spot (Baltimore)
Hemphill Gallery (DC)
Hirshhorn Museum (DC)
Maryland Art Place (Baltimore)
Morton Fine Art (DC)
National Museum of African American History and Culture (DC)
National Portrait Gallery (DC)
Prince George’s African American Museum & Cultural Center
Renwick Gallery (DC)
Smithsonian American Art Museum (DC)
Target Gallery (Alexandria)
Torpedo Factory (Alexandria)
The Walters Art Museum (Baltimore)
Washington Project for the Arts
Art Criticism Publications