No. We will only be giving one grant per cycle per institution. Please select the most appropriate grant category for your project or program.

Selections will be made by a jury of peers–curators, artists, and other arts professionals–led by Teiger Foundation staff. Given the focus of the Foundation, the curator's creativity, engagement and learning are the most important part of the application. The jury will be encouraged to think about the relationship between the past and the proposed project or projects. This is to help us understand and visualize the proposed show, but it’s also an opportunity for a curator (and/or organization) to actually look at their work and frame it as a practice. 

Given that this is our first year, we cannot project the volume of applications that we will receive. We do know that we will award between 15-20 grants altogether, across the four open call categories. 

For the single-project grants, research, and to host a touring show, all funds will be disbursed at the start. Currently, we are finalizing whether the 3-year grants are disbursed at once or in installments. 

Teiger Foundation will schedule an IRL or Zoom meeting at mid-point with the leading curator(s). Please submit a one-page final report at the conclusion of the project (or its primary public-facing aspects). Both the leading curator(s) and the organization leadership will need to sign off on this report. 

We encourage curators to partner with colleagues at other cultural institutions, and also with community organizations, institutions of higher learning, etc. For efficiency's sake, we ask that one curator and/ or organization take the lead on the application itself. Please tell us clearly how you're working together in your project description, images, and budget. Make space in your application to add more background as needed, from either of the partners or both if you have worked together before. Partnerships require a lot of work and time, and collaborative applicants should include related expenses in project budgets.     

Funding can support group or thematic exhibitions, single-artist surveys, new commissions, participatory and community-engaged art projects, live and online performance in the context of the visual arts, and as-yet-unknown, experimental forms involving contemporary visual art and artists. Try us! 

We define contemporary art as visual art that was made from the 1960s onward. Projects and programs need not focus exclusively on contemporary art or visual art, but should take place within a contemporary visual-art framework or context to be eligible for funding.

Visual art is our focus. We do not support projects in the fields of film, design/decorative arts, or architecture unless they have a significant visual art framework. We recognize that distinctions among genres of art are not always clear and welcome proposals that include contemporary work in various disciplines as long as they are conceptually and formally defined in dialogue with visual art. If you are unsure whether the content of your project or program aligns with our focus on contemporary visual art, check out our recent grantees for examples of eligible projects. If you are still unsure, reach out to us. 

Cultural and community organizations of all types working with visual-art curators to pursue projects and initiatives involving contemporary art are encouraged to apply. These programs can involve other artistic disciplines or eras of art, but contemporary art must form a primary component.

Yes. The job title of curator is not a requirement for eligibility. We acknowledge that institutions are structured differently depending on scale and other factors. If you are performing a curator-like role in relation to the proposed project or program, you are welcome to apply. The same standards will apply in terms of the evaluation of your past projects. You must convey a serious commitment to curatorial practice in the visual-art context, even if your role or prior work involves focus areas other than or in addition to curatorial work.

Yes. If you are applying for multiple projects or a series of programs developed and administered by different curators (for instance for the three years of funding category), please be sure to give weight to the unified curatorial vision of your program while also offering highlights from each curator’s work and proposed projects. If some projects are more developed than others at the point of application, please feel free to weight those accordingly.

I'm an independent curator. Can I apply?  

Yes, if you have a commitment from an organization that can serve as the lead applicant and receive the funds. We are set up to fund organizations only, not individuals directly. Make sure that the budget for the project you are leading includes appropriate compensation for your work. Independent curators can determine pay rates using existing industry standards for waged and salaried curatorial employees (W2). If the organization you are working with does not employ salaried staff in a similar position, we recommend consulting the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics as a reference for regional rate standards. We also recommend consulting the College Art Association Guidelines for Guest Curators for best practices and employment terms for contract curators. 

Traditionally, Teiger Foundation supports people who are professional curators, but there are many instances in which an organization brings in special expertise for a project in the form of a professional from another discipline, or a person with uniquely relevant knowledge and life experience. In your application, make sure to convey your expertise in your subject area while also articulating why the visual-art context and your proposed project are the right expressions for your work at this time. 

Curators at all levels are welcome to apply. If your prior curatorial experience is minimal, please pay special attention to the past projects section of the application, and use it to illustrate other activities and experiences that have helped inform your point of view and professional strengths as a curator. 

Teiger Foundation is committed to supporting professional curatorial practice first and foremost, and does not directly fund artists or communities of artists. We acknowledge, however, that some practitioners seriously occupy dual roles as curators and artists. If this characterizes your organization leadership, or one or more of your collaborators, you are welcome to try us. Please keep in mind that we must be convinced of the curatorial (not just the artistic) merit of your proposed projects and prior work.

Funding can support the development, realization, interpretation, and documentation of exhibitions, related public programs and publications, as well as microsites and other online components of an on site projects.

There is no specific template required. Budgets should be as detailed as possible, and must include robust fees for artists whether producing a new work or contributing existing work. Please refer to W.A.G.E. standards for guidance. Other eligible expenses include up to 30% institutional overhead, meaningful compensation for outside advisors (staff at partnering organizations and/or individuals with specialized expertise and local knowledge), and publication participants such as writers, photographers, designers, web developers, etc.  

We offer smaller organizations three years of funding up to $150,000 because it is often most supportive to their needs. However, sometimes smaller organizations do projects at a larger scale, especially through partnerships and collaborations. If this is the case, you may apply with this larger project for a single exhibition grant for up to $150,000.

Smaller organizations' flexibility is an asset. We acknowledge that projects and plans evolve, and that you may not have all the details for projects and programs further in the future. Submit your program plan and budget with as much detail as you have at this moment. If your budget is not defined for the entire three-year period, please include at least one comprehensive budget for a single project or program that can stand in as an example of your typical program costs and expense distribution.  

Yes. Many art presenting venues, like university galleries, operate under much larger parent 501c3 organizations with significantly greater budgets. We understand that these venues operate with significant autonomy at a more modest scale, and welcome applications based on the total operating expenses of the venue or presenting organization, rather than the parent organization (eg. the university). In your projected program or project budget, please note any in-kind support such as space, utilities, and salaries that are subsidized by the university or larger entity.

We invite proposals for curatorial projects at the research stage for grants up to $50,000. We do not require that research projects lead to an exhibition or public-facing project. A research grant award does not guarantee additional support for resulting exhibitions, though such projects will be eligible for future consideration. Eligible costs for research proposals include those related to travel, convenings of colleagues, scholars, practitioners and community members, and/or collaborative investigations around critical cultural, social, and political issues. This grant can also cover costs related to research assistance and provide institutional support for curators to take leave to conduct their research, comprising up to 60% of the requested award.  

Our single-project or three-year grants up to $150,000 can include support for print or digital publications related to the proposed program(s) or project(s). Publications should reflect informed decisions about whether and how to make a book, a website, or deploy another digital medium such as a podcast, live or edited video interview, etc. Traditionally, publications have extended the life of an exhibition and brought it a wider audience. Our aim is to empower curators to retain control over how their work exists online, and drive innovation around methods for doing so.  

We invite requests from curators who wish to present an exhibition that has originated elsewhere for grants up to $50,000. The jury will evaluate your proposed new configurations, programs, and learning around the touring exhibition, and how those reflect the distinct context of the hosting institution and community. Eligible expenses include touring fees and all aspects of mounting the exhibition as well as costs associated with additional programs, artworks, and other means you are using to integrate the exhibition into its new context. The organization hoping to host the touring show should be the applicant. Please make sure to include appropriate fees for featured artists and also originating curators involved in your presentation of the exhibition. 

You should apply for a single project grant, not a touring grant. Please tell us about your already-confirmed and likely touring venues in the project description. You may include your own organization’s administrative costs related to the coordination of the tour as part of your project budget.

No. Please communicate with one another about this.  

Teiger Foundation is committed to supporting innovation in curatorial practice and structural change in the field of contemporary art. Curators and artworker-led organizations engaged in change-making initiatives that further the discourse or conditions around art, exhibitions, and museums can apply for our single project or three-year grants up to $150,000 or our curatorial research grants up to $50,000. Eligible activities include research, experimentation, organizing, or coalition-building efforts. 

At the moment we do not offer support for these types of programs through Teiger Foundation’s call for proposals. They are an important part of the art funding and curatorial practice ecosystems, and we may offer structured programs to support them in the future. Stay tuned!

Are fiscally sponsored organizations allowed to apply?  

Yes, but the organization must have a minimum of two years of sponsorship.  

If you are unable to meet W.A.G.E compliance, please submit your project budget with the highest standard of compensation that your organization can afford. We will look closely at your organizational budget alongside your project budget.  

Not necessarily. If your project is a partnership among multiple entities, please choose the organization that is most connected to your project, or best equipped to receive the grant funds to be the applicant.

We’ve designed the application to be written from the perspective of the lead curator directing the proposed program or project. We’d like to be able to follow up with them throughout the evaluation process. 

We leave this to you to judge. Feel free to use the spaces provided creatively. We do ask that a lead applicant is selected to form the basis of your application. From there, you may choose to dedicate some of the body text fields or the link fields to feature the work and expertise of your partners. Please organize your materials in the way that will best communicate your ideas, qualifications, and intended impact.  

For your new project, include images of related previous works by participating artists; if the site is a key component, images of similar programs using that site; and sketches or preliminary layouts if applicable. Please include captions to describe each image in 150 words. At minimum, this should include artwork name, title, materials, and date. Please upload .jpg images only, less than 5 MB each. 

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Please note that in-progress applications cannot be saved. Applicants should prepare all materials ahead of time, and enter them into the application form once they are complete.