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The application for this program is currently closed. Future application opportunities will be announced in 2026.
Program Timeline
Applications open
Fellowship information sessions, webinars, Q & A sessions, and individual phone appointments with Jerome staff
Live Fellowship Guide Session
Jerome staff will share the Fellowship Guide and eligibility requirements and answer applicants’ questions at this 90-minute session. This session will be recorded and posted on Jerome’s website.
Live Application Overview Session
Jerome staff will give an overview of the steps to apply and the application elements, with an opportunity for questions and answers at the end of this 90-minute session. This session will be recorded and posted on Jerome’s website.
Live Fellowship Q&A Session 1
Jerome staff will answer any and all questions you have about the Fellowship and the application during this open office hour. The session will not be recorded.
Live Fellowship Q&A Session 2
Jerome staff will answer any and all questions you have about the Fellowship and the application during this open office hour. The session will not be recorded.
Applications close by 4 pm Central/5 pm Eastern Time
Late applications are not accepted.
Application Review
Eligibility review by staff and application review by panels to determine finalists.
Applicants are notified if they have advanced to the finalist stage
Panel meetings and recommendation of Fellows to Jerome Board
All finalists notified of application status
Jerome Board considers panel recommendations and approves Fellows; all finalists will be notified of their application status no later than January 31, 2025.
NYC Fellowship Orientation Session (virtual or in-person TBD)
The Orientation is a facilitated day with the two primary goals of reviewing the logistics of the program, including how to create fellowship plans and budgets; and introducing the cohort to one another as well as to the Jerome Foundation and MAP Fund teams.
Orientation attendance is the only time-specified requirement of the Fellowship. Applicants are strongly encouraged to save these dates.
MN Fellowship Orientation Session (virtual or in-person TBD)
The Orientation is a facilitated day with the two primary goals of reviewing the logistics of the program, including how to create fellowship plans and budgets; and introducing the cohort to one another as well as to the Jerome Foundation and MAP Fund teams.
Orientation attendance is the only time-specified requirement of the Fellowship. Applicants are strongly encouraged to save these dates.
Live Events
Jerome Fellowship Guide Webinar
Jerome staff share the Fellowship Guide and eligibility requirements and answer applicants’ questions.
Live Application Overview Session
Jerome staff give an overview of the steps to apply and the application elements, with questions and answers at the end.
Video Resources
Artist CV Info Session
Jerome staff review best practices for submitting an Artist CV for the Fellowship application as well as offer tips you can apply to other application opportunities.
Work Sample Info Session
Jerome staff review best practices for work sample submission for the Fellowship application and offer some guidance on selecting work samples for other application opportunities.
Born in Saigon and rooted in Minneapolis, Truc Anh (TA, pronouns she/hers) is a queer, Southeast Asian artist/maker, and racial justice grantmaker. She is passionate about creating the conditions for transformative change that centers racial, gender, and disability justice, especially at the intersections of LGBTQIA+ and Southeast Asian communities. In her previous role at Borealis Philanthropy, TA supported the Racial Equity to Accelerate Change (REACH) Fund which supported racial equity practitioners/capacity builders in the nonprofit sector.
As a 1.5 generation immigrant by way of war, Truc Anh is powered by stories of resistance and resilience. She practices art for healing and for joy. In her spare time, TA can be found outside in her garden, exploring the North Shore, cooking with her friends, or reading. Truc Anh graduated from Carleton College with a degree in Sociology and Anthropology with a minor in Women & Gender Studies.
Melissa Levin is a values-driven arts administrator, artist-centered curator, and steadfast advocate for just and equitable practices in the arts. For more than 12 years, Melissa worked at Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) where she was the Vice President of Cultural Programs. Her role encompassed wide-ranging institutional and artistic leadership, overseeing LMCC’s major artist-centered and public-facing initiatives including the River To River Festival, the Arts Center at Governors Island, and LMCC’s artist residency programs. She next led a newly formed Artists, Estates, and Foundations division at Art Agency, Partners in its inaugural three years. Starting in 2016, with collaborator Alex Fialho, Melissa has stewarded the legacy of and curated critically acclaimed exhibitions dedicated to the late artist Michael Richards, including Michael Richards: Winged (LMCC, 2016; Stanford University, 2019) and Richards’ first museum retrospective, Michael Richards: Are You Down? (The Bronx Museum, 2023–24; North Carolina Museum of Art, 2023; MOCA North Miami, 2021).
Melissa additionally serves on the boards of the Artist Communities Alliance and Danspace Project. She holds a B.A. with honors in Visual Art and Art History from Barnard College.
Kristen Marx has spent her career in service to artists and the arts sector for over 15 years through various roles at places such as the McKnight Foundation, Walker Art Center, Park Square Theatre, Ordway, and Jungle Theater. She is a passionate practitioner of equity and social change work fueled by the desire to dismantle “ism’s” and make positive change for current and future generations.
Kristen is an actress and a playwright. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theater from the University of Minnesota and a Master of Arts in Arts and Cultural Management from Saint Mary's University of Minnesota.
Andrea Brown joined the Jerome Foundation in 2016. She came to the Jerome Foundation after five years at the Walker Art Center, where she was Associate Director of Strategic Marketing, and prior to that Associate Director of Digital Marketing and Marketing Manager. She worked in the New York office of the American Academy in Berlin before taking a 7-year detour into software at Marketing Bridge/Gage Marketing where she was Lead Account Supervisor.
Andrea has a B.A. in American Studies from Smith College.
No. All applicants must be residents of the five boroughs of New York City or the state of Minnesota and must have filed 2023 federal taxes in New York or Minnesota.
Only if you moved to New York City from MN or vice versa. Anyone who has moved to NYC or MN from any other location within the last 12 months is not eligible to apply in this round. All applicants must have been a resident of Minnesota or one of the five boroughs of New York City for at least one year at the time of the application. Additionally, if you are awarded a Fellowship, you must be a resident in either New York City or Minnesota at the time when the funds are received and continue to maintain residency there for the entirety of the three-year Fellowship period.
Yes. The Foundation understands that in certain fields artists will be away from their “residence” for extended periods of time. You must be in residence in Minnesota or New York City for at least 183 days per year in 2023, 2024, and for the duration of the Fellowship.
Anyone who has an SSN (social security number) or an ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number) is eligible to apply—this includes DACA recipients and most types of VISA recipients. Applicants who do not have an SSN or an ITIN are not eligible to apply.
It depends! You are ineligible if you are in a leadership role of a Jerome-funding organization or a staff member working directly on a Jerome-funded program, as this would be considered a conflict of interest.
However, you would be eligible if you are contracted staff or a staff member who is not directly engaged with the Jerome-funded program.
Jerome Foundation defines early career artists as those who are in their 2nd to 10th year of generative creative practice, excluding any time spent in a degree-granting program (if applicable). Individuals who are at the very beginning—with less than two years—in their careers as a generative artist are not eligible to apply. Likewise, artists with more than 10 years of experience creating and presenting work are not eligible to apply.
Artists who have received significant artistic recognition, in the form of awards and prizes, production, presentation, publication, or distribution—even if they are within a 10-year timeframe of generative practice—may be too established to be considered early career and therefore not eligible to apply.
Artists who are beyond 10 years of generative practice, but who have not yet received significant artistic recognition (such as in the form of awards and prizes) are not eligible to apply.
Age and formal training in a degree program are not factors in determining eligibility.
In order to answer this question clearly, we have created a list of field-specific awards, prizes, and accomplishments that impact eligibility. Please see the listing starting on page 6 of the Fellowship Guide for details.
The Foundation directs funding to artists who have spent at least two years generating new work outside of a degree-granting program and who can submit at least three work samples representing work created outside of that degree-granting program context.
If you have recently completed an academic program and have not spent at least two years before or after working in the field, you may be ineligible at this time.
No. The Jerome Foundation defines “full-time student” in terms of enrollment/matriculation status, not contact hours, so full-time students as well as low-residency MFA students or Ph.D. candidates—including those who are all but dissertation—are not eligible to apply.
Yes. As long as you meet other eligibility requirements, formal training in a degree program is not a factor in determining eligibility.
Other Jerome Funding
Yes, you may still be eligible if you have received other Jerome Foundation support. Grantees of other Jerome programs may be eligible if they meet all other eligibility requirements and have completed or are current on the reporting requirements of their previous grant. If you have not submitted the required report(s), you will not be eligible to apply for the Fellowship. Additionally, you cannot use Fellowship funds to support costs already supported by other Jerome grants and programs.
Yes. Artists who have received JHAF finalist or alternate funds are eligible as long as they have submitted their required final report and meet all other eligibility requirements.
If you are not sure if you have met the reporting requirements for your previous Jerome grant, please contact Andrea Brown at [email protected] or 651-925-5615 for clarification.
Yes, as long as you meet all other eligibility requirements. However, you cannot use Fellowship funds to support any costs already supported by other Jerome grants and programs.
No. Previously awarded Jerome Hill Artists Fellows are not eligible to apply again to this program. An artist may only receive one Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship in their career.
No. Both named applicants must live in New York City or Minnesota and must provide proof of residency. Collaborators who live outside of NYC or MN are not eligible to be included in the application for support.
No. Both named applicants must meet all eligibility requirements. Any collaborators who do not meet any one of the eligibility requirements—such as they are not early in their career; do not play a generative role in creating the work; do not have ultimate control over the finished work; or do not meet the geographic residency requirement—are not eligible to be included in the application.
We urge all artists and collaboratives to consider this issue carefully, taking into account all eligibility requirements, application components, and Fellowship resources. Artists may only submit one application. If an artist decides to apply as an individual, they cannot also apply as part of a collaborative and, likewise, any artist who is applying as part of a collaborative cannot also apply as an individual artist.
It depends. In order for your application to be eligible as an individual artist, you must be able to provide three eligible work samples in which you are the sole lead generative artist according to the work sample requirements in your field. If you only have work samples documenting collaborative work, you may be ineligible at this time.
Yes. Applicants without online access or with access requests should contact Andrea Brown ([email protected] or 651-925-5615) regarding alternative options by April 1, 2024.
No. Artists may only submit one application for the Fellowship. In selecting a field, artists who identify with more than one discipline are encouraged to consider their artistic lineages; presentation contexts and experience; and which group of reviewers will be most knowledgeable about their work. Within each field, the Foundation embraces and applauds interdisciplinarity and experimentation and supports a wide range of aesthetics, forms, creative practices, artistic lineages, and points of view. The application provides space for artists to share in their own words how they describe and view their own work and their goals in creating it.
Detailed descriptions for each field are available starting on page 18 of the Application Guide. For examples of past panelists, please visit the Jerome Foundation website.
Panels are composed of artists and arts leaders from Minnesota, New York, and across the country who have experience with and understanding of Minnesota and New York City early career artists. Panelists assess applications based on the stated review criteria of: Creative Risk, Creative Vision, and Creative Engagement and Impact of the artist and their work in their field and/or creative community. More detailed information about the Review Criteria is available on page 12 of the Fellowship Guide.
In the Fellowship review process, panelists will consider each application as a whole and will be assessing: the creative risk and creative vision expressed in an applicant’s work samples; an applicant’s history of creating and presenting work demonstrated by their Artist CV; and the creative risk, creative vision, and creative engagement/impact communicated in an applicant’s responses to the core application questions.
We generally encourage applicants to speak in a personal voice and to avoid jargon or “grant-speak.” We strongly advise against hiring anyone else to write your answers for you—even a professional grant writer—because panels are looking to understand your unique perspective and your particular practice.
We encourage applicants to attend the information sessions or watch the webinar recordings for a deeper understanding of this Fellowship and/or to participate in a Q&A session to directly ask your questions to staff.
For a firsthand artist perspective, this article, which appeared in Dance Magazine by 2019 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow Raja Feather Kelly, is especially insightful.
Applicants are encouraged to use the format where they feel they can make the strongest and most authentic case for their application. When we surveyed artists about how to improve the application process, many artists encouraged us to offer an option for video statements in addition to the option of written statements; writing advantages some artists and/or fields and those who are more effective communicators and more comfortable on video. In both cases, the core questions are the same, and the recommended limits on words or on time give all applicants roughly equivalent space to respond.
In the last round, the choice of format did not give an advantage to either format: 10% of all applicants submitted video responses, and 12% of the Fellows ultimately selected had submitted video responses.
Whether responding in writing or by video, please make sure you address all the questions for each topic. Those using video must speak directly to the camera; this is not an opportunity to provide voice-overs to additional artworks or expand the panel’s exposure to additional works beyond the work samples.
No. Applicants are not asked to provide budgets or specific plans at the time of application. Once awarded, and after the Fellowship Orientation, Fellows are required to submit a plan and budget for approval by Jerome staff before Fellowship funds can be issued. Collaboratives will submit one joint plan and budget. Upon approval, Fellows will sign a grant agreement.
No. Panels are asked to make their assessments of Jerome Foundation’s review criteria based solely on work samples and application materials provided by applicants. The Foundation has concluded that the burden such letters place on applicants to request and for references to write outweighs any benefit to the panel.
Jerome Foundation works proactively with Fellows who have annual income thresholds related to housing, medical insurance, or other social benefits to determine how to best disburse the Fellowship funds so as not to jeopardize their benefits.
Fellowship funds are paid directly to artists to support their time and expenses for the creation of new work, artistic development, and/or professional artistic career development. Fellowship funds are not restricted to a specific work or project. While the Foundation is flexible and expansive in approving costs identified by Fellows, funds may not support activities outside of these primary purposes. See page 16 of the Fellowship Guide for more details.
No. Fellowship funds may not be used for tuition at degree-granting institutions. Furthermore, you may not be an enrolled student in a degree-granting program at the time of your application or at any point during the Fellowship term.
For more information about the purpose of the Fellowship funds, please see page 16 of the Fellowship Guide.
No. Fellows will receive $20,000 each year over three consecutive years; funds will be distributed annually in 2025, 2026, and 2027. More details about Fellowship plans and budgets as well as payment schedules will be provided at the Fellowship Orientation.
Yes. Individual artist fellowship grants are considered taxable income by the Internal Revenue Service. Fellows will receive $60,000 over three consecutive years ($20,000 each year) to support their time and expenses for the creation of new work, artistic development and/or professional artistic career development. All funds will be distributed annually in 2025, 2026, and 2027 and are considered taxable income in the calendar year in which they are received.
Financial planning workshops, including information on tax considerations for artists, are offered following the Fellowship Orientation meeting to help Fellows understand the tax implications of the grant and plan accordingly. Fellows are also encouraged to contact their own tax advisor to discuss the specific impact of the funding.
In addition, Fellows’ names and addresses are required to be listed in the Jerome Foundation’s annual tax return, which is a public document. If Fellows prefer, a P.O. Box may be provided instead of a home address for the purposes of the Foundation’s tax reporting.
No. Fellowships are awards to artists, not to organizations. Funds are issued directly to the applicant(s) as named in the application or to their single-member LLC (if applicable). Payments cannot be made to fiscal sponsors, management companies or producers, multi-owned LLCs, S-Corps, consultants or 501(c)3 organizations. All funds are distributed annually in 2025, 2026, and 2027.
Collaborators will submit a single Fellowship plan and budget; funds will be distributed evenly between collaborators.
The Orientation is a facilitated one-day information session with the two primary goals of reviewing the logistics of the program, including how to create fellowship plans and budgets; and introducing the cohort of Fellows to one another as well as to Jerome Foundation staff and MAP Fund teams.
Orientations are scheduled for:
- Monday, February 10, 2025, 10 am-6 pm (NYC Fellows)
- Monday, February 17, 2025, 9 am-5 pm (MN Fellows)
Orientation attendance is the only time-specified requirement of the Fellowship. Applicants are required to be available for the Orientation and are encouraged to save the date.
The Foundation also offers Fellows access to financial planning workshops and professional development opportunities that are optional and strongly recommended, but not required. See page 17 of the Fellowship Guide for more information.