George Kaiser Family Foundation’s national artist fellowship program – the Tulsa Artist Fellowship (TAF) – is welcoming its second class of artists and is accepting visual artist and writer applications for its third class, to begin in 2018. TAF will award up to 30 fellowships totaling more than $1 million in stipends, free housing and free workspace to continue to enhance Tulsa, Oklahoma’s growing art scene.
The TAF provides unrestricted awards of $20,000 for artists in all stages of their careers. To date, the George Kaiser Family Foundation has invested more than $7.2 million in the program.
“At the Tulsa Artist Fellowship, we believe a strong and diverse art community will bring more opportunity to Tulsa, and we are proud to have more than doubled our fellowships awarded this past year,” said Julia White, program director at the TAF. “Our hope is to provide artists the opportunity to fine tune their craft through the TAF across a variety of disciplines.”
The 2017 incoming class includes 15 visual artists, 11 writers and nine continuing fellows from the inaugural class. They come from states including: Illinois, Nebraska, New York and Oklahoma. Artists will live and work in newly renovated apartments and artist studios located in the hub of Tulsa’s art community, the Brady Arts District.
Open to local and national artists in the disciplines of writing and visual arts, the TAF fellows will be awarded a stipend, offered free housing in the Brady Arts District and studio workspace, if applicable. All fellowships are merit-based grants, not project grants, and fellows will be expected to integrate into the local community by participating in local programs, symposiums and more. All non-local resident artists will be required to live in provided housing in Tulsa’s Brady Arts District in order to receive a housing stipend.
“George Kaiser Family Foundation is very pleased with the quality of the artists and writers awarded through the Tulsa Artist Fellowship,” said Stanton Doyle, senior program officer at George Kaiser Family Foundation. “The inaugural class is wrapping up their first year and we’re very proud that most are staying on for their second. The second year will include 11 writers and our expanded programming in the second year will increase the exposure of the Fellows in the Tulsa community. It’s an honor that so many talented artists and writers are willing to participate in TAF and help enrich our community with their work.”
For each discipline category (visual artists and writers) up to 15 fellowships will be awarded based on the quality of entries.
TAF: Visual Artists
Fellows will be awarded a $20,000 unrestricted stipend with free downtown housing and workspace during Year One. Year Two is optional with a stipend of $12,500 plus free housing and workspace, and there is also an option to renew for a Year Three with a stipend of $7,500. The program will reserve some of the fellowship positions for Native American, Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiian artists. A screening committee and selection panel will follow the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 as a guideline in awarding Native American artists a fellowship.
TAF: Writers
Fellows will be awarded a $20,000 unrestricted stipend with free downtown housing for Year One of the two-year fellowship. During Year Two, fellows will receive a $12,500 unrestricted stipend and continued free downtown housing. Fellows also have an option to renew for Year Three, with a stipend of $7,500. In its inaugural year, TAF: Writers will focus on creative nonfiction, fiction, graphic novel, young-adult fiction, poetry and play/screen writing.
A coordinating committee consisting of local leaders in the Tulsa arts community will screen all fellowship applications for eligibility and coordinate community programs for the fellows during their time in Tulsa.
“This fellowship gave me so many opportunities to work and meet new curators and directors working in the region,” said Molly Dilworth, a continuing TAF visual artist fellow from Brooklyn, N.Y. “I was motivated to stay for a second fellowship because of my continued work with The Philbrook Museum of Art, which offers so many unique opportunities for my art to grow.”
A separate selection committee composed of national arts professionals narrows visual arts applicants down to up to 15 artists asked to join the program. Similarly, a selection committee composed of national literary arts professionals will narrow writing applicants. Applications for the 2018 TAF are due on March 1, 2017, and fellows will be announced on June 15, 2017. The fellowship will begin Jan. 8, 2018. To learn more about the Tulsa Artist Fellowship and apply, visit www.TulsaArtistFellowship.org.
