Project Awards & Fellowships

Practicing artists over the age of 18 who have lived in Alaska for at least two years at the time of submitting their application. Students in an artistic discipline degree-seeking program are ineligible. Groups and collaboratives also are eligible.

A practicing artist is actively and currently working on their craft. This can be demonstrated through an active and consistent studio practice, exhibition, performance, publication, mentorship, project development or more. Culture bearers, literary writers, filmmakers, dancers, musical performers, composers, choreographers, folk and traditional artists and visual creatives such as painters, photographers and sculptors are all artists.  If you are not sure where your practice most aligns, please reach out to Foundation staff: arts@rasmuson.org.

Grant amounts went up in 2023 for the first time since 2012. Project Awards now are $10,000 and Fellowships, $25,000.

Artists, makers and culture bearers can select from these categories. If it’s more than one, consider multidiscipline.

• Dance/Choreography
• Crafts
• Folk & Traditional Arts
• Literary Arts/Scriptworks
• Media Arts
• Multidiscipline
• Music/Music Composition
• New Genre
• Performance Arts
• Presentation/Interpretation
• Visual Arts

Artists, makers and culture bearers can apply for a Project Award in any discipline. For Fellowships, disciplines rotate from year to year.

In 2023, Fellowships include Dance/Choreography, Crafts, Folk & Traditional Arts, Literary Arts/Scriptworks, and Performance Arts. 

In 2024, Fellowships will include Media Arts, Multidiscipline, Music/Music Composition, New Genre, Presentation/Interpretation, and Visual Arts.

The next application cycle will be announced mid-2024.

No. An artist, or member of an artist group, may apply for only one grant per year.

Award recipients are determined through a rigorous and thorough panel process. A panel of national subject matter experts are selected each year to review and select award recipients. This process occurs over several months with various stages of review. Through its affiliation with national arts organizations, other grantmakers, art administrators, professional artists and cultural scholars, the Foundation assembles a panel of experts from across the country to review Project Award and Fellowship submissions. New panelists are selected each year. The Distinguished Artist is selected through a separate application and Alaska-based review process.

Panelists consider 1) the quality of artistic work within the context of the individual’s experience, training and career stage 2) the artist’s creative accomplishments and promise for future excellence, and 3) the impact the award will have on the applicant’s future artistic and career growth.

An artist’s work must be culturally responsible and not contain elements of cultural appropriation, defined by the online dictionary Lexico as “the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society.”

The Foundation defines career stage as follows: 1) emerging artists are those in the early stages of their careers yet have a strong portfolio and established artistic voice; 2) mid-career artists have created an independent body of work and have progressed steadily as an artist; 3) established artists have an extensive independent body of work representing a lifelong investigation and maturation of personal creativity.

Artists who received a Rasmuson Foundation Individual Artist Award must wait three years from receiving their award before reapplying. An artist who received an award in 2019 is eligible again in 2023. Artists who received an award in 2020 must wait until 2024.

Yes, the Individual Artist Awards are taxable income. Please contact a tax professional if you have specific questions.

Each discipline has a minimum number of samples required. For example, visual arts require a minimum of five work samples, but will allow up to 10. Please see the guidelines to learn more about work sample requirements. It is encouraged that you submit as many samples as possible to give the panel the best opportunity to learn about your work.