Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities
Location: National
City: Minneapolis, MN
Type: Grant / Fellowship / Award
Categories:
Visual Arts
Deadline: 05/23/2024
No entry fee required
Open to artists statewide
Paid opportunity
About Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities
Please note that we acknowledge both identity first and person first framing of disability identity. When we use the phrase “disabled artists,” we intend to align with the Social Model of Disability understanding that people are disabled by environmental and societal barriers.
Visual artists with disabilities, across many lines of difference, are doing incredible work around the Midwest. The Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities recognizes and celebrates their efforts and encourages their future work.
This award also supports and celebrates accessibility in the arts. It recognizes that the general funding community in the Midwest has not historically invested in disabled artists and that increasing support for this group is an important part of increasing accessibility in the arts. It also advocates for the arts being viable employment, which is often overlooked by funding agencies supporting people with disabilities.
We invite mid-career 2D and 3D visual artists with disabilities to apply for this award. Each awardee will receive a $3,000 check award. There are no requirements for how awarded funds are used, though awardees are encouraged to use it toward growing their art career. Awardees’ submitted work will be featured on the Arts Midwest website.
From 2023–2025, this award will recognize 27 individuals (9 per year) in the Arts Midwest region of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and the Native Nations that share this geography.