OVERVIEW: The Joan Mitchell Foundation is named after the late artist and inspired by her mission. The foundation supports a variety of grant programs, artist residencies, and other support programs for visual artists.
IP TAKE: The Joan Mitchell Foundation prioritizes painters and sculptors and awards lucrative grants and residencies for different career phases and professional circumstances. This funder centers equity and long-term relationship development at the center of its funding. Applications are typically either invite-only, or alternately come about once direct and meaningful contact is established with the foundation. That said, this is an excellent funder to know given that it offers unrestricted support.
PROFILE: The Joan Mitchell Foundation was established in 1993, the year after artist Joan Mitchell’s death. The foundation seeks “to fulfill the ambitions of Joan Mitchell to aid and assist contemporary artists and to demonstrate that painting and sculpture are significant cultural necessities.” It funds grants programs, artist residencies, and other support programs for visual artists and visual arts organizations.
Grants for Visual Arts
The Joan Mitchell Foundation centers all giving on the visual arts via the following artist programs that align with its 2020-2024 Strategic Plan:
- The Joan Mitchell Fellowship provides $60,000 of unrestricted funds to 15 individual artists, distributed over five years. The program seeks to support those who “are making exceptional work in the evolving fields of painting and sculpture; are deserving of greater acknowledgment on a national level; will benefit from the recognition and resources that the award provides.” Applicants must be nominated for this program. See previous fellows here.
- The foundation also has a second visual artist grant program, the Joan Mitchell Center Artist in Residence in New Orleans Grant Program. The program offers “space and time for artists to create work in a contemplative environment, focusing on the transformative possibilities of a residency experience.”
- Finally, the foundation partners with both individual visual artists and visual arts organizations for a program named Creating a Living Legacy. This program organizes, inventories, and creates comprehensive documentation of a visual artist’s work and career.
Important Grant Details:
Grants and fellowships are awarded in amounts specified by each program. In a recent year, this foundation made $627,000 in grants. In a recent year, this funder gave about $6.8 million in grants.
- Grant seekers can contact this funder at (212) 524-0100 or info@joanmitchellfoundation.org.
- This funder does not accept unsolicited applicaitons.
PEOPLE:
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