The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation has dreamed up an artistic equivalent to the MacArthur “genius” grants: a call out of the blue for a fellowship worth $275,000 in unrestricted funding for dance and theatre artists. According to the LA Times, this is coming from a new $27.5 million grant that will be awarded to 100 “leading artists” as well as up to $8 million for 100 emerging artists. At least 50 artist residencies of $75K or $150K will be distributed beginning in 2013.
The Duke Foundation says this is “the largest allocation of cash grants ever given to artists in these fields.”
The winners will be “generative artists, people who are creating and pushing the art form forward, not necessarily playing something that someone else gave them. It means they’re doing something beyond simply acting out a role,” says Duke Foundation spokeswoman Kristin Roth-Schrefer. Read more.
Innovative artistic teams can apply for the artist residencies starting late next year, but the “leading artist” grants and emerging-artist fellowships have no application process – they’ll be granted by an anonymous groups of experts. So hold your breath – the first calls start in March and April of 2012!