2022 McKnight Fellowships for Fiber Artists Application Info

The application period for the 2022 McKnight Fellowships for Fiber Artists is now closed.

Check back in July 2022 for information about the 2023 Fellowships!

Email Tracy Krumm, Program Director, McKnight Fellowships for Fiber Artists at tkrumm@textilecentermn.org if you want to be put on our mailing list to receive information about the 2023 application process.

"Falling Loss" by Eun-Kyung Suh, 2020 McKnight Fiber Artist Fellow

"Blind (Fort for 2020)" by Liz Miller, 2020 McKnight Fiber Artist Fellow

"Majestic Ensemble and Ntsuab (green) – XO Collection" by Ka Oskar Ly, 2021 McKnight Fiber Artist Fellow

Detail of "Distance Meditation No. 4" by Sarah Kusa, 2021 McKnight Fiber Artist Fellow

About the Fellowship

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.”

The McKnight Foundation has recently renamed its arts program! It is now McKnight’s Arts & Culture Program.

**The 2022 application process during this third year of the McKnight Fellowships for Fiber Artists program reflects this change.**

“Working artists activate our communities and deepen the dimension and quality of our lives.”

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.

Eligibility

ARTISTS AND CULTURE BEARERS WHO ARE ELIGIBLE FOR THESE FELLOWSHIPS:

Must have resided in Minnesota for at least 1 year prior to the application deadline (or since November 1, 2020).
Must maintain residency in Minnesota for the duration of the fellowship period, January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022. Fellows who travel for work outside of the state during the fellowship year should be in the state for at least six months (at least 183 days), and have a plan to return to Minnesota.
Must be midcareer (or beyond) with an extensive, independent body of creative work created over a period of at least 8 years — not including work done during a degree seeking academic program, representing a sustained investigation and maturation of personal creativity, accomplishment, and commitment to the field of fiber art.
Must currently be producing work that falls within an art or cultural context, related to the field of fiber and textiles through materials, process, or sensibilities.
Must demonstrate a high aesthetic level of ability, strong consistency of expression, and an established personal voice over the course of their career.
Must have made a significant impact in the field of fiber art in the region, state, or nation as demonstrated by respect of peers and community, contributions to excellence, and public recognition of the art/creative form through exhibiting, teaching, preserving, and/or advocacy.
Must not have been a recipient of a McKnight Artist Fellowship within any artistic discipline in the last 5 years. (All 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 McKnight Fellows are ineligible.)
Must demonstrate growth and ongoing artistry and creativity since their most recent McKnight Artist Fellowship, if they have received one previously.
Must not be current staff, board, or immediate family of Textile Center, the McKnight Foundation, or any of McKnight’s other fellowship administrative partners (this last item applies only to the discipline for which you are applying). Independent contractors and faculty are not considered staff and are therefore eligible to apply.
Must not be enrolled full-time in any academic program.

Note: Applicants to this fellowship program will NOT be eligible to apply for any other 2022 McKnight Artist Fellowships. The Fiber Arts program is one of the earliest deadlines in the 2022 fellowship program year, so it is unlikely that you have applied to another McKnight Fellowship program already. However, after submitting an application for this fellowship, you will not be eligible to submit an application to a different program for a 2022 fellowship. Please carefully consider which program best fits your work. To view all of McKnight’s fellowship funding opportunities for the 2022 award year, visit the McKnight Foundation website at: McKnight Artist Fellowships.

Program Guidelines & Application Process

GUIDELINES & APPLICATION INFORMATION:

Textile Center is pleased to announce the application period is now open for the 2022 McKnight Fellowships for Fiber Artists. The intent of this program 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.

PLEASE OPEN and READ THIS DOCUMENT BEFORE PROCEEDING WITH THE FELLOWSHIP APPLICATION. ALL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE APPLICATION and INFORMATION ABOUT THE JURY and SELECTION PROCESS ARE INCLUDED IN THIS DOCUMENT:
CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE GUIDELINES
THEN, ACCESS THE APPLICATION ON SUBMITTABLE HERE
- As in year’s past, we are using SUBMITTABLE as the application platform. Info sessions provide help navigating the platform. (See INFO SESSION tab above for information on times and dates of sessions.)

** CHROME BROWSER IS RECOMMENDED. DO NOT USE A TABLET or IPAD for your application, as an error message may occur.

You should be able to access the complete guideline informational document and the application portal from the links above. We are here to help! Links to everything can be emailed to you if you are having trouble opening them from the information on these webpages. If you have any questions or issues, please email tkrumm@textilecentermn.org.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

If you need assistance writing a statement or preparing a resume or images, please click the link below for resources for assistance.
We recommend contacting Springboard for the Arts for in-depth assistance, with either their paid consultations or their free workshops.
30 Minute consultations with Tracy Krumm at Textile Center, by phone, or on Zoom, are available, for questions, clarification, and general assistance. Textile Center staff are unable to assist you with the actual writing of your documents. Let us know if you would like us to try and find a volunteer to assist you. We can however, provide feedback and help you upload your application if you need assistance!
Individual consultations will not be available after October 25, as preparations will begin for the juror phase of the application period. However, there will be one final group Zoom review and Q&A session with anyone who wants to join, Monday, October 25, 6 pm RSVP FINAL Q&A HERE!

CLICK HERE FOR A RESOURCE GUIDE TO ADDITIONAL ARTIST SERVICES

QUESTIONS?

If you have questions regarding eligibility, guidelines, and application process for the 2021 fellowship process, please email Tracy Krumm, Director for Artistic Advancement
tkrumm@textilecentermn.org

Important Dates & Info Sessions

Application Close Date: Monday, November 1, 2021, 5 pm CT
Applicant Selection & Notification: By December 31, 2021
Fellowship Dates: January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022

Individual consultations are available. Email Tracy at tkrumm@textilecentermn.org if you would like to make an appointment, have submission-related questions, or need help with filling out your application.

“McKnight Artist Fellowships increase the exploratory opportunity, economic stability, and productive capacity of artists by providing unrestricted cash awards and artistic and professional development opportunities for midcareer artists in Minnesota.”

—Arleta Little, Arts Program Officer and Director of Artist Fellowships