Utah Artist Fellowship Program

Applicants must meet all of the following requirements to apply.

• Must be 25 years of age or older at the time of the deadline.
• Artists must be originators of work submitted.
  • Performing arts applicants may submit their interpretation of others' work.
• Must be Utah residents for two years prior to the application deadline.
• Previous fellowship recipients may not apply.
• Must have a U.S. Tax ID Number (SSN, EIN, ITIN, or other)
  • Note: Fellowship recipients are responsible for all applicable federal taxes. We urge that you keep all receipts and other appropriate records for tax filing purposes. Please consult a tax accountant with questions; unfortunately, we cannot advise on tax matters.
• Individuals enrolled in any undergraduate, graduate, or post-graduate degree-granting program are not eligible to apply.
• Artist teams/groups are not eligible to apply.
• Immediate family members, board or committee members, and employees of the Utah Division of Arts & Museums are not eligible to apply. 

Performing arts disciplines rotate every three years between music, dance, and theatre. The 2023 focus is music. Artists practicing in a variety of music-related performing arts – such as composing, songwriting, singing, conducting, traditional arts, and new genres – are eligible.

Artists practicing in Visual Arts media – such as painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, sculpture, craft, installation, traditional arts, and new genres – are eligible. New genres include video, sound, performance, and other media-based arts. Visual art must be a primary, significant, and integral component of the media. Narrative and documentary filmmakers are not eligible.

Designers working in the fields of architecture, interior design, exhibition design, furniture design, graphic design, landscape design, packaging design, product design, textile and fashion design, theatrical design, and urban design are eligible to apply. 

To be considered, applicants must:

• Have created a substantial, independent body of work over at least a five-year professional arts career.
  • Note: Work produced within an accredited degree program is not applicable toward the five-year period of professional accomplishment.
• Have made a recognized contribution to their discipline through public presentation of their work.
• Demonstrate a consistent level of artistic ability throughout their professional arts career.
• Provide evidence of continued commitment to serious exploration of their artistic form.

Review process:

Applications are prescreened by staff for completion, eligibility, and adherence to published guidelines. Applicants meeting eligibility requirements but whose applications are found to be incomplete will be contacted and given the opportunity to withdraw and resubmit their application. No late applications will be accepted.

Following the application prescreen, the fellowship jurors will review all eligible applications and make final fellow selections. 

The Utah Division of Arts & Museums is a state agency involved in public funding for arts and museums. As a public entity, it reserves the right to make final decisions on the use of public funds for projects, programs, acquisitions, commissions, or other activities as deemed appropriate by the Division and/or Board. 

Applicants will be asked to provide the following information.

1. Bio: Minimum of 200 words, maximum of 300 words. A professional bio written in the third person. May include the medium you work in, key themes found in your art practice, art-related education, awards, significant past or current projects, where you are from, and where you live and work.
2. Artist’s statement: Minimum of 300 words, maximum of 500 words. A statement written in the first person describing your art practice and the overarching concepts behind it.
3. Description of intent: Maximum of 300 words. Please describe why this fellowship award is important to your artistic practice and development.
4. Professional CV: Maximum of six pages. It may include the following items as they relate to your discipline:
   • Education
   • Documentation of exhibition/performance history
   • Awards/grants
   • Commissions/collection
   • Publications
   • Gallery/agent representation
   • Reviews
5. Work samples: View specific work sample requirements for each discipline below. Note: In the application, there is an area to enter your website or social media artist profile; this is optional – the juror may select to review it or not.

Performing Arts Required Work Samples

Performing arts fellowship applications should only include a maximum of five work samples from the past five years. There is an individual attachment limit of 400 MB and a cumulative attachment limit of 800 MB per application on Submittable.

Work sample details:

• Performing Artists - Maximum of 5 work samples
• Must be works created in the past five years.
• May include a mixture of video, audio, images, or other documentation of work.
• Video samples must be submitted via a link to a platform such as Vimeo or YouTube. 
• Music and/or video samples should be no more than three minutes in length. If your work sample is longer, please identify the three-minute timestamp you wish the juror to review.
• It should be easy to identify the applicant in the work samples. If more than one person is seen in the work sample, the applicant must make clear how to identify themselves for the juror.
• In the Submittable form, you will be required to list the title, year completed, identifying information, and timestamp (if applicable).

Visual Arts Required Work Samples

Visual arts fellowship applications allow for up to ten uploaded work samples from the past five years. There is an individual attachment limit of 400 MB and a cumulative attachment limit of 800 MB per application on Submittable.

Work samples should be:

• Complete, finalized works.
• Works created in the past five years.
• In the Submittable form, you will be required to list the title, medium, year completed, and dimensions of images/videos.

For new media artists submitting videos:

• Video samples must be submitted via a link to a platform such as Vimeo or YouTube.

Design Arts Required Work Samples

Design fellowship applications allow for up to ten uploaded work samples from the past five years. There is an individual attachment limit of 400 MB and a cumulative attachment limit of 800 MB per application on Submittable.

Work sample details:

• Must be complete, finalized works.
• Must be works created in the past five years.
• May include a mixture of video, audio, images, or other documentation of work.
• Video samples must be submitted via a link to a platform such as Vimeo or YouTube. 
• You may include multiple views to show details or the complete location or context of the work; however, note that no more than ten files are allowed.

Submissions open: January 30, 2023

Application online info sessions: February 2, 2023 at 12 pm and 6 pm

Submissions close: March 3, 2023

Artists notified of results via Submittable: April 17, 2023

Professional development sessions begin : May 2023

April 26, 2023 from 12:00 - 1:00pm
Safeguarding Your Artistic Practice
Presenter - Ruby Lopez Harper, Executive Director, Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF+)

• Whether you’re a well-established artist or just starting out, thinking about emergency or disaster preparedness is usually the last thing on your mind. This interactive and informative session will provide you with tips and tools you can use to ensure your practice is protected when something happens. Content to include brief overview of disaster preparedness and readiness tailored to relevant potential events or happenings, key takeaways and action items to prepare for disaster and considerations post-disaster.
  
  Ruby's experience has included external equity strategies and field education, leadership development, local arts advancement, and cohort building for the local arts agency field, arts and culture administrators, and arts marketers. She was the chief architect of the National Arts Marketing Project Conference. Recently, she was selected for the 2021 BIPOC Leadership Circle Cohort with Artequity. She was a 2019 Arizona State University Practices for Change Fellow. She was recognized as a 2019 Inspirational Woman (Arts Advocate) by “And I Thought” Women in Literature. She is a steering committee member for the National Coalition on Arts Preparedness and Emergency Response, serves as Chair of the Gard Foundation, serves on the board for the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County (Grants Committee/Advocacy Committee) and serves on 212 Creative board and WETA Community Advisory Council. 
  Ruby’s work has focused on equitable access, grantmaking, supporting individual artists, community development, economic development, cultural tourism, marketing and public art. She draws on a varied background that includes corporate affairs, community relations, volunteerism, employee engagement, marketing and communications, and business administration. She served on the Emerging Leaders Council for Americans for the Arts, was the primary contact for the Arts and Economic Impact Study for Central Ohio and recently served as a mentor with Arts Administrators of Color DMV. She is a 2017 National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures Advocacy Leadership Institute Fellow, Class of 2017 American Express Leadership Academy Alum and Class of 2010 Next Generation of Leaders Fellowship program.
  

May 3, 2023 from 12:00 - 2:00pm
Taxes for Artists, Freelancers and Creative Businesses
Presenter - Hannah Cole, ENROLLED AGENT, of Sunlight Tax

• What can I deduct? Do I bring receipts to my accountant? Is my art a business or a hobby? What is a Schedule C? How do I deduct my home studio?  Why do freelancers have to pay taxes quarterly, and how do I do that? 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, and a tax and money columnist for the art blog Hyperallergic, the financial challenges of freelancers and small creative businesses are both relevant and personal to Hannah. She will discuss the basic tax equation, self employment tax and the estimated quarterly tax system, audit concerns for the creative person, and other tax issues specifically relevant to artists and makers, followed by a question and answer period.
  Hannah Cole is the founder of Sunlight Tax, which specializes in friendly, informative tax preparation for artists, and engaging, art-world savvy tax education workshops for artist groups, and in empowering creative people to set up for long-term success and take control of the financial side of their careers through her program, Money Bootcamp. She is also the host of the Sunlight podcast, where she talks about taxes, money, and careers for self-employed people who have a big vision for changing the world with their work.