OVERVIEW: The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts makes grants for visual arts organizations, exhibitions and programs focusing on experimental and contemporary art.
IP TAKE: The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts is a vital source of support for visual arts organizations, curators and others focusing on lesser-known contemporary artists, media and themes. According to this funder, it has “given nearly $300 million in cash grants to more than 1,000 arts organizations in 49 states and abroad and has donated 52,786 works of art to 322 institutions worldwide.” This foundation is well-organized and provides clear application guidelines for each of its programs. Warhol also collaborates with other arts grantmakers on some of its special initiatives, including funding programs for small, regional organizations. Contemporary arts organizations will want to sign up for the newsletter to keep up with this open-minded arts funder. This funder further notes that the its funding does not typically provide sole funding. Funded projects do not have to be connected to Andy Warhol in any way in order to be eligible. Organizations must submit a letter of inquiry before the deadline after which they may be invited to make a full application. Furthermore, this funder typically gives at the national level, but in a small set of instances, at the international level as well.
Since the NEA cancelled funding for Challenge America due to funding cuts under the Trump Administration, this funder, in partnership with Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, announced a joint commitment of $800,000 to provide immediate support to 80 small and mid-sized cultural organizations that lost funding. According to IP’s Mike Scutari, this partnership offers a critical lifeline to fill gaps left behind from the federal collapse in arts funding and, according to the Warhol Foundation’s President Joel Wachs, the two foundations’ shared work is only “getting started.”
PROFILE: Founded in 1987, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts pursues a simple mission to “advance […] the visual arts” and is dedicated to “supporting the creation of new work by experimental visual artists.” The foundation funds Curatorial Research Fellowships, Exhibition Support grants and Multi-year Program Support. It also supports artists through Regional Regranting programs and Special Initiatives.
Grants for Visual Arts and Film
The Warhol Foundation offerings include the following programs:
- The Curatorial Research Fellowship program supports curators “with or without institutional affiliation” conducting research for planned visual arts exhibitions or related projects. Fellowships prioritize curators pursuing topics or subjects that are “understudied,” experimental and have had little exposure. Fellowships are awarded in amounts of up to $50,000 and may support travel expenses, research assistant pay, acquisitions of relevant media or technical services including translation, recording or transcription. Past fellows have produced exhibitions ad projects for the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Museum of Art.
- Exhibition Support Grants support the curation and production of exhibitions of one or more visual artists “whose work has been less celebrated than that of their peers” but has been influential to contemporary art and artists. Grants generally range from $60,000 to $100,000, which should account for about 25% of the funded project’s total cost. Recent grantees include the Baltimore Museum of Art, the National Museum of the American Indian in New York, the Athenaeum of the University of Georgia and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri.
- Multi-year Program Support grants take a broader approach, offering support to different types of visual arts projects, including “exhibitions, residencies, public art works, screenings, performances, lectures, publications, mentorships and other professional development opportunities for artists.” Projects are generally about two years in duration, and grants range from $60,000 to $100,000. The foundation notes that the ideal proposals for these grants will “focus on artists and ideas” as opposed to proposals for projects that benefit organizations directly. Past grantees include the Anthology Film Archive in New York, the Chicago Artists Coalition, Public Art St. Paul and the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art in Salt Lake City.
- The Regional Regranting Program supports artists and groups around the U.S. that “chart new creative territory in their communities.” This program operates exclusively through established partnerships with funding organizations in 32 separate cities and regions. Priority is given to “artists whose work falls outside the scope of traditional presenting organizations and/or funding opportunities.” Examples of funded projects include “queer zines, living room galleries, radical seafaring events, and virtual reality film screenings among other public-facing experimental activities.”
- The Warhol Foundation also supports visual arts through Creative Capital, a collaborative initiative created in 1999, when the National Endowment for the Arts ended its support programs for individual artists. Together with other arts grantmakers, the program supports supports “the creation of bold, risk-taking, and genre-stretching projects in the visual arts, performing arts, film, technology, literature, and multidisciplinary forms.” Creative Capital runs an application program separate from the Andy Warhol Foundation and awards grants in amounts of up to $500,000.
Grants for Writing
The Andy Warhol Foundation’s support for writing stems from its Arts Writer’s Grant Program, a special initiative.
- Established in 2006, the program supports writers working on books, articles and other types of written work on “contemporary visual art” and related issues.
- Grants range from $15,000 to $50,000 and have supported a broad range of projects, including experimental and interdisciplinary pieces.
- See the program page for examples of funded work and application information.
Important Grant Details:
Warhol’s grants range from $15,000 to $100,000, in ranges set by each program. That said, this funder has provided hundreds of grants for the visual arts over the years and shows no signs of slowing down.
- Most of Warhol’s grants offer project support for visual arts organizations and artists whose work is innovative, experimental and/or in keeping with the spirit of Warhol’s expression.
- A small percentage of grants fund organizations based outside of the U.S. Organizations must submit a letter of inquiry before the deadline after which they may be invited to make a full application. If international projects have a, “U.S. venue, provide opportunities for a broad network of underserved international artists, or undertake themes that have not been adequately engaged in the U.S., they will be more competitive.”
- The foundation also provides funds for exhibitions, catalogs, and other organizational activities related to “innovative and scholarly presentations of contemporary visual arts.”
- The Andy Warhol Foundation accepts proposals for funding twice annually with due dates that typically fall on the first of March and September. Find complete application guidelines here.
- For information about past grantees and recipients, see the foundation’s grants archive.
Contact the Andy Warhol Foundation via email at info@warholfoundation.org. The foundation’s phone number is listed as (212) 387-7555. Too keep up with the latest, sign up for the organization’s newsletter.
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