Category: Grant / Open Call
The Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant is an ongoing international funding opportunity supporting professional visual artists at all stages of their careers. For more than four decades, the Foundation has provided unrestricted grants that allow artists to focus on developing their practice, offering financial support that can be used wherever it is needed most.
Unlike project-specific funding, the grant is not tied to a particular exhibition or body of work. Artists have used previous awards to purchase materials, rent studio space, create new work, prepare for exhibitions, undertake residencies and meet living expenses while continuing their creative practice.
With no nationality or residency restrictions, the grant is open to eligible artists from around the world, making it one of the most established sources of international support for working visual artists.
Grant Funding
Successful applicants may receive unrestricted grants of up to US$50,000, with the value of each award determined according to the individual circumstances of the applicant.
Funding is intended to support approximately one year of artistic practice and may be used in whatever way best enables the artist to continue producing work.
Who Can Apply?
Applications are open to professional visual artists worldwide, including:
- Painters
- Sculptors
- Artists working on paper
- Printmakers
Applicants should be actively exhibiting their work in recognised professional venues, such as galleries and museums.
The Foundation does not support applications relating to:
- Photography
- Video art
- Performance art
- Filmmaking
- Graphic or commercial art
- Craft
- Generative art
Applicants must not be enrolled in, or applying for, an academic programme at the time of application.
Application Requirements
Applications are submitted online and generally include:
- A completed application form
- Cover letter
- Artist statement
- Current résumé with exhibition history
- Ten high-quality digital images of recent work
- An accompanying image list
Submitted artworks should have been created within the past ten years. As image quality forms an important part of the assessment process, applicants are encouraged to submit clear, professionally presented documentation of their work.
Rolling Applications
The Pollock-Krasner Foundation accepts applications throughout the year, with no application deadline.
Because of the volume of submissions received internationally, applicants should expect the review process to take between nine months and one year. Applications must be submitted through the Foundation’s online application system.
For professional painters, sculptors, printmakers and artists working on paper who are seeking flexible funding to sustain and expand their practice, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant remains one of the world’s most respected and enduring artist grant programmes.
Strijdom van der Merwe – Celebrated South African land artist and sculptor based in Stellenbosch. He is a recipient of the Jackson Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, receiving grants in both 2008 and 2022.
Gideon Mendel – Acclaimed South African photographer and the inaugural recipient of the Pollock Prize for Creativity in 2016. His published biography also records a Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant in 2015.
Photo Cred: Strijdom van der Merwe
