Update on FY2026 Grant Notifications | | |
The Division expects grant notifications for our FY2026 annual grants to be sent by the second week of August. Despite an 8-week delay in notification from the National Endowment for the Arts, we have worked hard to reduce the delay to our grantees to just 4 weeks. First payments are still on schedule to be received in mid-September for all approved grants. We thank you for your patience.
These grant programs include: General Operating Support, Project Support, Arts Stabilization Fund, Education Resource, and StartUp.
| | Individual Artist Fellowship Application Due August 1 | | |
The Fiscal Year 2026 Artist Fellowship application deadline is approaching on August 1. Awards are $5,000 for Emerging; $8,000 for Established; and $12,000 for Masters.
Individual Artist Fellowships are awarded for artistic quality to Delaware creative artists working in the visual, performing, media, folk, and literary arts. Due to high numbers of applications and limited funds, the program is highly competitive. Fellowships are designed to enable recipients to purchase equipment and materials, allocate working time, or fulfill other needs that will allow them to advance their careers (excluding foreign travel and lobbying). Fellowship recipients are required to present examples of their work to the public during their Fellowship year.
In Fiscal Year 2026, Masters ($12,000 award) Fellowship applications will be accepted in the disciplines of Visual Arts and Folk Arts from artists who received an Established Professional Fellowship in the same artistic discipline more than seven years ago (prior to January 2019).
Please note: The Fellowship program remains secure for Fiscal Year 2026 through funds allocated by the Delaware General Assembly.
The Division is accepting applications in the following disciplines:
Masters Fellowship
Visual Arts
Folk Arts (see note below)
Established and Emerging Fellowships
Dance: Choreography
Folk Art: Music*
Folk Art: Oral Literature*
Folk Art: Visual Arts*
Jazz: Composition
Jazz: Performance
Literature: Creative Nonfiction
Literature: Fiction
Literature: Playwriting
Literature: Poetry
Media Arts: Video/Film
Music: Composition
Music: Contemporary Performance (hip-hop, popular, R&B)
Music: Solo Recital (classical)
Visual Arts: Crafts
Visual Arts: Painting
Visual Arts: Photography
Visual Arts: Sculpture
Visual Arts: Works on Paper
Visual Arts: Interdisciplinary
(for visual artists whose practice includes multiple disciplines or media,
and/or working with new technology)
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What is Folk Art?
The folk and traditional arts are rooted in and reflective of the cultural life of a community. Community members may share a common ethnic heritage, cultural mores, language, religion, occupation, or geographic region. These vital and constantly reinvigorated artistic traditions are shaped by values and standards of excellence that are passed from generation to generation, most often within family and community, through demonstration, conversation, and practice.
If you are unsure whether you qualify as a folk artist, contact Roxanne Stanulis, Program Officer at Roxanne.Stanulis@delaware.gov or 302-577-8283.
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Questions about your application? Schedule a 1-on-1 call!
Sign up for a 30-minute meeting with Program Officer Roxanne Stanulis to discuss your application and have your questions answered
Please Note: Roxanne is not the juror that will be reviewing your application.
| | | 2025 Arts Summit Keynote Speaker Announced | | |
Agents of Change
Advancing New Ideas and Practices
Monday, October 27, 2025
Hotel Du Pont
42 W 11th St, Wilmington, DE 19801
Registration: $65 with FREE parking
Do you work in arts administration or arts programming? Are you an artist, arts patron, or arts educator? Do you volunteer at an arts organization? If you’re interested in the arts, then you belong at the Delaware Arts Summit!
As Agents of Change we can enable change to happen within our work, our organizations, and our communities. The 2025 Delaware Arts Summit will explore ways to identify the need for change and how to achieve it with new ideas and practices that address challenges, recognize opportunities, and promote future sustainability in the arts.
Registration will open in early August!
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Keynote Speaker: Deborah F. Rutter
Deborah F. Rutter is an internationally respected arts executive with over four decades of leadership at premier cultural institutions. From 2014 to 2025, she served as the first female president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts — the nation’s preeminent cultural center — where she led a period of transformative growth while centering artists in all aspects of the institution’s work.
A fierce advocate of artistic voices, Rutter believes artists hold a mirror to society, and her role is to uplift their work. She has collaborated with and established strong artistic collaborations with renowned artists throughout her career, including Renée Fleming, Jason Moran, Q-Tip, Mason Bates, Gianandrea Noseda, Carlos Simon, Riccardo Muti, and Yo-Yo Ma. During her tenure at the Kennedy Center, Deborah expanded the institution’s artistic and educational programming across genres and audiences including the introduction of Social Impact programming in 2019. She also developed an innovative exploration of arts and well-being in collaboration with National Institutes of Health and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as establishing the Hip Hop Culture Council to create new pathways and deepen public knowledge of Hip Hop, while strengthening the burgeoning Hip Hop Culture.
| | | Grant Re-evaluation Listening Tours | | |
The Delaware Division of the Arts (DDOA) is working with Angela Han, an independent consultant, to conduct a statewide listening tour. In particular, DDOA would like to understand how its organizational support programs can become more equitable, relevant, and responsive to our communities.
As a part of this work, two virtual forums will be convened. This is an opportunity for anyone in the Delaware arts and culture community to provide input into DDOA’s process for its organizational support programs.
Please consider joining the second virtual forum on July 23 at 6pm. The forum will be approximately 90 minutes and will be hosted on Zoom. Please follow the link below to RSVP and receive the meeting link.
Important: Only summary analysis and observations from the virtual forums will be shared with DDOA. Any individual responses will be kept anonymous. This work is being conducted by Angela Han, an independent consultant. Should you have any questions about this effort, please send an email to han.angie@gmail.com.
Your feedback will inform shifts to DDOA’s organizational support programs and is an invaluable component of the process. Thank you for your time and consideration.
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Over the next two years, the Delaware Division of the Arts (DDOA) will undertake a comprehensive evaluation of every grant program to ensure its funding system mirrors the evolving realities of Delaware’s creative sector.
A process map for this project can be found below (we are currently on step one).
| | Award Winners XXV Upcoming Schedule | | |
Biggs Museum of American Art
Dover
Now through
September 14
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Historic Odessa Foundation
Odessa
September 19 – October 26
Reception: Thurs., September 25 from 6-8pm
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Rehoboth Art League
Rehoboth Beach
November 7-30
Reception: Fri., November 7 from 5-7pm
| | Mid Atlantic Arts Strategic Plan Survey | | |
Mid Atlantic Arts is shaping its next strategic plan (2025-2030), and they've created a short survey to gather the voices of artists, arts professionals, audiences, and communities in the region and beyond. You can get through it in 15-30 minutes, depending on how much you have to say.
What's broken? What's working? How are current changes in the ecosystem affecting your practice? Your insights will help them determine the areas where their work can have the most impact during the next five years.
Click on the link, say your piece, help them shape what's next.
| | Military Families Can Visit Select Museums for FREE this Summer as part of Blue Star Museums | | |
Actively serving military members and their families have the opportunity to visit participating museums nationwide for free as part of the Blue Star Museums program, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and Blue Star Families (BSF) in collaboration with the US Department of Defense. This year’s program begins on Armed Forces Day, Saturday, May 17, 2025, and will continue through Labor Day, Monday, September 1, 2025. Additional information and a complete list of participating organizations are available at arts.gov/BlueStarMuseums.
Delaware’s participating museums include:
- Biggs Museum of American Art (Dover)
- New Castle Historical Society (Historic New Castle)
- Mt. Cuba Center (Hockessin)
- Delaware Museum of Nature and Science (Wilmington)
- Hagley Museum and Library (Wilmington)
- Nemours Estate (Wilmington)
- Old Swedes Historic Site (Wilmington)
A map of all participating museums is available on arts.gov.
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Department of Education Visual and Performing Arts Summer Professional Learning
Teaching artists are encouraged to register for this one-day professional development opportunity with the Department of Education. This year's workshops are focused on high quality culturally responsive arts education and trauma support for arts educations.
When: July 23 and 24 from 8-3:30pm
Where: July 23 - University of Delaware
Where: July 24 - John W. Collette Education Resource Center
Cost: FREE
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Delaware Art Education Association presents their 2025 State Arts Conference
The Delaware Art Education Association (DAEA) is a non-profit organization that promotes visual arts education in the State of Delaware.
Teachers, artists, and advocates of visual arts are encouraged to attend.
When: Friday, October 10 from
7:30am-3:30pm
Where: Dover Middle School 1 Patrick Lynn Dr, Dover, DE 19904
Cost: $60 for members, $90 for non-members
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On the Mezzanine -
Jen Hintz Eggers
The Delaware Division of the Arts’ Mezzanine Gallery is pleased to present “Seeds of Life”, a solo exhibition by Delaware artist Jennifer Hintz Eggers. The show will be on view through July 25, 2025.
“Seeds of Life” reflects Eggers’ deeply personal exploration of early motherhood. Her evocative oil paintings beautifully weave sacred geometric patterns, branching lines, and biomorphic “mammary flowers” inspired by physiological forms. These meticulously composed images layer rich colors and potent symbolism, emphasizing life’s cyclical, persistent, and hopeful nature.
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Meet the Fellows
The prestigious Individual Artist Fellowships from the Delaware Division of the Arts recognize a variety of disciplines and outstanding quality of work. From writers to visual artists to musicians, these award-winning creatives have unique stories and talents.
To see the full listing of 2025's Individual Artist Fellows, visit https://arts.delaware.gov/iafrecipients/
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Nadjah Nicole
Music: Contemporary Performance
“I no longer write for a specific genre or trend; I write from my journey . . . free to feel out where a song is leading me and just enjoy the ride.”
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Damon Pla
Visual Arts: Painting
“In my paintings, I explore landscapes and surreal compositions to provoke thought and meditation.”
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Southern Delaware Chorale
Summer Celebration of America’s Music
Nassau
General Operating Support
| | | | The Delaware Division of the Arts is an agency of the State of Delaware. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware State Arts Council, the Division administers grants and programs that support arts programming, educate the public, increase awareness of the arts, and integrate the arts into all facets of Delaware life. Funding for Division programs is provided by annual appropriations from the Delaware General Assembly and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. For more information about the Delaware Division of the Arts, visit arts.delaware.gov or call 302-577-8278. | | | | |
