FAIR Artist Grant

Applications for the 2025 Artist Grant are now closed. Please reach out to [email protected] with any inquiries.

FAIR in the Arts is supporting our community of artists who carry out work that aligns with, advances, and supports FAIR’s mission in the arts.

Through the FAIR Artist Grant, mission-aligned artists have the opportunity to win competitive funding that will reward them not based on their identity group or ideological allegiance, but instead on the quality and integrity of their work.

Our first granting cycle in 2023-24 awarded $5,000 in funding to six artists spanning industry, background, and geography. Learn about our 2023-24 Artist Grant winners here.

Our second granting cycle in 2025 awarded $11,000 to 14 artists. Learn about our 2025 Artist Grant winners here.

Help us in our mission to build new arts infrastructure that frees artists from groupthink by donating to the Artist Grant Fund.

For artists like myself, who work independently and rely on grants to bring projects to life, the FAIR Artist Grant is worth supporting. It gives us the freedom to focus on our craft and reach broader audiences, creating opportunities that help sustain and grow our careers.

The FAIR Artist Grant has given me the opportunity to make theater at a time when I am being sidelined from the arts because of my identity. [It] also allows me to have freedom of expression in the theater that I create because the grant does not require me to say things I don't believe or make work that expresses values I don't share.

The Artist Grant received from FAIR in the Arts provided critical support for my work as a writer and photographer. Grants that support independent artists and publications play a crucial role in making sure that voices which are not aligned with art-establishment agendas can continue to create and provide meaningful, in-depth work. [It] is an invaluable resource for free and independent art.

Funding Priorities

Grants of up to $1,000 are available to support arts activities that accomplish at least one of the following goals:

Champions values of free expression, open-mindedness, creative excellence, and/or viewpoint diversity.
Advances relevant artistic field towards a culture that emphasizes fairness, understanding, and humanity.
Supports artist(s) who are facing hardships due to intolerance or ideological bias in their fields, and who are pursuing the right to create freely.
Other FAIR-aligned mission or purpose.

Eligible arts activities include, but are not limited to: an event showcasing a work of theater, drama, dance, music, or visual arts; composition of a new work of writing, music, or visual art for public consumption or development.

Priority will be given to applicants who are members of FAIR in the Arts. (Not a member? Join here.)

FAIR is unable to approve proposals to fund: overhead expenses; full economic costs; work hours or salary unless explicitly used for the grant activity.

Reporting Expectations

Within 90 days of the completion of their grant-funded activity, each grantee is responsible for providing FAIR in the Arts:

A brief narrative summary of their completed project. This summary should explain how the grant accomplished one of the goals listed above.
For any events or productions, the date of the completed event and the total number of attendees.
Invoices for any expenses paid in part or in full using funds from the Artist Grant.
Grantees should maintain regular communication with FAIR in the Arts regarding the progress of their activity, including by completing any Grantee Progress Update surveys.

Funding Process

If approved, funding will be disbursed directly to the grantee.
If approved, the following is required before funds can be disbursed:
- A completed Grantee Payment Form.
- A signed grant agreement (FAIR will provide).
- A completed W-9 (for members in the US) or W-8 (for members outside of the US).
All grant-funded activities must be completed prior to December 31, 2025.

Donate to the Fund

The FAIR Artist Grant is made possible by the generous support of our donors. If you would like to contribute to the Artist Grant fund, please use the button below.

Please direct any inquiries to FAIR Arts Manager Brent Morden at [email protected].