Terra Foundation for American Art Collections Grants is sponsored by Terra Foundation for American Art. These grants support projects that address historical inequities in American art history. They are aimed at organizations seeking to reinterpret their collections through reinstallations or temporary exhibitions.

Collections Grants – Terra Foundation for American Art Terra Foundation Collections Grants encourage organizations worldwide to re-interpret and re-present their permanent collections. Collections Grant Deadlines For projects that begin after May 1, 2027.

Grant Portal : Collections Grant Deadlines We support permanent collection projects that broaden understanding and pursue inclusive and expansive practices of American art, whether through reinstallation or temporary exhibitions drawn primarily from an institution’s permanent collection.

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. Planning grants typically range between $25,000 and $75,000. Implementation grants are up to $100,000.

Grant support through this program is offered once yearly. Grants for this round will be awarded in spring 2026. Collections grants are often a vital source of support for organizations working to reinterpret their permanent collections of American art.

Such efforts are essential to promoting visibility and maintaining relevance in a community and among today’s audiences.

By supporting collections projects, we hope to support endeavors that will exert a long-term impact on institutional practices, such as: presentation of a multiplicity of artists and themes inclusion of a plurality of voices rethinking of collections to re-tell local or regional histories engagement with local communities in collaborative program and content creation broadening and deepening access through inclusive stories and design If you are seeking support for research and planning and/or installation of temporary exhibitions consisting primarily of loans, please see our Exhibition grant program.

Grants offset planning, research, and/or implementation costs for permanent collection reinstallations or temporary exhibitions drawn primarily from an 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 presenting partner institution, the co-organizers must apply jointly. Grants are not made to individuals.

If an organization has received a Collections research and planning grant, it may subsequently apply for Collections implementation support for the same project.

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 projects consisting primarily of loans 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 Collections Grants, please email Carrie Haslett, Senior Program Director, Exhibition Grants and Initiatives, at [email protected] .

Collections grants are often a vital source of support for organizations working to reinterpret their permanent collections of American art. Such efforts are essential to promoting visibility and maintaining relevance in a community and among today’s audiences.

By supporting collections projects, we hope to support endeavors that will exert a long-term impact on institutional practices, such as: presentation of a multiplicity of artists and themes inclusion of a plurality of voices rethinking of collections to re-tell local or regional histories engagement with local communities in collaborative program and content creation broadening and deepening access through inclusive stories and design If you are seeking support for research and planning and/or installation of temporary exhibitions consisting primarily of loans, please see our Exhibition grant program.

Grants offset planning, research, and/or implementation costs for permanent collection reinstallations or temporary exhibitions drawn primarily from an 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 presenting partner institution, the co-organizers must apply jointly. Grants are not made to individuals.

If an organization has received a Collections research and planning grant, it may subsequently apply for Collections implementation support for the same project.

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 projects consisting primarily of loans 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 Collections Grants, please email Carrie Haslett, Senior Program Director, Exhibition Grants and Initiatives, at [email protected] .

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 creating and managing a grant, as well as crediting guidelines.

The Eiteljorg Museum’s Native American Galleries, featuring Expressions of Life: Native Art in North America , showcasing Native art, told through the voices of Native Americans in a multi-sensory, state-of-the-art space. Photo courtesy of Hadley Fruits Photography and the Eiteljorg Museum. Installation view, Toward Joy: New Frameworks for American Art.

Brooklyn Museum, opened October 4, 2024. (Photo: Thomas Barrett) The Wider World and Scrimshaw , on view June 14–November 11, 2024. Images courtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World installed at the Hood Museum of Art, January 5–July 23, 2022. Photo by Rob Strong. In its effort to amplify quilt stories, BAMPFA views itself as a co-steward of this important collection, working alongside contemporary quiltmakers, local guilds, historians, and descendent families to interpret the quilts’ significance for audiences today .

. . [and] ultimately helping to reshape what we understand as American Art.

ᐆᒻᒪᖁᑎᒃ uummaqutik: essence of life amplifies the practices and legacies of both established and emerging Inuit artists, honoring and celebrating artistic excellence as well as diverse Indigenous cultural continuity across circumpolar communities.

Guided by a shared belief in the transformative power of art and a demonstrated commitment to genuine inclusion, [the exhibition] marks a turning point in the museum’s critical engagement with Inuit arts. Museo de Ropa Étnica de México, A. C.

Read : Museo de Ropa Étnica de México, A. C. Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience Read : Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience Indian Pueblo Cultural Center Read : Indian Pueblo Cultural Center Installation view of Americans in Paris: Artists Working in Postwar France, 1946–1962.

Photo: David Heald. Courtesy Grey Art Museum, New York University “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.

Grants Awarded Spring 2025 Read : Grants Awarded Spring 2025 Whaling museum’s scrimshaw exhibit explores 19th-century bone and ivory art Read : Whaling museum’s scrimshaw exhibit explores 19th-century bone and ivory art Installation view, Toward Joy: New Frameworks for American Art. Brooklyn Museum , opened October 4, 2024.

(Photo: Thomas Barrett) Brooklyn Museum’s Toward Joy: New Frameworks for American Art Read : Brooklyn Museum’s Toward Joy: New Frameworks for American Art This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.