APPLY NOW: 2025 Individual Artist Fellowships

The Fiscal Year 2025 Artist Fellowship application is now open in smARTDE. Awards are $5,000 for Emerging; $8,000 for Established; and $12,000 for Masters. The deadline for applications is August 1, 2024. In Fiscal Year 2025, Masters ($12,000 award) Fellowship applications will be accepted in the disciplines of Literary Arts and Media Arts from artists who received an Established Professional Fellowship in the same artistic discipline more than seven years ago (prior to January 2018).

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.

READ THE 2025 GUIDELINES >>>

APPLY BEFORE AUGUST 1 >>>

New to the process? Join us for a Virtual Info Session!

Join Program Officer Roxanne Stanulis on June 22 or July 8 for this hour-long info session explaining the application for the 2025 Individual Artist Fellowship.

She will also walk through smARTDE and answer any technical questions you may have. Advanced registration is required.

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.

Schedule a Zoom >

APPLY NOW: 2024 Delaware Writers Retreat

The Delaware Division of the Arts is hosting the 2024 Writers Retreat from November 7-10, 2024. This is a special opportunity to get away from everyday life and focus on creative writing in a relaxed coastal setting. Participants will have time to write, connect with peers, work alongside established authors, give and receive feedback in workshops, and get inspired!

Applications are being accepted from creative writers in the following areas: fiction, including fiction for young adults; creative nonfiction; and poetry. The application process is competitive, and participants will be chosen based on the merit of their work. Work samples will be juried in an anonymous review process to select up to 20 attendees from the pool of applicants split between poetry and prose.

If selected, the fee for the Retreat is $325, which includes a private room and most meals. Each room contains a bed, desk, small refrigerator, microwave and coffee maker. This is a tobacco-free facility.

Deadline to apply for consideration is Thursday, August 1, 2024 at 11:59pm.

Learn More >>>

Apply Before August 1 >>>

Our 2024 Facilitators Are...

Tope Folarin, Prose Facilitator

Tope Folarin is a Nigerian-American writer based in Washington DC. He serves as Director of the Institute for Policy Studies and the Lannan Visiting Lecturer in Creative Writing at Georgetown University. He is the recipient of the Caine Prize for African Writing, the Whiting Award for Fiction, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, among other awards. His debut novel, A Particular Kind of Black Man, was published by Simon & Schuster.

Catherine Pierce, Poetry Facilitator

Catherine Pierce is the Poet Laureate of Mississippi and the author of four books of poems: Danger Days (2020), The Tornado Is the World (2016), The Girls of Peculiar (2012), and Famous Last Words (2008), all from Saturnalia Books. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, The Best American Poetry, the Pushcart Prize anthology, The Nation, American Poetry Review, The Southern Review, and elsewhere. A recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Academy of American Poets, she teaches at Mississippi State University.

National Endowment for the Arts Announces Second Round of Grants for FY2024

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is pleased to announce $110 million in recommended grants in the second major grant announcement of fiscal year 2024. Organizations in all 50 states and U.S. jurisdictions will carry out arts projects in three NEA funding categories: Grants for Arts Projects, Our Town, and State and Regional Partnerships.

Of those announced, two Delaware organizations (including the Delaware Division of the Arts), will receive $955,000 in federal grants.

The Delaware Division of the Arts will receive a partnership (State & Regional) grant in the amount of $940,000 to support activities associated with carrying out its NEA-approved State strategic plan.

The Grand Opera House will receive a grant to support sensory-friendly performances for youth and their families.

DDOA Receives Lt. Gov Health Challenge Award

The Delaware Division of the Arts (DDOA) was honored for their Delaware Creative Aging program, which seeks to promote artistic expression and social interaction among older adults in Delaware, enhancing mental and physical health through engagement in the arts. In partnership with the Division of Libraries, which oversees 33 public libraries across the state, DDOA is complementing the state’s multipronged strategy to support Delaware’s older adults.

2024's Winners >>>

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.

The learning will be July 24 from 8am to 4:30pm at Delaware State University.

Upcoming Artist Opportunity Deadline - July 1

Artist Opportunity Grants are awarded on a competitive basis to support unique professional and artistic development and presentation opportunities for artists. Examples include: materials to complete work for a specific show or program; the cost to rent a facility for a performance; study with a master for a specified period of time. Evaluation criteria include: anticipated impact on the artist’s work or career; financial feasibility and need; marketing plans; and uniqueness of the opportunity

Apply Today >>>

Love the Arts? Serve as an On-site Evaluator

If you love the arts and actively participate in programs or attend events, you may be a candidate to serve as an on-site evaluator for the Division. We are currently seeking to expand our list of potential evaluators who are dependable, articulate observers with knowledge in one or more art form (you do not need to be professionally trained in the arts).

If interested, please complete the On-Site Evaluator Self-Nomination Form available on smARTDE.

Apply Today >>>

Submit your

upcoming events!

DelawareScene is a comprehensive, up-to-date website calendar featuring Delaware’s arts and cultural events and attractions in and around Delaware. Acquaint yourself with one of Delaware’s many artists, get carried away by the magic of a theater performance, frequent one of Delaware’s world-renowned museums, experience one of Delaware’s many unique festivals.

REMINDER: All grantees MUST list all events on DelawareScene.com as soon as they are announced.

Submit an Event >>>

Request an interview!

Delaware State of the Arts is a weekly podcast that presents interviews with arts organizations and leaders who contribute to the cultural vibrancy of communities throughout Delaware. Delaware State of the Arts is provided as a service of the Division of the Arts, in partnership with NEWSRADIO 1450 WILM and 1410 WDOV.

Click below to request an interview for your organization this upcoming year.

Visit our Website >>>

On the Mezzanine - Don James

The Mezzanine Gallery presents Don James' "Beyond the Facade: Architectural Portraits", on view through June 28. James, from Milton, Delaware, is a photographer who finds inspiration in natural, industrial, and urban environments, being drawn to subjects that are readily accessible, but usually go unnoticed.

Meet the 2024 Fellows

The prestigious Individual Artist Fellowships from the Delaware Division of the Arts recognize a variety of disciplines and outstanding quality of work. Each month, we will highlight a few fellows from the 2024 cohort.

Shakira Hunt

Established, Visual Artist: Photography

"My art is a profound reflection of the diverse and intricate layers that shape the Black experience. Central to my artistic philosophy is authenticity.”

Learn More >>>

Michael Kardos

Established, Literature: Fiction

“I continue to be fascinated by the relationship between magic and fiction, and how they’re both rooted in mystery and wonder."

Learn More >>>

Award Winners XXIV Schedule Across the State

Delaware’s Individual Artist Fellowships recognize artists for their outstanding quality of work. Each year, the Biggs Museum of American Art curates an exhibition of the Fellows’ artwork called Award Winners. Mark you calendars!