Artist Funding
Career Opportunity Grant recipient Artist Blair Saxon-Hill works with the experts at Pace Prints in New York City. Photo by Anna Watts courtesy of Pace Prints.
Opportunities and experiences
Support for arts fellowships, residencies and grants
The Visual Arts Program seeks to support Oregon’s established visual artists who are at pivotal points in their practice of art. We offer several opportunities and experiences aimed at accelerating an enhanced quality of artistic endeavor and significant advancements in artists’ work.
HALLIE FORD FELLOWSHIPS
ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE OPPORTUNITIES
CAREER OPPORTUNITY GRANTS
CAPACITY BUILDING GRANTS
Hallie Ford Fellowship in the Visual Arts
.The Foundation awards up to three unrestricted Hallie Ford Fellowships in the Visual Arts per calendar year, each in the amount of $35,000, to Oregon visual artists who have demonstrated a depth of sophisticated practice and potential for significant future accomplishment. These fellowships honor the late Hallie E. Ford, co-founder of The Ford Family Foundation, who strongly believed that artists should have the opportunity to realize their talents.
Deadline: Applications are open. Deadline for submission is 10:59 PM (PST) Monday, January 13, 2025.
Before you begin, please review these tips for applicants:
Review the CaFE “how to apply” document.
Review the CaFE document on preparing and sizing your images.
Visit the help section of the CaFE website.
Founder Hallie E. Ford was an artist and visual arts advocate.
Hallie Ford Fellowship FAQs
What is the intent of The Ford Family Foundation’s Visual Arts Program?
The Visual Arts Program supports the exploration, conceptualization, creation, exhibition and documentation of new work by Oregon visual artists. It also provides assistance to Oregon visual arts institutions that exhibit and preserve their work. The purpose of the program is twofold:
- to accelerate an enhanced quality of artistic endeavor and significant advancements in bodies of work by Oregon’s established visual artists who are at pivotal points in their practice of art, and
- to improve Oregon’s visual arts ecology
To accomplish these goals, the program provides resources for educational and programmatic activities, including annual awarding of Hallie Ford Fellowships in the Visual Arts to Oregon’s most promising practicing visual artists, and by investing in Oregon visual arts institutions.
What are the Hallie Ford Fellowships in the Visual Arts?
The Hallie Ford Fellowships in the Visual Arts are awarded annually to Oregon visual artists who have demonstrated a depth of sophisticated practice and potential for significant future accomplishment. Each year, up to three awardees receive $35,000 in funding to support their work. The funding is unrestricted and intended to support an artist’s work and living expenses.
What are the eligibility criteria?
Visual artists are eligible to apply for the Hallie Ford Fellowship if they are:
- practicing visual artists currently producing works of contemporary fine art and craft; any visual arts medium is eligible except film, video and animation that are intended to be viewed by theatrical or streaming/online audiences. Media work that is experienced in an installation setting is considered visual art.
- full-time residents of Oregon for at least 36 months prior to the application deadline and throughout the duration of the grant period.
- 30 years of age or older at the time of application.
- able to show evidence of seven or more years of active professional participation in their medium.
- not enrolled in a visual arts-related degree-seeking program, either part time or full time at the time of application or during the grant period.
The Foundation does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, disability or religion.
How do I apply?
Hallie Ford Fellowship applications are available in January each year via www.CallforEntry.org and must be submitted through the CaFE website. There is no application fee. Please see the Foundation’s “call for application” posted on CaFE, which includes guidelines and the submission deadline. The CaFE system prompts an applicant if the application has not been completed properly. If you have any questions after reviewing the Fellowship background information, please email visualartsprogram@tfff.org. Incomplete applications cannot be reviewed and late applications will not be accepted.
Artists who apply but are not selected for a Hallie Ford Fellowship are encouraged to reapply annually.
What is the selection process and timeline?
Recipients are chosen based on the quality and evolution of their work and their future potential. A panel of arts professionals familiar with the work of Oregon visual artists reviews and selects awardees. The Foundation confirms eligibility and compliance with award terms, including contacting references, before awarding the fellowships. The panel’s final decisions are posted on the CaFE website and candidates are notified through an automated email system.
The Hallie Ford Fellowship application opens in December and closes in January. Awardees are announced in the summer with a reception and celebration to follow.
Where may I learn more about the Visual Arts Program?
Check out the Visual Arts overview page. Questions specific to the Fellowships can be sent to visualartsprogram@tfff.org.
Hallie Ford Fellow Samantha Wall at work in residence with Crow’s Shadow Institute for the Arts, Umatilla, Oregon
Artist-in-residence opportunities
Statewide and national artist residency programs provide visual artists with much-needed continuity of time, focus, inspirational settings and new networks of influence. Applications should be made directly with the residency programs.
View the Oregon Artists at Work report PDF about artist residency experiences.
Statewide programs
We support “Golden Spot” residency programs in Oregon that have opportunities for artists to explore or produce new work. Golden Spots are defined by a distinctive environment that artists repeatedly find stimulating. Fifty percent of the funding supports the residency program; the remaining funding provides stipends to the selected artists to help offset life and work expenses. Requests for proposals are announced by the participating residency program midyear for the next round of funding in the following year.
National programs
The Foundation partners with national programs to support residences for Oregon visual artists. Locations receiving support are Djerassi, MacDowell, The Studios at Mass MoCA, Ucross Foundation and Yucca Valley Material Lab with Iris Projects.
Career Opportunity grants
Resources are available to artists with timely opportunities for accelerated creation, production or exhibition of their work, in association with the Oregon Arts Commission’s Career Opportunity Program. Awards range from $1,500 to $9,000. For more information visit the Oregon Arts Commission.
Taravat Talepasand, Andarooni Birooni (Insider Outsider), 2015-2018. Egg tempera and oil on linen with neon 44" x 33" x 2". The Oregon Arts Commission and The Ford Family Foundation supported the fabrication and shipping of Talepasand’s artworks to The Warschaw Gallery at Macalester College in Minnesota for a survey of the artist’s signature work from the last fifteen years.
Hallie Ford Fellow rubén garcía marrufo was one of a number of artists to receive career consulting services provided by the Visual Arts Program
Capacity Building grants
A number of opportunities are available to individual artists to help support writing about and documentation of their work, as well as specific skill-building workshops. Offerings will be made by invitation and broader outreach from the Foundation and our partners, the University of Oregon and Oregon Arts Commission.