I have become increasingly concerned about you guys getting the necessary information to apply for grants so that you might apply. Should you at least try out for the various grants/fellowships/publishing competitions out there, you at least give yourself the opportunity to increase your creative writing resume as well as give your self the opportunity to make your writing a lucrative entity. Please apply and let me know if you get anything!
Creative Writing Grants for Women
- Poets & Writers Magazine lists state and national prizes of $1,000 or more (or $500 writing grants with no application fee). Grants are available to writers of poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction. Creative writing fellowships are available from the National Endowment for the Arts and are available only to published creative writers. A Room of Her Own foundation awards $50,000 to successful female candidates with creative vision. Mira’s List is also an excellent resource for women writers; this blog lists creative writing grants such as the Howard Foundations grants in poetry and creative writing; this grant awards $25,000 to individuals with at least one book in print. Poetry Magazine lists cash prizes that are available to poets who have been published in their journal (www.poetrymagazine.org). Wow! “Women on Writing” has a list of available grants for women writers, including mystery writers.
- “News Wise” provides a comprehensive list of grants, prizes, fellowships and scholarships available to journalists covering a wide variety of beats. The Society of Professional Journalists awards $300,000 annually to individuals and organizations in the news profession. The Pulitzer Center offers travel grants to journalists reporting on crisis situations (pulitzercenter.org). John S. Knight Fellowships allow journalists to study at Stanford for a year. The Hearst Foundation awards cash prizes yearly in the form of contests for journalists, photojournalists, and broadcast journalists (www.hearstfdn.org). The American Journalist Review has a list of awards, grants, fellowships and scholarships. Search the database at the International Women’s Media Foundation for an up-to-date list of grants available to female journalists.
- The Fund for Women Artists provides a list of grants for female screenwriters. They include grants for documentary filmmakers, TV writers, feature film screenwriters and more. “Women in Film & Video” holds annual screenwriting contests for women.
- The Fund for Women Artists maintains a list of available grants and prize money to women working in theater. NYCPlaywrights.com also has a list of upcoming awards and contests for playwrights. Visit Playwriting Opportunities.com and search available grants by deadline dates. AmericanMusicals.com has a list of grants available to musical writers. The League of Professional Theatre Women gives five annual awards to women in theater.
- Colleges and universities, literary journals, newspapers, magazines, TV stations and institutes offer information on local writing grants for women.
Journalism Grants for Women
Screenwriting Grants for Women
Playwriting Grants for Women
Other Places to Look for Writing Grants for Women
Individual Artist Grants
Organization: BC Arts Council
Program: Project Assistance for Visual Artists
Program description:
Assistance is available to professional visual artists for specific creative projects. One juried competition is held annually.
Program eligibility:
Applicants must be professional visual artists with a minimum of five years experience, have had a minimum of two professionally curated exhibitions, have been residents of British Columbia for a minimum of 12 months prior to making application and must be Canadian citizens or Permanent Residents and not be full-time students. Further eligibility requirements may apply.
More information:
Further information on programs and eligibility available at: www.bcartscouncil.ca/programs/
Organization: BC Arts Council
Program: Project Assistance for Media Artists
Program description:
This program is intended to assist independent filmmakers, video artists, and new media artists with production of specific innovative, experimental and non-industrial works.
Program eligibility:
Applicants must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents and have lived in British Columbia for a minimum of 12 months prior to making an application, have final editorial authority over the proposed work, completed basic training as film, video or new media artists and may not be full-time students. Further eligibility requirements may apply.
More information:
Further information on programs and eligibility available at: www.bcartscouncil.ca/programs/
Organization: BC Arts Council
Program: Project Assistance for Creative Writers
Program description:
This program is intended to assist professional writers with the writing of specific creative projects. Eligible genres include drama, fiction, juvenile, non-fiction and poetry.
Program eligibility:
Applicants must be Canadian Citizens or Permanent Residents that have lived in British Columbia for a minimum of 12 months prior to making an application and have completed all basic training and be professional creative writers with a minimum of five years experience, and may not be full-time students. Further eligibility requirements may apply.
More information:
Further information on programs and eligibility available at: www.bcartscouncil.ca/programs/
Organization: Canada Council for the Arts, The
Program: Grants to Professional Musicians (Individuals) (Classical and Non-Classical Music)
Program description:
This program offers emerging, mid-career and established professional Canadian musicians in non-classical and classical music of all world cultures an opportunity to pursue their individual artistic development. Professional musicians include instrumentalists, singers, composers, arrangers, performers, singers/songwriters, choir conductors, orchestra and ensemble conductors, and opera stage directors.
Program eligibility:
The Grants to Professional Musicians program is made up of the following distinct types of grants: Classical Music Grants, which cover subsistence, project and transportation costs related to a program of work lasting from a few weeks to one year; Non-Classical Music Grants, which cover subsistence, project and transportation costs related to a program of work lasting from a few weeks to one year; Travel Grants to Professional Musicians, which give an individual musician an opportunity to travel on occasions important to his or her career. Applicants must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada. Permanent residents must provide evidence of their legal status. Applicants must have completed their basic training and/or be recognized as professional artists. Further eligibility requirements may apply.
More information:
Further information on programs and eligibility available at: www.canadacouncil.ca/music/
Organization: Canada Council for the Arts, The
Program: Assistance to Professional Independent Critics and Curators
Program description:
These grants support independent professional Canadian critics and curators in their research, creative production and professional development activities in theory, criticism, analysis and curating in contemporary visual art (including fine craft and photography) and media arts.
Program eligibility:
Applicants must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada. They must have: completed their basic training (or the equivalent); produced an independent body of work; received the recognition of their peers through a history of public presentation of their work in a professional context; maintained an independent professional practice for at least three years. Further eligibility requirements may apply.
More information:
Further information on programs and eligibility available at: www.canadacouncil.ca/visualarts/
Organization: Canada Council for the Arts, The
Program: Assistance to Contemporary Fine Craft Artists and Curators: Project Grants
Program description:
Project Grants provide support for research, professional development, production, networking and career development activities for professional artists and curators (for research only) making a contribution to contemporary fine craft. The project must be significant and advance the long-term artistic and/or career development of the applicant at a key moment in their career. There are three types of project grants, as follows: Research/Professional, Development, Production, and Career Development. Applicants may apply to only ONE of the above project grant types per deadline.
Program eligibility:
Applicants must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada. Artists must have completed their basic training in a fine craft medium (university or college graduation or the equivalent in specialized training, such as two or three years of self-directed study or apprenticeships). Artists must have completed an independent body of work and received the recognition of their peers through public presentation of their work, such as in exhibitions in art museums, public art galleries, artist-run centres and juried art fairs. Further eligibility requirements may apply.
More information:
Further information on programs and eligibility available at: www.canadacouncil.ca/visualarts/
Organization: Canada Council for the Arts, The
Program: Assistance to Contemporary Fine Craft Artists and Curators: Long-Term Grants
Program description:
Long-Term Grants provide support over a two-year period to established professional fine craft artists or curators (for research only) who have made a significant contribution to contemporary fine craft. The period of activity covered by the grant must have a series of opportunities in the fields of research, production, career and networking development. The program of work must be designed to advance the long-term artistic and career development of the artist at a key moment in their career. It must include at least two of the following activities: Research/Professional, Development, Production of a New Body of Work, Production towards a Confirmed Public Presentation, and Career Development.
Program eligibility:
To apply to the Canada Council for the Arts, you must be a Canadian citizen or have Permanent Resident status, as defined by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. You must meet Canada Council’s definition of a professional artist, which is an artist who: has completed his or her basic training (university or college graduation or the equivalent in specialized training, such as two or three years of self-directed study or apprenticeships), is recognized as such by his or her peers, and is committed to devoting more time to artistic activity, if financially feasible.
More information:
Further information on programs and eligibility available at: www.canadacouncil.ca/visualarts/
Organization: Canada Council for the Arts, The
Program: Grants to Film and Video Artists
Program description:
The Grants to Film and Video Artists program assists Canadian artists working with film and video as means of artistic expression. This program offers Research/Creation Grants, Production Grants and Scriptwriting Grants.
Program eligibility:
Applicants must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada. They need not be living in Canada when they apply. Individuals or groups of up to three artists working collaboratively on a project or a program of work may apply. Established, mid-career and emerging artists are eligible for Research/Creation Grants and Production Grants. Established artists, mid-career artists and scriptwriters are eligible for Scriptwriting Grants. For Production Grants, only directors may apply. Further eligibility requirements may apply.
More information:
Further information on programs and eligibility available at: www.canadacouncil.ca/mediaarts/
Organization: Canada Council for the Arts, The
Program: Grants to Dance Professionals
Program description:
This program provides support and assistance to Canadian dance professionals (individuals) to pursue projects involving professional development, research/creation and apprenticeship/mentorship.
Program eligibility:
Individual professionals can identify themselves as being in one of the following categories: emerging; mid-career; established; Aboriginal at all of the above levels. Professionals working in all world cultures and in a wide range of dance genres are eligible to apply for support. Further eligibility requirements may apply.
More information:
Further information on programs and eligibility available at: www.canadacouncil.ca/dance/
Organization: Canada Council for the Arts, The
Program: Grants for Professional Writers Creative Writing
Program description:
Creative Writing Grants provide support to authors working on new projects in the fields of novel, short story, poetry, children’s literature, graphic novel and literary non-fiction.
Program eligibility:
Applicants must be Canadian citizens or have Permanent Resident status, as defined by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. They must be recognized professional writers who have had: at least one literary book published by a professional publishing house; or for fiction, a minimum of four texts of creative literary writing (e.g. short stories, excerpts from a novel) published on two separate occasions in literary magazines, recognized periodicals (including general interest magazines), or anthologies published by professional publishing houses; or for poetry, a minimum of 10 published poems is required; or for literary non-fiction, a minimum of 40 pages (10,000 words) of literary articles published in literary magazines, recognized periodicals or anthologies published by professional publishing houses.
More information:
Further information on programs and eligibility available at: www.canadacouncil.ca/writing/
Organization: Canada Council for the Arts, The
Program: Assistance to Practitioners, Critics and Curators of Architecture
Program description:
These grants support projects by practitioners, critics and curators of architecture, for the public presentation and promotion of contemporary Canadian architecture. The grants help practitioners to commission texts, photographs, films, models and other forms of documentation of their built projects. The grants also support critics and curators in research, writing, and other aspects of editorial/curatorial work leading to the production of articles, books, exhibitions and events on contemporary Canadian architecture.
Program eligibility:
Applicants must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada. They must have completed their basic training and have a minimum of three years of professional practice. Their work must have been recognized by their peers: works built by practising architects must have been the subject of at least one article, publication or exhibition; critics must have at least three publications to their credit; and curators must have produced at least three exhibitions or publications. Further eligibility requirements may apply.
More information:
Further information on programs and eligibility available at: www.canadacouncil.ca/visualarts/
Organization: Canada Council for the Arts, The
Program: Grants to New Media and Audio Artists (multiple categories)
Program description:
These grants assist Canadian artists working with new media or audio technologies as means of artistic expression. Grants cover artist’s subsistence costs as well as the direct costs of research, creative development and production of artworks created with new media or audio technologies.
Program eligibility:
Established, mid-career and emerging artists are eligible. Applicants must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada. They need not be living in Canada when they apply. Individuals or groups of up to three artists working collaboratively may apply. Further eligibility requirements may apply.
More information:
Further information on programs and eligibility available at: www.canadacouncil.ca/mediaarts/
Organization: Canada Council for the Arts, The
Program: Assistance to Visual Artists: Project Grants
Program description:
Project Grants provide support for research/creation, professional development, production, networking and career development activities for professional artists making an important contribution to contemporary visual arts. The project must be significant and advance the long-term artistic and/or career development of the applicant at a key moment of their career. There are three types of project grants, as follows: Research/Creation, Production, and Career Development. Applicants may apply to only ONE of the three project grant types per deadline.
Program eligibility:
To apply to the Canada Council for the Arts, you must be a Canadian citizen or have Permanent Resident status, as defined by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. You must also meet the Canada Council’s definition of a professional artist, which is an artist who: has specialized training in the field (not necessarily in academic institutions), is recognized as such by his or her peers, and is committed to devoting more time to artistic activity, if financially feasible.
More information:
Further information on programs and eligibility available at: www.canadacouncil.ca/visualarts/
Organization: Canada Council for the Arts, The
Program: Assistance to Visual Artists: Long-Term Grants
Program description:
Long-Term Grants provide support over a two-year period to professional artists who have made a significant contribution to contemporary visual arts. The period of activity covered by the grant must have a series of opportunities in the fields of research/creation, production, career and networking development. The program of work must be designed to advance the long-term artistic and career development of the artist at a key moment in their career. It must include at least two of the following activities: Research/Creation, Production of a new body of work, Production towards a confirmed public presentation of your work, and Career development. Approximately 15 Long-Term Grants per year will be awarded.
Program eligibility:
To apply to the Canada Council for the Arts, you must be a Canadian citizen or have Permanent Resident status, as defined by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. You must meet the Canada Council’s definition of a professional artist, which is an artist who: has specialized training in the field (not necessarily in academic institutions), is recognized as such by his or her peers, and is committed to devoting more time to artistic activity, if financially feasible.
More information:
Further information on programs and eligibility available at: www.canadacouncil.ca/visualarts/
Organization: Commonwealth Foundation
Program: Commonwealth Writers Prize
Program description:
The outstanding literary talent which exists in many parts of the Commonwealth is making a significant contribution to contemporary writing in English. To encourage and reward the upsurge of new Commonwealth fiction and ensure that works of merit reach a wider audience outside their country of origin, the Commonwealth Foundation established the Commonwealth Writers Prize in 1987.
More information:
Further information on programs and eligibility available at: www.commonwealthfoundation.com/culturediversity/
Organization: Commonwealth Foundation
Program: Commonwealth Short Story Competition
Program description:
The Commonwealth Short Story Competition exists to increase understanding between and appreciation of different Commonwealth cultures, to showcase the rich diversity of the Commonwealth and to support rising literary talents.
Program eligibility:
Entries are open to anyone who is a citizen of a Commonwealth country, whether an amateur or professional writer. There is no restriction on theme, but the stories must be new, original, and of no longer than six hundred words (around four and a half minutes when read aloud).
More information:
Further information on programs and eligibility available at: www.commonwealthfoundation.com/culturediversity/
Organization: Commonwealth Foundation
Program: Commonwealth Photographic Awards
Program description:
The Commonwealth Photographic Awards is an annual competition open to amateur and professional photographers from around the Commonwealth.
More information:
Further information on programs and eligibility available at: www.commonwealthfoundation.com/culturediversity/
Organization: Commonwealth Foundation
Program: Commonwealth Connections International Arts Residencies
Program description:
Every two years, under the Foundation-funded Commonwealth Connections International Arts Residencies, up to ten artists and craftspeople between the ages of 20 and 35 are selected from around 300 applicants to receive an award for travel and study in another Commonwealth country.
More information:
Further information on programs and eligibility available at: www.commonwealthfoundation.com/culturediversity/
19 Grants for Writers and Other Creative Types
Many organizations offer grants for writers to help them to complete their projects and education. What follows is a list of some of the available grants for writers and some details about each. Please keep in mind, these grants are unsearchable. I found this information via research conducted online and at the library. Unlike our series on the various markets, I didn’t make any calls to verify any of these grants. However, as you can see, they’re all current.
- The Haven Foundation - Stephen King’s foundation provides assistance to writers and artists who, through tragic events and no fault of their own, are unable to work. Awards up to $25,000.
- Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting - Set up by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scientists this fellowship awards to authors who have previously earned less than $5000 writing for film or television.
- Arch & Bruce Brown Foundation- Awards $1,000 grants to gay and lesbian playwrights and screenwriters.
- Authors League Fund – Provides loans or assistance to writers who are in financial distress due to emergency situations.
- Artist Trust - Their Grants for Arts pr gram awards up to $1500 to help fun artist generated projects.
- Brown University – Awards a $45,000 fellowship to an established international writer or poet who is being creatively stifled in his/her homeland.
- John Jones Literary Society – Awards $10,000 to help fund an unpublished writer who has a work in progress.
- Kentucky Arts Council – Awards $7500 to three Kentucky poets or writers annually.
- Library of Virginia Literary Awards – Awards three prizes of $3500 each to Virginia writers and poets who were published the year before.
- Robert Bingham Fellowship for Writers – Offers $35,000 to first time authors who are deemed to have achieved an outstanding literary effort and “suggests great promise.”
- National Endowment of the Arts – Offers a variety of grants to writers.
- Academy of American Poets – Awards and fellowships ranging from $1,000 to $100,000
- The Furthermore Program – Grant to help fund non-fiction book projects range from $5,000 to $15,000.
- Demand Studios – Offers one $1,000 grant each month to help fund writing projects within their community of writers.
- Pen American Center Writers Emergency Fund - Offers funding up to $2,000 for writers in need.
- Voelker Foundation - Fly Fishing Fiction Award – $2500 for one outstanding fishing writer each year.
- AAAS Science Journalism Awards – Pays $3,000 to outstanding science writers.
- Arts Writers Grants Program - Awards $5,000 to $50,000 for a variety of writing.
- Witter Byner Foundation for Poetry – Awards poets $1000 to $3000.
More resources:
- You also might be interested in this post at About Freelance Writing where Anne Wayman linked to blogs that make it their mission to report awards, grants and fellowships for writers.
- C. Hope Clark’s Funds for Writers is the best online resource for learning about grants, fellowships and other awards for writers.
- Poets and Writers’ database is an amazing resource for anyone seeking funds.
- Michigan State University has something for everyone on this list of prizes, grants and fellowships.
I’ve also been exploring some writing markets this week. Check out:
FIRST VOICES celebrates new authors by showcasing 4-6 authors in a reading held at their store and is followed by a Q & A session.
“Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.” ~William James 
“I don’t think of all the misery, but of all the beauty that still remains” Anne Frank
