The Boston Athenæum offers short-term fellowships to support the use of Athenæum collections for research, publication, curriculum and program development, or other creative projects. Each fellowship pays a stipend for a residency of twenty days (four weeks) and includes a year’s membership to the Boston Athenæum. Scholars, graduate students, independent scholars, teaching faculty, and professionals in the humanities as well as teachers and librarians in secondary public, private, and parochial schools are eligible.
Applications for most fellowships are due annually by April 15. Additionally, the Athenæum participates in the New England Regional Fellowship Consortium, a collaboration of 31 major cultural agencies that will offer at least two dozen $5,000 awards for eight weeks of research between June 1, 2024 and May 31, 2025. Applications are submitted online via the Massachusetts Historical Society, and are due February 1, 2024.
Taking the place of long-running programs such as the Artist Fellowship, Cultural Sector Recovery Program, and Traditional Arts Apprenticeships, the Grants for Creative Individuals program seeks to “equitably advance creativity throughout the Commonwealth with unrestricted grants to individuals who demonstrate achievement of creative expression and commitment to their artistic/cultural practice.”
Eligible applicants can apply for unrestricted grants of $5,000, which will be awarded to “artist[s], culture bearer[s], or creative practitioner[s] active in any artistic/creative discipline… [who] demonstrate achievement of creative expression and commitment to their artistic/cultural practice.”
Who Can Apply
MCC encourages you to apply if you are:
An artist, culture bearer, or creative practitioner active in any artistic/creative discipline. For this program, the definition of “artist/culture bearer/creative practitioner” includes individuals whose creative expression is based in: community-based arts, crafts, dance, design, digital, film/video, folk/world/traditional arts, native/indigenous arts, literature, music, performance, photography, theater, and visual arts.
If you have any questions about whether your work is eligible for this grant, contact the MCC.
AND you meet all the following requirements:
You are 18 years of age or older.
You are a full-year resident of Massachusetts for calendar year 2023 AND when grants are awarded in Spring 2024. This means you maintain your “legal residence” in Massachusetts, and you meet the definition of a “full-year resident”. Both terms are defined in the Massachusetts tax code.
You are not currently enrolled at a college or university as a full-time undergraduate student or as a graduate student in the arts.
You did not receive a Cultural Sector Recovery Grant, Artist Fellowship grant, or a Traditional Arts Apprenticeship grant over $2,000 in 2021, 2022, or 2023.
You are not a governor-appointed Mass Cultural Council member. Mass Cultural Council staff and family are likewise ineligible to apply.
Additional Information
As this award is made directly to the individual, submission through Emerson College and coordination with ORCS is not required.
