History of Art Grants is a grant from Samuel H. Kress Foundation that funds scholarly projects enhancing appreciation and understanding of European art and architecture from antiquity to the early 19th century. The program supports a range of activities including archival projects, scholarly publications, and digital methodologies that create and disseminate specialized art historical knowledge.

Priority is given to projects that advance the field through rigorous scholarship and broad accessibility. Eligible applicants are U.S. non-profit institutions with 501(c)(3) status; foreign institutions must have a U.S. non-profit fiscal sponsor. The application deadline is October 1, 2026.

History of Art Grants | Samuel H. Kress Foundation Queen Zenobia Addressing Her Soldiers Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Queen Zenobia Addressing Her Soldiers, 1725/1730, Samuel H. Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art The History of Art Grants program supports scholarly projects that will enhance the appreciation and understanding of European works of art and architecture from antiquity to the early 19th century.

Grants are awarded to projects, including those incorporating the use of digital methodologies and tools, that create and disseminate specialized knowledge, such as archival projects, development and dissemination of scholarly databases, documentation projects, museum exhibitions and publications, photographic campaigns, scholarly catalogues and publications, and technical and scientific studies.

Grants are also awarded for activities that permit art historians to share their expertise through international exchanges, professional meetings, conferences, symposia, consultations, the presentation of research, and other professional events.

Support may also be offered for mentored professional development opportunities in art museums, particularly those that encourage close collaboration between museum educators and curators to foster the development of emerging interpretive museum professionals. Effective August 2025, the Digital Art History grants program and the Interpretive Fellowships for Art Museums program have been integrated into the History of Art grants program.

Prospective grantees are encouraged to submit proposals for consideration under the History of Art grants program. For more details, please see this update from L. W.

Schermerhorn . History of Art Grant Guidelines Grants are awarded to non-profit institutions that have 501(c)3 status in the United States, which includes supporting foundations of European institutions and foreign institutions that have obtained recognition of exemption from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

The project being pursued can be the work of a single individual or a team affiliated with the organization applying for support, but the Foundation does not pay grants directly to individuals. This grant program does not typically support the documentation (cataloging, photography, research and publication) of the object collections of individual art museums.

International applicants must identify a U.S. non-profit as the fiscal sponsor for their proposal, and provide a copy of that organization’s IRS Determination Letter to confirm its 501(c) 3 status.

This fiscal sponsor must also confirm, in a letter to the Foundation, that they have independently vetted the proposed project, approved it as appropriate to their mission and are therefore willing to accept and administer full or partial funding, if awarded, without taking any overhead or indirect expenses from the grant. For more information, see the “Add a Fiscal Sponsor” section of the Letter of Inquiry Portal Guide .

These are competitive grants. Please see the Past Grants page and our Annual Reports for past awards and typical levels of funding and review our Grants FAQs for answers to common questions about project eligibility. History of Art grant applications are reviewed and awarded in each of the Foundation’s two grant cycles.

Each grant application begins with the submission of a Letter of Inquiry (LOI). Institutions must submit an LOI by the deadlines below in order to apply for a History of Art Grant in that cycle: Eligible organizations will use the Kress Foundation’s online grantmaking portal to complete their Letter of Inquiry (LOI) and History of Art grant applications.

Organizations whose representatives do not already have access to the grantmaking portal must register for access. Organizational representatives who will create a grant application on behalf of their organization can register for access to the Foundation’s online grantmaking portal (Fluxx) here: https://kressfoundation. fluxx.

io . If an organization is eligible to apply for support from the Foundation, their representatives will receive an email notification with portal login credentials. Once login credentials are granted, representatives will have access to all active LOI and application forms in the portal.

The first step in the History of Art grant application process is the submission of a Letter of Inquiry (LOI). Organizations submitting an LOI through the portal will be asked to provide: a brief summary of the proposed project the total budget of the project the amount requested from the Foundation The Kress grantmaking portal will accept LOIs for 15 days at the beginning of the Foundation’s two grant cycles.

Institutions must submit an LOI by the deadlines below in order to apply for a History of Art grant in that cycle: For step-by-step instructions on how to use the portal to submit an LOI to the Foundation, please review the LOI Portal Guide . Organizations invited to apply for a grant from the Kress Foundation will be notified via email within 7 business days of the LOI submission deadline.

Organizations submitting a grant application through the portal will be asked to describe: the project history to date (if applicable) the key activities to be carried out personnel overseeing the project the anticipated outcomes of the project Applicants will also be required to upload the following documents: a detailed project budget in MS Excel the IRS determination letter of 501(c)3 status for the organization that will receive and administer the funds Additional supporting documents, as necessary, may also be uploaded, including: curriculum vitae for principal investigator(s) conference, workshop, exhibition, or publication schedules After a grantee has been invited to submit a full application for a History of Art Grant they will have approximately three weeks to do so.

Organizations must submit their grant application by the deadlines below in order to be eligible for an award from the Kress Foundation: Grant Application Deadline After applicant recieves invitation After applicant recieves invitation For step-by-step instructions on how to use the portal to submit a grant application to the Foundation, please review the Grant Application Portal Guide .

Institutions must submit an LOI by the deadlines above in order to apply for a History of Art grant in the designated cycle.