Funding For Graduate Students
Funding For Graduate Students
All UCSC Faculty and graduate students are eligible to sign up for a free Pivot account. Use your UCSC email address for access to customized searches of funding sources. Graduate students will automatically be added to ARI’s monthly mailing of arts funding opportunities, the Arts Funding Snapshot.
Graduate students can also receive feedback on application materials from ARI’s Research Development GSR, Eric Sneathen, who is available to discuss funding opportunities and application strategies.
Graduate students are also welcome to submit a draft to our arts faculty committee for writing feedback.
The Humanities Institute (THI) hosts its PhD+ series of workshops throughout the academic year, and Arts Division students are welcome to attend. PhD+ workshops expand graduate student training and provide space for exploring questions you might not know to ask. They meet monthly to discuss possible career paths for PhDs, internship possibilities, grants/fellowships, work/life balance, elements of style, online identity issues, and much more.
Explore the list below for a glimpse of on and off-campus funding opportunities supporting graduate student research.
UCSC Grants for Graduate Students
Arts Dean’s Fund for Equity and Excellence
Graduate Dean's Research Travel Grant
Center for Archival Research and Training (CART) Fellowship Program
Graduate Division Fellowships List
Institute of the Arts and Sciences Fellowships
Porter College Teaching Fellowship
Research Center for the Americas
Student Fee Advisory Committee Annual Funding
Arts Professional Pathways Internships Scholarship Fund
Additional opportunities are announced throughout the year.
External Funding Opportunities for Graduate Students
Council for European Studies
Mellon-CES Dissertation Completion Fellowships in European Studies
Deadline: January 15
The Council for European Studies (CES) invites eligible graduate students in the humanities to apply for the 2021-22 Mellon-CES Dissertation Completion Fellowships in European Studies. Each fellowship includes a $27,500 stipend, paid in six bi-monthly installments over the course of the fellowship year, as well as assistance in securing reimbursements or waivers in eligible health insurance and candidacy fees.
Fleishhacker Foundation
Small Arts Grants for Filmmakers
Deadline: January 15 and July 15
The Fleishhacker Foundation supports film projects within its Small Arts Grants and Special Arts Grants programs. We are more interested in supporting an artist’s vision than in educational documentaries. Applications are only accepted for the post-production phase of the project (i.e. when a full rough cut is complete and available). Filmmakers should have raised and spent at least 50% of their project budget before applying. Filmmakers are funded at any point in their careers, but grants are not awarded to film students. Only films directed by residents of San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Sonoma, San Mateo, and Santa Clara are considered.
The Caucus Foundation
Deadline: January 15 and July 10
These grants assist worthy students in completing their student thesis film, TV program, video, or interactive projects. The award will provide completion money after other means of fundraising have been exhausted. This program is intended to combat the lack of diversity in content and creative people in our industry. Applicants must be registered in an accredited undergraduate or graduate degree program that requires the student to complete a thesis project in film, television program, video or interactive project for their degree and must be either the producer or director of the film. Applicant must also be a US Citizen.
Rijks Museum
Deadline: January 17
The Rijksmuseum currently runs five Fellowship Programmes covering diverse research areas: from art and cultural history to American photography, from conservation and scientific research through to Chinese art. Fellowship stipends are between €29,000 and €45,000.
SFFILM
Deadline: January 21
The SFFILM Rainin Grant program is the largest granting body for independent narrative feature films in the US. Grants support films that address social justice issues-the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges-in a positive and meaningful way through plot, character, theme or setting and benefit the Bay Area filmmaking community in a professional and economic capacity. Awards are made to multiple projects once a year in the fall, for screenwriting, development, and post-production. In addition to a cash grant of up to $25,000, recipients secure a 2-month residency at FilmHouse and benefit from SFFILM’s comprehensive and dynamic artist development programs.
Kress Foundation
Deadline: January 22
The purpose of the Kress Conservation Fellowship program is to provide a wide range of post-graduate fellowship opportunities that will help develop the skills of emerging conservators. Initial training, typically at one of a handful of institutions in North America, provides basic qualifications that must be supplemented with an extended period of specialized concentration on paintings, objects, textiles, antiquities, ethnic materials, photographs, prints and drawings, books, and manuscripts, furniture, etc. Within a supervised environment, new conservators can develop specific skills, hands-on experience, and confidence on which to base a future career. Stipends are $37,000.
Mabelle McLeod Lewis Memorial Fund
Dissertation Completion Awards
Deadline: January 25
The Mabelle McLeod Lewis Memorial Fund provides awards directly to advanced doctoral candidates in the humanistic disciplines pursuing a PhD degree from one of the following institutions: UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, or Stanford University. These dissertation grants are awarded to bring about the completion of a scholarly dissertation project at the end of the grant period. The award amount is approximately $31,000 disbursed in 2 installments.
American Philosophical Society
Mellon Foundation Native American Scholars Initiative (NASI) Predoctoral Fellowship
Deadline: January 29
This 12-month or 6-month fellowship is intended for an advanced Ph.D. student working toward the completion of the dissertation. Applications are open to scholars in all related fields and all periods of time, although preference will be given to those who have experience working with Indigenous communities. Stipends are $25,000 for twelve months and $12,500 for six months. Fellows will also receive travel funds for outside research, fieldwork, and/or travel ($5,000 for 12 months and $2,500 for 6 months).
Arts Council Santa Cruz County
Deadline: February
Cultivate Grants fund individual artists, arts organizations, and non-arts organizations working in collaboration with an artist(s), on a public arts and/or cultural project in Santa Cruz County. Cultivate Grants also support artists and arts organizations with activities that improve their artistic skills or expand their business and professional capacity. Grants art up to $3,000 each.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Virtual Deadline: (expected) February 15
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s internship program offers students behind-the-scenes exposure to the day-to-day operations of one of the country’s leading modern and contemporary art museums. An internship at SFMOMA is an excellent first step if you are a college student or recent graduate interested in learning more about how museums work, are considering pursuing academic credit for an undergraduate or graduate-level program, or hoping to pursue a career at the museum.
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Virtual or in-person TBD
Deadline: (expected) February 15
The Summer Program is an introduction to museum work, designed for students who have little or no previous museum experience. Instead of moving through different museum areas, interns in the Summer Program concentrate on one assigned department or office, compatible with his or her interests or career goals. Students with a four-year college degree and undergraduate college seniors and juniors (students completing their sophomore year at the time of application) may apply. Graduate students will be considered for this program on an individual basis.
Center for Curatorial Leadership
CCL/Mellon Foundation Seminar in Curatorial Practice
New York City (or virtual if needed)
Deadline: (expected) February 21
The CCL/Mellon Seminar in Curatorial Practice provides art history Ph.D. students in all fields of specialty with an in-depth introduction to working in museums. The two-week intensive combines exhibition and collection tours, conversations with curators and cultural leaders, and group exercises at New York City institutions. With support from a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Seminar provides a critical training opportunity for emerging curatorial professionals. Twelve to fifteen students annually receive the extraordinary opportunity to observe, analyze, and engage in the critical responsibilities of museums through a range of institutional contexts.
Getty Institute
Getty Post-Baccalaureate Conservation Internships, 2021-22
Los Angeles (may begin virtually)
Deadline: (expected) February 22
Getty Post-Baccalaureate Conservation Internships aim to increase diversity in the field of art conservation. Launched in the fall of 2020 as a pilot program, the internships are the first nationwide effort to provide yearlong financial support and hands-on conservation experience to post-baccalaureate young professionals from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds preparing to apply to conservation graduate programs.
University of Michigan
Michigan Humanities Emerging Research Scholars Program
Ann Arbor, MI
Deadline: (expected) February 22
This program is designed to encourage rising seniors, recent B.A.s and terminal master’s students from diverse cultural, economic, geographic, and ethnic backgrounds to consider pursuing a doctoral degree in the humanities at the University of Michigan. Our goal is to attract diverse scholars with unique experiences who foster innovation and push the humanities to meet today’s challenges. For 2021, students interested in the fields of Asian Languages and Cultures, Classical Studies, English, History, Linguistics, Sociology (qualitative), and Women’s and Gender Studies (any humanities field) are eligible.
Archives of American Art
Deadline: (expected) February 25
The Archives of American Art offers internships year-round to students enrolled in undergraduate or graduate programs who wish to learn and gain professional experience in various fields including archival science, information management, museum studies, art administration, art history, and cultural studies.
National Gallery of Art
Virtual
Deadline: (expected) February 28
Nine-week virtual summer internships provide opportunities to work on projects directed by a Gallery curator or department head. Biweekly museum seminars introduce interns to the broad spectrum of museum work, and to Gallery staff, departments, programs, and functions. Interns will learn about the collection by developing and presenting live art talks on Zoom. At the beginning of the summer, interns will participate in intensive training about online public speaking. They will learn how to talk about original works of art in a way that is relevant, engaging, and accessible. Interns then develop tours that incorporate their own interests and offer online audiences an insider perspective on the National Gallery of Art and its collection.
National Gallery of Art
2022 Fellowships and Internships
Washington, DC (may be virtual or hybrid)
Deadline: varies, mid-February
The Gallery offers a variety of graduate-level opportunities to students who intend to pursue careers in fields related to the visual arts. The Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts supports a resident community of scholars who are conducting research in the field. Learn about available fellowships opportunities. Additionally, the Gallery offers professional museum training to candidates from all backgrounds through a variety of internship programs. Interns are placed in departments where they work closely with mentors on special and ongoing projects. This is an international program and is open to candidates from all backgrounds.
American Oriental Society
Louise Wallace Hackney Fellowship for the Study of Chinese Art
Deadline: March 1
This award in the amount of $8,000 is open to post-doctoral as well as doctoral students. It is conceived to permit the study of Chinese art, with special relation to painting and its reflection of Chinese culture, and to permit the translation into English of works upon said subject for the purpose of furthering a better understanding of Chinese painting in the United States.
National Museum of American History
Virtual, in-person, or hybrid, depending on the intern’s preference and museum’s staffing capacity
Deadline: (expected) March 1
NMAH offers internships in every department of the museum, including (but not limited to) curatorial and collections management, education and audience engagement, exhibition design and production, communications and marketing, special events and donor relations, and museum operations. However, the specific internships offered each cycle (spring, summer, or fall) depend on mentor availability and upcoming possible internship projects.
National Museum of African American History and Culture
Virtual
Deadline: March 15
Internships at the National Museum of African American History and Culture offer college and graduate students and recent graduates opportunities to work closely with professionals and scholars in the museum field. The museum provides a dynamic learning environment and access to supportive mentors that help interns reach their educational and professional goals. Interns can gain practical museum skills and program development experience in a variety of positions from education to collections to public relations.
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Washington, DC, and New York City
Deadline: March 15
Andrew W. Mellon fellowships are intended to cultivate practical skills as well as foster a solid understanding of the contexts of material culture, the philosophies of conservation at the NMAI, and the ethics of the conservation profession. Museum programming involves collaboration with Native people in developing appropriate methods of caring for and interpreting cultural materials. Andrew W. Mellon fellowships involve work on the Conservation Office’s major projects and research related to projects and collections. Current projects include the preparation of artifacts for loans and for exhibits at NMAI sites in Washington, D.C., and New York City.
Department of Education
Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship
Deadline: March 18
This program provides grants to colleges and universities to fund individual doctoral students who conduct research in other countries, in modern foreign languages and area studies for periods of six to 12 months. Projects deepen research knowledge on and help the nation develop capability in areas of the world not generally included in U.S. curricula. Projects focusing on Western Europe are not supported.
Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center
Virtual
Deadline: (expected) March 19
Internships usually last anywhere between 10-15 weeks. The museum encourages part-time internships of 20-30 hours per week and is flexible with start & end dates, duration, and number of hours worked per week. APAC offers modest internship stipends every semester—funding is limited and highly competitive. Interns may also receive academic credit through their universities.
Kress Foundation
Interpretive Fellowships at Art Museums
Deadline: April 1
The purpose of the Kress Interpretive Fellowships at Art Museums program is to provide a new kind of mentored professional development opportunity within American art museums. The program is intended to encourage students to explore interpretive careers in art museums, whether as future museum educators or curators; to strengthen the profession of museum educator within the art museum community; to strengthen ties between museum educators and curators in the shared task of interpretive programming in art museums; and to expand the range of promising career options available to students of art history and related fields. Fellowships come with a $30,000 stipend.
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Deadline: April 15
FAMSF's Summer Internship program provides an opportunity to work in one of the largest public arts institutions in San Francisco. FAMSF's summer internship is a paid, full-time eight-week program primarily for undergraduate, graduate students, or recent graduates interested in arts and museum careers and who are passionate about equity and inclusion. Interns will work directly within museum staff to support departmental goals and will be responsible for individual projects. Interns participate in training sessions, professional development, and a weekly Career Insights guest speaker series. They will gain knowledge of museum careers and culture, receive mentorship from full-time staff, hands-on project experience and feedback, and join a network of emerging museum professionals. FAMSF values diversity in culture, race and ethnicity, and gender expression. Candidates from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in the arts and museum fields are encouraged to apply.
Vilcek Foundation
Prizes for Creative Promise in Dance
Deadline: June 11
The Vilcek Foundation will award three Creative Promise Prizes of $50,000 each to young, immigrant artistic directors, choreographers, and performers who demonstrate outstanding early achievement in dance.
NDN Collective
Deadline: June 18
10 Indigenous artists/culture bearers of all traditions, mediums and genres will be awarded grants of $50,000. Artists may propose a one year budget that includes a living stipend, as well as support for the supplies and equipment necessary to publicly amplify the work and develop a community messaging platform. 12% of funds must also support artist self-care, health and well-being.
Chicken & Egg Pictures
Deadline: June 22
The (Egg)celerator Lab is focused on identifying and supporting nonfiction directors working on their first or second feature-length documentary. This program brings together ten projects, with a special focus on stories by self-identifying women and gender nonconforming directors. In this year-long program, these ten projects will receive: $40,000 in grant funding for the production of their feature-length film, monthly mentorship with Chicken & Egg Pictures’ senior creative team members, three creative retreats focused on career building and creative development, industry meetings and funder connections, and peer support from the (Egg)celerator Lab cohort.
Latino Public Broadcasting
Deadline: June 28
The LPB Current Issues Fund (CIF) provides production and post-production funding to documentary films from the Latino American perspective (60 or 90 minutes only) that explore contemporary civic and social justice issues, incorporate a journalistic approach into the filmmaking process, and have resonance for a U.S. national audience. LPB will accept applications for production and post-production funding; R&D applications are not accepted for the CIF. Funding requests may range from $40,000 up to $100,000.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Deadline: August 11
The Short Documentaries program supports the production and distribution of documentary films up to 30 minutes that engage audiences with humanities ideas in appealing ways. The program aims to extend the humanities to new audiences through the medium of short documentary films. Films must be grounded in humanities scholarship.
Center for Cultural Innovation
Investing in Artists Grants Program
Deadline: August 18
The Investing in Artists grants program is designed to support diverse working artists in the Bay Area in the performing and media arts, which includes the disciplines of dance, music, musical theatre, opera, theatre, video, film, and animation, to name a few. Applicants representing a wide range of cultural expressions and artistic practices in the performing and media arts are encouraged to apply.
Northwest Film Forum
Lynn Shelton “Of A Certain Age” Grant
Deadline: September 7
The Lynn Shelton “Of A Certain Age” Grant is a project-based award that provides $25,000 to an individual woman, non-binary, and/or transgender U.S. filmmaker, age 39 or older, who is working on their first narrative feature (65 minutes or over) as a director.
Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts
Deadline: September 15
Research and Development Grants assist individuals with seed money for research-related expenses such as travel, documentation, materials, supplies, and other development costs. Projects must have clearly defined goals, work plans, and budgets. Research and Development Grants do not exceed $10,000 and are likely to be less.
Getty Research Institute
Pre- and Postdoctoral Fellowships and GRI-NEH Postdoctoral Fellowships
Deadline: October 1
Getty Predoctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowships are intended for emerging scholars to complete work on projects related to the Getty Research Institute’s annual research theme or the African American Art History Initiative. Recipients may be in residence at the Getty Research Institute or Getty Villa, where they pursue research projects, complete their dissertations, or expand their dissertation for publication. Fellows make use of the Getty collections, join in a weekly meeting devoted to the annual theme, and participate in the intellectual life of the Getty.
The Getty Research Institute also offers two residential Postdoctoral Fellowships, made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). These fellowships are funded by the NEH and are part of the Getty’s annual scholar and fellow program.
Institute for Citizens and Scholars
Dissertation Fellowship in Women’s Studies
Deadline: October 15
The WW Women’s Studies Fellowships support the final year of dissertation writing for Ph.D. candidates in the humanities and social sciences whose work addresses topics of women and gender in interdisciplinary and original ways.
Luce/ACLS
Dissertation Fellowships in American Art
Deadline: October 27
ACLS invites applications for Luce/ACLS Dissertation Fellowships in American Art, which are designated for graduate students who are pursuing research on the history of art and visual culture of the United States, including all aspects of Native American art, and who are at any stage of Ph.D. dissertation research or writing. ACLS believes that humanistic scholarship benefits from inclusivity of voices, narratives, and subjects that have historically been underrepresented or under-studied in academe. We also believe that institutional diversity enhances the scholarly enterprise, and we encourage applications from PhD candidates from all types of institutions in the United States.
Mellon/ACLS
Dissertation Completion Fellowships
Deadline: October 27
ACLS invites applications for Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowships, which support a year of research and writing to help advanced graduate students in the humanities and interpretive social sciences in the last year of Ph.D. dissertation writing. The total award of up to $43,000 includes a stipend plus additional funds for university fees and research support. In addition to the monetary support that the fellowship offers, Dissertation Completion Fellows may apply to participate in a seminar on preparing for the academic job market. The seminar takes place over three days in the fall of the fellowship year.
American Association of University Women
Deadline: November 1
The purpose of the American Dissertation Fellowship is to offset a scholar’s living expenses while she completes her dissertation. The fellowship must be used for the final year of writing the dissertation. Applicants must have completed all course work, passed all preliminary examinations, and received approval for their research proposals or plans by the preceding November. Students holding fellowships for writing a dissertation in the year prior to the AAUW fellowships year are not eligible. Open to applicants in all fields of study.
American Association of University Women
Deadline: November 15
The program provides support for women pursuing full-time graduate or postdoctoral study in the United States to women who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents, and who intend to return to their home country to pursue a professional career.
Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA)
Predoctoral Fellowships for Historians of American Art to Travel Abroad
Deadline: November 15
The Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts offers up to four fellowships to doctoral students in art history who are studying aspects of art and architecture of the United States, including Native and pre-Revolutionary America. This fellowship is for a period of four to six weeks of continuous travel abroad in areas such as Africa, Asia, or South America, as well as Europe, to sites of historical and cultural interest, including museums, exhibitions, collections, and monuments.
Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA)
Predoctoral Dissertation Fellowship
Deadline: November 15
The Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts announces its annual program of support for advanced graduate research in the history, theory, and criticism of art, architecture, urbanism, and photographic media. Each of the nine fellowships has specific requirements and intents, including support for the advancement and completion of a doctoral dissertation, and for residency and travel during the period of dissertation research. Application for a predoctoral dissertation fellowship may be made only through nomination by the chair of a graduate department of art history or other appropriate department.
Institute for Citizens and Scholars
Charlotte Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship
Deadline: November 15
The Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships are designed to encourage original and significant study of ethical or religious values in all fields of the humanities and social sciences, and particularly to help Ph.D. candidates in these fields complete their dissertation work in a timely manner. In addition to topics in religious studies or in ethics (philosophical or religious), dissertations appropriate to the Newcombe Fellowship competition might explore the ethical implications of foreign policy, the values influencing political decisions, the moral codes of other cultures, and religious or ethical issues reflected in history or literature.
Huntington Library
Deadline: November 15
The Huntington Library awards over 150 research fellowships annually. Recipients of all fellowships are expected to be in continuous residence at The Huntington and to participate in, and make a contribution to, its intellectual life. Applicants for long-term (year-long) fellowships must have completed all requirements for the PhD at the time of application. Short-term fellowships (of five months or less) and travel grants/exchange fellowships (for study abroad) are open to both doctoral candidates who have advanced to candidacy (ABD) at the time of the application deadline and to faculty members and other postdoctoral scholars.
Kress Foundation
History of Art Institutional Fellowships
Deadline: November 30
Advanced training in European art history requires direct exposure to the object of study, prolonged access to key information resources such as libraries and photographic archives, the development of professional relationships with colleagues abroad, and sustained immersion in European cultures. These related needs are often best satisfied by extended engagement with a European art research center. The Kress History of Art Institutional Fellowships are intended to provide promising emerging art historians with the opportunity to experience just this kind of immersion.
Ford Foundation
Deadline: December 9
Deadline: December 16
Through its program of fellowships, the Ford Foundation seeks to increase the diversity of the nation’s college and university faculties by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, maximizing the educational benefits of diversity, and increasing the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.
Smithsonian Libraries and Archives
May be virtual
Deadline: TBD, check for updates
The Smithsonian Libraries and Archives welcomes current or recent undergraduate and graduate students who wish to gain archival experiences, capturing, preserving, and sharing the history of the Smithsonian. Internships are available in the following teams: Archives, Institutional History, Preservation, and Virtual Projects.
Center for Cultural Innovation
Deadline: 15th of every month
CALI Catalyst provides unrestricted grants of up to $5,000 to California changemakers whose bold actions are shifting the arts and culture sector in ways that give underrepresented populations—Black, Indigenous, people of color, LGBTQIA+, and people with disabilities—more power and influence.
Disney Animation Studios
Numerous internship opportunities
California, China, France, Germany
Deadline: Varies
Description from sample graduate intern program: As a Walt Disney Animation Studios Technology Intern, you will have the unique opportunity to work directly with a Disney mentor as you explore all aspects of technology in relation to filmmaking. This immersive program offers a hands-on experience focused on individual craft and multidisciplinary team collaboration.