Thank you for your interest in the 2022 McKnight Fellowships for Fiber Artists! The application period is now closed.
Fiber art is thriving in Minnesota, and the field’s growth as a creative discipline is generously supported by the McKnight Foundation’s McKnight Fellowships for Fiber Artists. This program provides two $25,000 fellowships to be awarded each year to individual midcareer (and beyond!) fiber artists living and working in Minnesota.
The application window is open for the 2022 fellowships from Wednesday, September 1, 2021, 12 noon until Monday, November 1, 2021, 5 pm, CT.
In addition to the $25,000 unrestricted award in support of their creative work and practice, McKnight Fiber Artist Fellows will receive:
- Critiques/studio visits with three experts from the creative field.
- Exhibition at the end of the fellowship period in the Joan Mondale Gallery at Textile Center.
- Participation in two public discussions that feature fellows and invited critics or experts from the field.
- Professional development support, such as attending conferences, workshops, or marketing or exhibition assistance.
- Access to Textile Center’s resources, including library, dye lab, and artisan shop opportunities.
- Professional support sessions from consultants at Springboard for the Arts.
- Opportunity to apply to McKnight Foundation’s new residency partnership with Alliance of Artist Communities, for two years following the fellowship year.
The intent of the McKnight Fellowships for Fiber Artists is to recognize and support talented Minnesota fiber and textile artists whose work is of exceptional artistic and cultural merit, who have created a significant body of work over a period of at least 8 years, representing a sustained investigation and maturation of personal creativity, accomplishment, and commitment to the field of fiber art and Minnesota’s arts ecosystem. These fellowships are in support of artists who are at a career stage beyond emerging. Fiber Artists, as defined for the purposes of this fellowship, are artists who use textile and fiber arts materials, processes, histories, traditions, and/or sensibilities in their artistic and creative practice throughout the conception, execution, and resolution of their work.
“Textile Center is honored to serve as its administrative partner for the McKnight Fellowships for Fiber Artists,” says Textile Center Executive Director Karl Reichert. “This fellowship program is an exciting milestone for us, especially as we celebrate the role Textile Center has played in nurturing the field of fiber art in our region.”
“The expansion of the McKnight Artist Fellowships into the area of fiber arts is a tremendous opportunity and acknowledgement for our field,” says Textile Center’s Director for Artistic Advancement Tracy Krumm, who also serves as Textile Center’s program director for the McKnight Fellowships for Fiber Artists. “As a former Visual Arts Fellow, I know that the caliber of work being done in the textile and fiber arts in Minnesota is really strong. The support to fiber and textile artists through these fellowships is a tremendous acknowledgement of our field by the McKnight Foundation. Applying for this incredible funding support means the chance at game-changing opportunities for creative development.”
Support for individual artists has been a focus of the McKnight Foundation’s Arts & Culture program since its inception. McKnight Artist Fellowships increase the exploratory opportunity, economic stability, and productive capacity of artists by providing $25,000 in unrestricted support for midcareer artists and discipline-specific artistic and professional development opportunities.
For more complete information, please see: https://www.mcknight.org/programs/arts-culture/
McKnight Arts & Culture Program Goal
The strategy of McKnight’s Arts & Culture program is to fund organizations, programs, and projects that provide support structures for working artists and culture bearers to develop and share their work, and to lead in movements and communities. This includes artists and culture bearers working in a broad continuum of activities and approaches across disciplines and fields.
“Minnesota artists and culture bearers help the McKnight Foundation accomplish our mission to advance a more just, creative, and abundant future where people and planet thrive. McKnight has a legacy of leadership in the arts in Minnesota, and support for working artists has always been a mainstay of our arts grantmaking…The addition of culture bearer to our goal acknowledges that our program provides support to creative leaders in Minnesota from cultures that don’t use the word artist (such as Native American and Hmong), as well as those who center the transmission and preservation of cultural lifeways.”
Please see more about this new program approach at: mcknight.org/programs/arts-culture/our-approach/
On The McKnight Foundation
Established in 1981, the McKnight Artist Fellowships provide annual, unrestricted cash awards to outstanding mid-career Minnesota artists in 14 different creative disciplines. Program partner organizations administer the fellowships and structure them to respond to the unique challenges of different disciplines.
The McKnight Foundation, a family foundation based in Minnesota, advances a more just, creative, and abundant future where people and planet thrive. The McKnight Artist Fellowships support the conviction that the arts cannot flourish or enhance community life without the ideas, energy, and drive of individual artists, and that artists cannot make these contributions without unfettered creative time. A focus on racial equity is at the heart of the McKnight approach to funding. The McKnight Foundation and Textile Center welcome and encourage applications from artists and culture bearers representing diverse cultural perspectives and our organizations value diversity and equity, seeking to be inclusive and accessible to all applicants.