Jonathan and Barbara Silver Foundation Grant for Writing on Sculpture – US

In this grant program, the Jonathan and Barbara Silver Foundation’s goal is to encourage and support sculptors, whether emerging or established, and writers about sculpture.

Grant Details

• The JBSF offers one $20,000 grant per year.
• The JBSF grant program operates on a 2-year cycle with alternating grants that support writing in even years and sculpture in odd years. Applications are now open for writing on sculpture, and the recipient will be announced later in the year. The sculpture grant application will be available in 2025.
• The writing grant is specifically for a writer who generates fresh writing and thinking on the history, aesthetics, purposes, imagination or situation of sculpture.
• Supported categories of writing include essays and books.
  • Essays: magazine essays, catalogue essays, book essays
  • Books: research or manuscripts currently in process or nearing completion.
• Types of writing that are supported include art criticism, art history, memoir, psychoanalytical study, philosophical meditation and literary study.
• The grant recipient is expected to complete the project within one year of receiving the award.

Types of Eligible Work

• Books, essays, memoirs.
• Minimum requirements for submitting writing samples:
• Up to three published writings from magazines, literary journals, or other publications (including online). The samples can originate from the same publication (although submitting samples from diverse publications is encouraged).
• No sample should be longer than 2,500 words. If the original text exceeds 2,500 words, the sample can be an excerpt from it.
• The samples should demonstrate your strength as a writer and their relevance to your project proposal.

Eligibility Criteria

• You are eligible to apply for the grant in writing on sculpture if you meet the following requirements:
  • You are an individual.
  • You are a citizen or permanent resident of the United States, or you hold an O-1 Visa.
  • At least one example of your writing has been published for the first time within the last five years (between January 1, 2019, and the present).

Ineligible

• The following types of work are not eligible: pre-publication material, such as proofs; work that has appeared in a publication for which you are the publisher or editor; collaborative writing; news reporting; letters to the editor; social media posts; essays on one’s own art or writing practice; student publications (including dissertations-theses).
• You are not eligible if you are an employee, consultant, or board member of the Jonathan and Barbara Silver Foundation, or an immediate family member of such a person.

For more information, visit JBSF.