A4A Blog
This fall, we have opportunities for artists/makers currently based in North Adams and those interested in relocating to North Adams.
We're thrilled to partner with the City of Boston for a second year of artist support programming.
It's about strengthening your career as an artist by growing your business know-how and financial capacity. Artists selected for our 2019 matched savings grant program will receive:
A “matched savings” grant that provides working capital to help grow the artist’s creative practice. Participants are provided with grants of $1,000 or $2,000 to match a corresponding amount of savings, and the combined amount is used by the artist toward implementing a plan to strengthen their Connecticut-based creative practice.
Free professional development services, including artist-tailored workshops on financial and business planning. These classes will be offered in various Connecticut locations in spring/summer 2019.
Free one-on-one coaching in the development of the artist’s business plan.
This application is for artists in ALL creative disciplines, and ALL financial circumstances, based ANYWHERE in Connecticut.
Because a large proportion of our funding comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Business Development Program, artists in rural communities will be given preference, but grants will also be awarded to non-rural artists.
If you’re an artist/maker motivated to improve your financial & business management skills and to make investments aimed at growing your creative practice, we’d love to hear from you.
CLICK HERE to read testimonials from, and in-depth profiles of, some of the artists who completed the Matched Savings Program in 2016.
2016 CT A4A alum Judith Kruger
Not located in Connecticut? Please check back again soon or add yourself to our email list for updates and future programming opportunities in your area.
Our work in Connecticut is possible because of our wonderful funders & partners, including MASS MoCA, ArtBuilt, Northwest Connecticut Arts Council, Southeastern Connecticut Cultural Coalition, Windham Arts, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Business Development Grant Program, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Assets for Independence Program (in partnership with the Midas Collaborative), and the State of CT’s Office of the Arts.
It's about strengthening your career as an artist by growing your business know-how and financial capacity. Artists selected for our 2019 matched savings program will receive:
A “matched savings” grant that provides working capital to help grow the artist’s creative practice. Participants are provided with grants of $1,000 or $2,000 to match a corresponding amount of savings, and the combined amount is used by the artist toward implementing a plan to strengthen their Rhode Island-based creative practice.
Free professional development services, including artist-tailored workshops on financial management and business planning. These classes will be offered in various Rhode Island locations in spring/summer 2019.
Free one-on-one coaching in the development of the artist’s business plan.
This application is for artists in ALL creative disciplines, and ALL financial circumstances, based ANYWHERE in Rhode Island.
Because a large proportion of our funding comes from the USDA, artists in rural communities will be given preference, but grants will also be awarded to non-rural artists.
If you’re an artist/maker motivated to improve your financial & business management skills and to make investments aimed at growing your creative practice, we’d love to hear from you.
Not located in Rhode Island? Please check back again soon or add yourself to our email list for updates and future programming opportunities in your area.
Our work in Rhode Island is possible because of our wonderful funders & partners.
One application, all of MA.
This year, artists based ANYWHERE in Massachusetts are eligible to apply with one application.
Massachusetts-based artists selected for our 2018 matched savings program will receive:
A “matched savings” grant that provides working capital help grow the artist’s creative practice. Participants are provided with grants of $1,000 or $2,000 to match a corresponding amount of savings, and the combined amount is used by the artist toward implementing a plan to strengthen their creative practice.
Free professional development services, including artist-tailored workshops on financial management and business/career planning.
Free one-on-one coaching in the development of the artist’s business plan.
If you’re an artist/maker motivated to improve your financial & business management skills and to make investments aimed at growing your creative practice, we’d love to hear from you.
Our free workshops are geared to help artists strengthen their professional practices. This fall/winter, we’re offering six expert-led workshops to help artists in all disciplines. You may apply to participate in as many workshops as you think would be a good fit for you!
Find Your Message: Branding & Marketing for Visual Artists
November 13, 1-6pm | Easthampton, MA
Jessica Burko is a Boston-based exhibiting artist, curator, and arts marketing professional. In this workshop, Jessica will help visual artists and craftspeople gain a better understanding of how to present their work, how to identify their target audience, and how to create a detailed marketing plan while building the confidence to implement it.
On the day following the group workshop, selected artists will be invited to meet individually (for 30 minutes) with Jessica for an in-depth discussion of specific marketing questions and concerns, and to review their arts marketing strategies.
Business Thinking for Performing Artists
November 19, 10am - 5pm | North Adams, MA
Amy Smith, Co-Director of Headlong Dance Theater and Headlong Performance Institute in Philadelphia, has worked internationally as a choreographer, director and performer. In this interactive workshop, performing artists in all fields — music, dance, theater, comedy, and more — will set goals and learn skills they can implement right away. Topics include valuing your time and other issues related to self-employment, long term financial thinking, “real cost” budgeting for projects and for your life, fundraising and other revenue streams, and goal setting for the business of your artistic practice.
Taxes for Artists
November 20, 10am - 12pm | North Adams, MA
Amy Smith is a licensed tax preparer working exclusively with artists, and also an acclaimed choreographer, director, and performer. In this workshop, Amy will give an overview of tax preparation for artists, including how not to pay too much in taxes by deducting all business expenses. There will also be information about the effects of the new tax law.
Understanding Your Visual Art Practice as a Business
Choice of dates:
November 26, 1-6pm | North Adams
December 1, 1-6pm | Waltham
Kim Faler is an installation artist who has been awarded Rauschenberg and Artpace residencies and has exhibited at MASS MoCA. In this workshop, participants will create a framework for understanding their practice as a business and a strategic plan for advancing their goals. Participants will receive guidance on improving their artist statements, portfolios, websites, budgeting, time management, and fundraising. Recommended for fine / non-commercial visual artists.
Fundraising for Individual Artists
November 28, 6-9pm | Boston, MA
Candelaria Silva knows the funding world deeply, both from the applicant and grantor perspectives. This workshop is designed to help artists create a funding base by addressing how to cultivate foundation, business, and individual support; successful grant-writing tips; how networking helps with fundraising; and when/how to use fiscal agents.
Not located in Massachusetts? Please check back again soon or join our email list for updates and future programming opportunities for which you may be eligible, including the Studios at MASS MoCA residency program.
Our work in Massachusetts is possible because of our wonderful funders & partners, specifically the Barr Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation, Surdna Foundation, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Assets for Independence (AFI) program.
The Studios at MASS MoCA has a special opportunity for you! We are currently accepting applications from Massachusetts-based artists & writers for 2 - 4 week residencies. Sessions will take place between Nov. 7, 2018 and Dec. 4, 2018.
These residencies come with a deeply subsidized fee of $150/week and participants will receive a travel and meal stipend to further offset costs. But that’s not the only perk...
In addition to these usual benefits, the artists selected for this residency will have the opportunity to participate in group workshops with artist-experts on personal finance and career development, and optional one-on-one assistance with financial planning and goal-setting, provided via MASS MoCA's Assets for Artists staff. Below are brief descriptions of the group workshops:
Financial Bootcamp for Artists, led by Esther Robinson
Led by dynamic filmmaker and artist educator Esther Robinson (Director of ArtBuilt), this 8-hour workshop reframes personal finance in artist terms and covers budgeting, credit, the value of an emergency fund, and strategies to build savings and generate new revenue opportunities, with a major focus on goal-setting.
Beyond the MFA: Business Planning for Artists, led by Kim Faler
Kim Faler is an installation artist who has been awarded Rauschenberg and Artpace residencies and has exhibited at MASS MoCA. In this workshop, participants will create a framework for understanding their practice as a business and a strategic plan for advancing their goals. Participants will receive guidance on improving their artist statements, portfolios, websites, budgeting, time management, and fundraising. Recommended for fine/non-commercial artists.
Taxes for Artists, led by Hannah Cole
Hannah Cole is a tax expert who specializes in working with creative businesses and artists. A long-time working artist with a high-level exhibition history, Hannah has a unique vantage point for understanding the financial challenges of freelancers and small creative businesses. In this workshop she will discuss the basic tax equation and tax issues specifically relevant to artists, followed by a Q&A period. Hannah Cole is the founder of Sunlight Tax and an Enrolled Agent with the IRS.
Application Deadline:
April 27, 2018 11:59pm EST.
No application fee.
Click below for more details on eligibility and to find the application.
We're thrilled to partner with the City of Boston for a second year of artist support programming.
(If you have a great opportunity to share, please send suggestions to assetsforartists@massmoca.org.)
Applications are open for the 2018 winter session at the Cabins, located in the scenic rural town of Norfolk, CT. Join a group of up to 9 interdisciplinary artists January 25-29 for a five day, low cost artist retreat. This one-of-a-kind collaborative experience brings together artists from a variety of creative backgrounds, including visual artists, writers, musicians, dancers, filmmakers and poets. Each resident teaches an hour-long Master's class contributing an enriching learning experience for the whole group.
Deadline: December 26, 2017
No Entry Fee
A prize of $2,000 and a six- to eight-week residency at the Frost Place, Robert Frost’s former home in Franconia, New Hampshire, is given annually to a poet who has published at least one poetry collection. The winner is also invited to give readings at Dartmouth College, the Frost Place, and other local venues.
Deadline: January 5, 2018
Entry Fee: $28
A Fort Point Arts Community Exhibition at the Gallery at Atlantic Wharf, 290 Congress Street in Boston has a call for art for an upcoming group show. “How Do I Look” invites artists to reflect on the subjective nature of visual perception and the flaws in the notion of sight as truth. Such reflection is especially pertinent within “visual” art, as the ability to see and perceive color, light, depth, and movement is often inextricably linked with the tradition. Submissions of work might address issues and phenomena around vision and its role within the visual arts broadly, including visibility and invisibility, blindness, gaze, optical illusion, perspective, synesthesia, belief, the inner eye, etc., as a way to uncover the fallibility of vision and explore new ways of “seeing.” “How Do I Look” is guest-curated by Scout Hutchinson & Mary Provenzano. Selected artists will either receive an honorarium, or a one-year FPAC membership.
Deadline: January 7, 2018
No Entry Fee
Sculpture Space, located in Utica, New York, invites artists whose focus is sculpture to apply for a two-month residency between February and November 2019. They offer a 5,500 square foot shared studio with specialized equipment in addition to five private studios. The Studio Manager provides ongoing assistance and technical expertise. The studio and house are located in the eclectic, historically underserved, diverse and upcoming West Utica neighborhood — close to downtown, and situated in Central New York's scenic Mohawk Valley. Because of Sculpture Space’s long history and presence in Utica, the community is supportive and receptive to site-specific work; in particular, we are interested in projects that realize and expand examples of creative place-making to our neighborhood and the community.
Deadline: January 15, 2018
No Entry Fee
The Wassaic Project is accepting 1 – 6 month proposals for their Summer 2018 Residency program (May through October). The Wassaic Project cultivates and supports community for emerging and professional contemporary artists, writers and other creatives. Housed in historic, landmark buildings, the residency program offers nine artists each month the opportunity to live and work in the heart of a rural New York community. Artists work in adaptable raw studio space in a historic livestock barn and have 24 hour access to their studio and accommodations.
Deadline: January 22, 2018
Entry Fee: $25
I-Park is now accepting applications for its 2018 artists-in-residence program. Forty-four fully funded residencies are available between May and December, and range in duration from two to four weeks. The residencies are open to artists and designers working in visual arts, creative writing, music composition, sound art, moving image, architecture or landscape design. Located within a 450-acre nature preserve in rural East Haddam, Connecticut (U.S.), I-Park provides residents with a quiet, retreat-type setting, private living quarters in a renovated 1840s farmhouse, a private studio, meals program, fully equipped workshop and modest library—as well as creative access to I-Park’s expansive grounds. Residencies are self-directed, undisturbed and non-judgmental.
Deadline: January 22, 2018
Entry Fee: $30
Mass Cultural Council is now accepting 2018 Artist Fellowship applications in the categories of Choreography, Fiction/Creative Nonfiction, and Painting. The Artist Fellowships are unrestricted, anonymously judged, competitive grants of $12,000 and finalist awards of $1,000, in recognition of artistic excellence. Massachusetts artists creating original work who meet eligibility requirements are encouraged to apply.
Deadline: January 29, 2018
No Entry Fee
Gallery Madison Park invites artists and curators to submit exhibition proposals for a solo or group exhibition for their 2018 exhibition season. Gallery Madison Park is an exhibition space for contemporary artists and designers located in New Your City, on 34th street between Madison Avenue and Park Avenue.
Deadline: January 30, 2018
No Entry Fee
The Lake George Arts Project invites regional, national, emerging and established artists to submit exhibition proposals to the Courthouse Gallery. Preference is given to experimental or non-traditional work created in the last two years. They welcome proposals for special exhibitions, installations, mixed media presentations, and performance art and provide artists with a quality space where they can present a solid body of work in a solo or small group show.
Deadline: January 31, 2018
No Entry Fee
The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA offers a unique residency program for emerging artists and writers. Located in a rustic fishing village with a storied history as an arts colony, the Work Center provides seven-month Fellowships to twenty Fellows each year in the form of living/work space and a modest monthly stipend of $750. Residencies run from October 1 through April 30. Fellows pursue their work independently in a diverse and supportive community of peers. Additional facilities include a basic woodshop, a print shop with an etching and lithography press, and digital media lab. Optional activities provide Fellows the opportunity to meet acclaimed visiting artist and writers, and exhibit their work in the Work Center's Hudson D. Walker Gallery.
Deadline: February 1, 2018
Entry Fee: $57
Art in the Open (AiO), a partnership between The Center for Emerging Visual Artists (CFEVA), City Parks Association, and Fairmount Water Works, re-frames the ‘plein air’ tradition of creating art outside and on-site in a contemporary context, encouraging both artists and audiences to draw inspiration from the city's diverse natural and urban landscapes. Using the Schuylkill River Banks Park in Philadelphia, PA as studio space, participating artists will have the opportunity to explore new working methods, develop process-oriented works, and interpret a compelling intersection of urban and natural environments in the public realm. AiO dates are May 18-20, 2018 and the event reaches an estimated 12,000 visitors over the course of three-days. Artists receive a $350 stipend.
Deadline: February 1, 2018
Entry Fee: $35
It's about strengthening your career as an artist by growing your business know-how and financial capacity. Artists selected for our 2018 matched savings program will receive:
A “matched savings” grant that provides working capital to help grow the artist’s creative practice. Participants are provided with grants of $1,000 or $2,000 to match a corresponding amount of savings, and the combined amount is used by the artist toward implementing a plan to strengthen their Rhode Island-based creative practice.
Free professional development services, including artist-tailored workshops on financial management and business planning. These classes will be offered in various Rhode Island locations in spring/summer 2018.
Free one-on-one coaching in the development of the artist’s business plan.
"Rural" is defined by the United States Department of Agriculture, the key funder for our work in Rhode Island. You may apply for this grant if you have a residence or studio in an eligible Rhode Island community, which include all towns in Rhode Island EXCEPT the following non-eligible cities & towns: Providence, East Providence, North Providence, Newport, Warwick, West Warwick, Cranston, Pawtucket, Woonsocket, Bristol, Lincoln, Central Falls, Portsmouth, and Barrington.
If you're unsure about your eligibility, please contact us at assetsforartists@massmoca.org.
If you’re an artist/maker motivated to improve your financial & business management skills and to make investments aimed at growing your creative practice, we’d love to hear from you.
Not located in rural Rhode Island? Please check back again soon or add yourself to our email list for updates and future programming opportunities in your area.
Our work in Rhode Island is possible because of our wonderful funders & partners.
We're thrilled to partner with Lawrence Community Works for a third year of artist support programming in Lawrence. This year, we have opportunities for artists/makers currently based in Lawrence, and have added support for artists interested in relocating to this exciting city.
