engaging artists fellowship

More Art’s year-long Engaging Artists Fellowship is designed to help emerging NYC artists and community organizers develop and sustain a socially engaged and public art practice.

The Fellowship program curriculum includes mentorship, peer feedback, community building, workshops and artist talks tailored to the interests/needs of the cohort, and access to programming opportunities in New York City.

The infrastructure and laboratory provided by More Art allow selected emerging and underrepresented artists to gain a deeper understanding of the history and vitality of public and socially engaged art. This fellowship encourages artists to not only expand and to develop their social practice but also to promote use of socially engaged art as a tool for change.

EA Fellows will finish with a culminating presentation at the end of the fellowship year. Many fellowship projects become multi-year initiatives, and, as such, the culminating presentation is not a conclusion of the fellows’ work but rather an opportunity to highlight their budding creative practice and project journey.

Timeline:

August 2025: Fellowship year starts.

July 2026: Fellowship year ends.

Who can apply?

The Engaging Artists Fellowship offers insights and strategies to collaborate with communities, rebuild and shape our society, and build sustainable careers. More Art welcomes applications from NYC artists of all disciplines, including but not limited to: visual artists, performers, choreographers, designers, and new media artists. Currently enrolled undergraduate students may not apply. Collective applications are welcome. An interest in socially engaged practice is crucial.

The Fellowship is a program for incubation, experimentation, collaboration, and implementation stages of early socially engaged public art projects. We understand and encourage artists who see the combination of socially engaged work and creative practice as a long-term commitment no matter how much of a body of work they’ve generated previously.

Qualifications

• Interest in More Art’s work and eagerness to learn (no prior experience in public art or socially engaged art necessary!)
• Willingness to present, support, and attend work produced in community and public settings, as opposed to galleries and museums
• Strong commitment to More Art’s values, including but not limited to social justice and public engagement, inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility, and collaboration
• Commitment to intersectional thinking and artmaking
• Willingness to act with care and respect toward all collaborators, including More Art staff, other Fellows, and community members
• Eagerness to contribute to a nurturing environment with and for Fellows
• Interest in establishing and/or sustaining partnerships with community-based organizations, advocacy groups, agencies, neighborhoods, places, individuals and/or groups of New Yorkers
• Belief that art and artists are integral to empowering social justice movements by creatively illuminating social issues, engaging new audiences in activism, and catalyzing public discourse

Fellowship output + expectations

Over the course of the Fellowship year, Fellows are expected to:

• Develop a Theory (or theories!) of Change, with help from the Fellowship Leader
• Develop a set of individualized goals for the Fellowship year
• Develop a culminating presentation (public, or otherwise), with assistance from More Art staff, of or about the work you’ve developed during the More Art Fellowship
• Attend monthly 1-to-1 individualized mentorship meetings with More Art staff
• Attend monthly in-person and virtual workshops/artist talks