Title: Fellowships for Creative and Performing Artists and Writers
Timeline: Between January 1 and December 31, 2025
Deadline to Apply: October 5, 2024
Decisions made by: Mid December 2024
Award: $2,000
Fellowship Description: The American Antiquarian Society offers visiting fellowships for historical research by creative and performing artists, writers, film makers, journalists, and other persons whose goals are to produce imaginative works dealing with pre-twentieth-century American history, literature, and culture. Successful applicants are those whose work is for the general public rather than for academic or educational audiences.
The fellowships will provide the recipients with the opportunity for a period of uninterrupted research, reading, and collegial discussion at the Society, located in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Funding for this program began with a grant to AAS from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund in 1995. Additional funding for the awards is derived from income from endowments established by the Robert and Charlotte Baron Fellowship, William Randolph Hearst Foundation, and Jay and Deborah Last. Artists in the Archive: 25 Years of Creative and Performing Artists and Writers Fellowships is online showcase of the 1995-2020 fellows and their work.
Fellowship projects may include (but are not limited to):
- historical novels
- performance of historical music or drama
- poetry
- documentary films
- television programs
- radio broadcasts
- plays and libretti
- screenplays
- magazine or newspaper articles
- costume designs
- set designs
- illustrations and other graphic arts
- book designs
- sculpture
- paintings
- other works of fine and applied art
- non-fiction works of history designed for general audiences of adults or children
Application Procedure: Please include the elements listed below in your application.
STATEMENT should not be more than five typed, double spaced pages which briefly summarizes the applicant’s educational and professional background and goals, describes the research for the project, including readings in primary and secondary sources, and indicates the nature of the research program proposed for the fellowship. You must demonstrate how you will use the Society’s collection materials for your project.
CURRENT RÉSUMÉ should include a listing of any awards, scholarships, or grants received.
WORK SAMPLES and REVIEWS will be distributed to reviewers and the selection committee.
- Written works (play and video scripts; prose and poetry; works of non-fictions, etc.) cannot exceed 25 pages in length
- Two to three copies of full, completed works, in addition to the 25-page work sample, may be mailed to the Society
- If you are submitting CDs or DVDs, please send only 3 copies of each
- If your samples can be viewed on the web, please send us all relevant web addresses
- You are strongly encouraged to include any relevant reviews of your work by professional critics
- If you would like your samples returned to you, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope
Please supply names and contact information for two individuals familiar with your career accomplishments and goals.