Exhibition Grants (Terra Foundation for American Art)

Exhibition Grants (Terra Foundation for American Art) is sponsored by Terra Foundation for American Art. This program encourages exhibitions that broaden understandings of American art at institutions worldwide. It supports planning and/or implementation costs for temporary exhibitions primarily comprising artworks not part of the institution's permanent collection.

Funds may be used for planning, research, interpretation, artist fees (except commissions), shipping, and marketing.

## Exhibition Grant Guidelines Installation view of _Americans in Paris: Artists Working in Postwar France, 1946–1962. _ Photo: David Heald. Courtesy Grey Art Museum, New York University Exhibition Grant Deadlines For exhibitions that open after January 1, 2028: * Grant Portal: Exhibition Grant Deadlines We encourage exhibitions that broaden understandings of American art at institutions worldwide.

We welcome proposals from museums, art centers, and community-based cultural organizations of varying sizes, annual budgets, and diverse geographies, within and outside the United States. This is a highly competitive program. * Grants typically range between $25,000 and $200,000, with an average grant size of $100,000.

* Grant support through this program is offered once yearly. * Grants for proposals submitted in May 2026 will be awarded in fall 2026. Exhibitions can offer shared experiences and transformative encounters, leading to new ways of thinking and seeing art and the world.

They are designed to be temporary and are often themed—inviting visitors to acknowledge and reflect on the intentions of artists and curators, bringing them into conversation with ideas beyond their own. Loan shows offer expanded access to art and ideas, offering something new to communities of visitors and to histories of art.

If you are seeking support for research and planning related to, and/or for exhibitions drawn primarily from, your organization’s permanent collection, please see our Collections grant program. Grants will offset planning and/or implementation costs for temporary exhibitions primarily comprising artworks that are not part of the institution’s permanent collection.

Funds may be used for costs associated with: * planning and research, including short-term positions (e.g. research fellows or assistants), convenings, travel, and advisory committees * artist fees (except for commissions) * shipping, crating, couriers, insurance, and object loan fees * construction of temporary gallery walls * dissemination of research, whether in digital or print form We encourage written materials to be multilingual when possible and relevant to the project and/or its audiences.

We are also happy to support related staff positions (up to 25% of the award amount) and indirect costs (up to 15% of the award amount). The Terra Foundation supports projects that engage the visual arts of the United States and the Indigenous arts of North America, while questioning and broadening understandings of American art and transforming how its stories are told.

We encourage projects that: * generate knowledge and interpretive frameworks that collectively reflect the full breadth and complexity of American art and its histories through the artists represented, voices included, and stories told * engage artists, scholars, and communities who present a plurality of perspectives and methods, including intercultural and interdisciplinary approaches * catalyze inclusive practices and expansive histories in the field of American art All applicants must hold United States 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status or its international equivalent.

Only the project organizer(s) may apply for support. If co-organizing with a partner museum, the co-organizers are encouraged to apply jointly. If co-organizers do not apply jointly, we accept only one grant inquiry per project, from whichever organization applies first (even if that letter of inquiry does not get invited to the proposal stage).

Grants are not made to individuals. We do not accept applications for Exhibition Grants from the same institution two consecutive years if a grant has been awarded. For example, if you were awarded an Exhibition Grant in 2023, you can apply for another Exhibition grant to be awarded in 2025.

However, if you received a grant for planning only, you may apply for an implementation grant for the same project the following year.

Currently, we do not accept requests for: * the creation or acquisition of existing or commissioned artwork * acquisitions or capital expenditures or permanent equipment (including technology, construction other than temporary gallery walls, contracted exhibition or architectural design, exhibition furniture/vitrines, etc.) * projects that are exclusively online * projects previously opened that are touring to new venues * grant inquiries or proposals previously declined through this program Use the Apply Now buttons to submit a grant inquiry form by the deadline listed on this page.

After reviewing the inquiry, the foundation may invite you to submit a grant proposal. If invited, prospective applicants submit a grant proposal. Formal proposals and all attachments must be written in English.

Grant proposals are reviewed by an external panel made up of curators and arts professionals who reflect a diverse range of backgrounds, perspectives, and approaches. If you have questions about Exhibition Grants, please email Carrie Haslett, Senior Program Director, Exhibition Grants & Initiatives, at [[email protected]](https://www. terraamericanart.

org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#4c242d3f202938380c38293e3e2d2d21293e252f2d222d3e3862233e2b). Exhibitions can offer shared experiences and transformative encounters, leading to new ways of thinking and seeing art and the world. They are designed to be temporary and are often themed—inviting visitors to acknowledge and reflect on the intentions of artists and curators, bringing them into conversation with ideas beyond their own.

Loan shows offer expanded access to art and ideas, offering something new to communities of visitors and to histories of art. If you are seeking support for research and planning related to, and/or for exhibitions drawn primarily from, your organization’s permanent collection, please see our Collections grant program.

Grants will offset planning and/or implementation costs for temporary exhibitions primarily comprising artworks that are not part of the institution’s permanent collection.

Funds may be used for costs associated with: * planning and research, including short-term positions (e.g. research fellows or assistants), convenings, travel, and advisory committees * artist fees (except for commissions) * shipping, crating, couriers, insurance, and object loan fees * construction of temporary gallery walls * dissemination of research, whether in digital or print form We encourage written materials to be multilingual when possible and relevant to the project and/or its audiences.

We are also happy to support related staff positions (up to 25% of the award amount) and indirect costs (up to 15% of the award amount). ### Foundation Priorities The Terra Foundation supports projects that engage the visual arts of the United States and the Indigenous arts of North America, while questioning and broadening understandings of American art and transforming how its stories are told.

We encourage projects that: * generate knowledge and interpretive frameworks that collectively reflect the full breadth and complexity of American art and its histories through the artists represented, voices included, and stories told * engage artists, scholars, and communities who present a plurality of perspectives and methods, including intercultural and interdisciplinary approaches * catalyze inclusive practices and expansive histories in the field of American art All applicants must hold United States 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status or its international equivalent.

Only the project organizer(s) may apply for support. If co-organizing with a partner museum, the co-organizers are encouraged to apply jointly. If co-organizers do not apply jointly, we accept only one grant inquiry per project, from whichever organization applies first (even if that letter of inquiry does not get invited to the proposal stage).

Grants are not made to individuals. We do not accept applications for Exhibition Grants from the same institution two consecutive years if a grant has been awarded. For example, if you were awarded an Exhibition Grant in 2023, you can apply for another Exhibition grant to be awarded in 2025.

However, if you received a grant for planning only, you may apply for an implementation grant for the same project the following year.

Currently, we do not accept requests for: * the creation or acquisition of existing or commissioned artwork * acquisitions or capital expenditures or permanent equipment (including technology, construction other than temporary gallery walls, contracted exhibition or architectural design, exhibition furniture/vitrines, etc.) * projects that are exclusively online * projects previously opened that are touring to new venues * grant inquiries or proposals previously declined through this program Use the Apply Now buttons to submit a grant inquiry form by the deadline listed on this page.

After reviewing the inquiry, the foundation may invite you to submit a grant proposal. If invited, prospective applicants submit a grant proposal. Formal proposals and all attachments must be written in English.

Grant proposals are reviewed by an external panel made up of curators and arts professionals who reflect a diverse range of backgrounds, perspectives, and approaches. If you have questions about Exhibition Grants, please email Carrie Haslett, Senior Program Director, Exhibition Grants & Initiatives, at [[email protected]](https://www. terraamericanart.

org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#670f06140b021313271302151506060a02150e04060906151349081500). The application process asks applicants to clearly and concisely describe their project’s intended impact and outcomes, as well as how grant funds will supplement existing resources to achieve institutional goals. Please refer to the blank forms provided and reach out with any questions.

* Download Blank Grant Inquiry Form * Download Blank Grant Proposal Form For more information on timelines, how to apply, eligibility, and other common questions, please review our Applicant Resources. Current grantees, please visit Grantee Resources for information about managing a grant, as well as crediting guidelines.

* **$112,500**median grant > The _WAMPUM/OTGÖA_ exhibition is the culmination of three hundred years of relationship building. This unique and unprecedented collaboration will knit a friendship between peoples and time. Perhaps more importantly, it will pave the way for future collaborations between European and North American Indigenous museums that are mutually beneficial as well as have a great impact on the public.

> The project was developed through a collaborative and consultative process that . . .

fostered broad-based investment in the project and seeded and strengthened relationships that will continue to grow. A multi-faceted structure of care supported a range of responses elicited from visitors to the exhibition and has been cited as a model by colleagues in the field. Installation view of _Americans in Paris: Artists Working in Postwar France, 1946–1962.

_ Photo: David Heald. Courtesy Grey Art Museum, New York University _Woven in Wool_ curatorial team. Seated, left to right: Chepximiya Siyam’ Chief Janice George, Tillie Jones, Buddy Joseph.

Standing, left to right: Siseenaxalt Gail White Eagle, Bethany Palkovitz, Katie Bunn-Marcuse, Kelly Robinson, sa’hLa mitSa Susan Pavel, Bridget Johnson, Olive Keilholtz, Michelle Cohen, Roxanne Hockett, Rose Mathison, Ashley Verplank McClelland. Salish blanket of mountain-goat wool in foreground. Burke Museum, Nov.

3, 2023. Photo Credit Burke Museum/Timothy Kenney. _Sargent Claude Johnson_ (installation view).

Photo: Sarah M. Golonka. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens Installation view, _Teddy Sandoval and the Butch Gardens School of Art_, Williams College Museum of Art, Williams College, Williamstown, MA, 2024.

(Photo: Bradley Wakoff, Courtesy of WCMA) Installation photography of _Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo_, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2024; Photos by Albert Ting _Contemporary Ex-Votos_ installation view, 2024, Gallery 400. Courtesy Natasha Moustache. “How can we gather now?

,” March 31–April 2, 2023, produced by Washington Project for the Arts, co-directed by Asad Raza & Prem Krishnamurthy, symposium attendee Anisa Olufemi asks a question during Stefanie Hessler’s keynote lecture, photo by McKenzie Grant-Gordon courtesy of Washington Project for the Arts.

“Pictures of Belonging” documents the work of three female artists whose careers were deeply affected by prison camps in the United States during World War II. Credit... via Smithsonian American Art Museum; Photo by Albert Ting Candida Alvarez, Estoy Bien, 2017.

Photography by Martin Seck. Image courtesy of the artist and El Museo del Barrio.