The application deadline is nearing for this year’s Kresge Artist Fellowship and the prize money has almost doubled in size.
Artists living in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties have until Jan. 18 to apply for the program, with the award increasing from $25,000 to $40,000. The number of fellowships are also increasing, from 20 to 25, according to a news release.
“This expands and deepens our decade-plus commitment to direct support to the working artists of greater Detroit,” Rip Rapson, president and CEO of The Kresge Foundation said in the release. “Artists are there for us as bearers of tradition and inspiring innovators. They are too often unacknowledged catalysts for our economic well-being and civic progress. We need to be there for them as they are here for our community.”
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Applicants can choose between two categories–live arts and film and music. The live arts category includes choreography, comedy, dance, performance art, playwriting, storytelling, theater directing and interdisciplinary work. The film and music category encompasses animation, film directing, music composition, music performance, screenwriting, sound art, and interdisciplinary work. The number of awards in the two categories will be proportional to the number of applicants in each, according to Kresge. People can apply at kresgeartsindetroit.org.
Those who are not selected for a fellowship will automatically be considered for a Gilda Award–$5,000 prizes for emerging artists. A total of 10 Gilda Awards will be given out.
Other guidelines for the fellowship include being 18 years of age or older, a resident of any of the three counties for at least two years prior to the application deadline. Artists also must stay in metro Detroit for the year-long fellowship.
The winners of the Kresge Fellowship and Gilda Awards will be announced in the summer.
The program is funded by The Kresge Foundation and administered by Kresge Arts in Detroit, which supports artists living and working in metro Detroit through “no strings attached” awards and fellowships.
The Kresge Arts in Detroit program has awarded $8 million to 345 metro Detroit artists since 2008. Originally set at 18 awards per year, the number increased to 20 in 2021 due to the COVID pandemic and now to 25. The Gilda Awards was added in 2015 and increased from five awards to 10, also during the pandemic.
Past Kresge Artist fellows include Michigan Poet Laureate Nandi Comer, animator Rachel Reid, blues singer Thornetta Davis and novelist Michael Zadoorian.