A talk about Thomas Eakins’s Gross Clinic in the American Art galleries
American Art Project Grants
The Center for American Art offers grant opportunities for projects that enhance the national discourse on American art. Typical grants are between $2,000 and $10,000. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of the museum, grants have been temporarily suspended. Please check back for updates.Eligible Projects
To be considered for a grant, your project should engage the artistic and cultural heritage of American visual art, from colonial times to the present, in any medium. Eligible programs include educational activities (lectures, symposia, workshops, tours, etc.), research projects, and publications aimed at diverse audiences, from scholars to schoolchildren. (See list of recent programs below.) Conservation projects, building renovations and reinstallations, and exhibitions or publications focusing on a single contemporary artist are not within the scope of these grants. Grant preference is given to work or topics from the greater Philadelphia region, or projects that illuminate the art of the region in national or international cultural contexts. Applicants are encouraged to partner with the museum’s staff in planning and presenting their programs. Grant recipients are expected to acknowledge the “Center for American Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art” in materials related to the funded project. Recent projects supported by the Center for American Art >>
Held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art unless noted otherwise
2019
- “Stylish Books: Designing Philadelphia Furniture” symposium, The Library Company of Philadelphia
- “Impressionism Around the World: Art and Globalization at the Turn of the Twentieth Century,” Tenth Annual Anne d’Harnoncourt Symposium
- “Celebrating Silver: A Conversation with Bea Garvan,” with an overview of American silver at the Philadelphia Museum of Art by David Barquist, The Library Company of Philadelphia
- Scholars’ Day, offered in conjunction with the exhibition We The People: American Prints from Between the World Wars
- Art Splash 2019, offered in conjunction with the exhibitions Souls Grown Deep: Artists of the African American South and The Art of Collage and Assemblage
- Craft Capital: Philadelphia’s Cultures of Making publication, in conjunction with the fifth anniversary of CraftNOW and coinciding with the American Craft Council conference in Philadelphia, CraftNOW
- Alison M. Printz, PhD Candidate in the Department of Art History at the Tyler School of Art at Temple University, Emerging Scholars Program Research Grant, The Decorative Arts Trust
- Rosalie Hooper, Project Curatorial Assistant, transportation to attend The Attingham Summer School
- Exhibition support for From Storage to Studio: Reflexive Relevance, The Clay Studio
- Staff workshop focused on developing a shared knowledge base around black representation with Adrienne L. Childs, following endowed public lecture
- Staging support for the symposium “Craft Capital,” featuring keynote speaker Michelle Millar Fisher, Ronald C. and Anita L. Wornick Curator of Contemporary Decorative Arts, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, CraftNOW, hosted by The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
- Audiovisual support for the exhibition Off the Wall: American Art to Wear
- Dr. Stéphanie Delamaire, Associate Curator of Fine Arts, research in preparation for the exhibition Pirates and Gentlemen: American Colonial Painters and the Great Caribbean, Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library
- Pre-1840 American miniature collection evaluation and conservation by Carol Aiken
- Sponsored lecture by Dr. Christopher Oliver at “New Vistas: Painters and Paintings of the American South” seminar, Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA)
- Publication accompanying the exhibition Making a Difference: Social and Political Activism in Clay, The Clay Studio
- “Continuing Curiosity: The Art of the Peales” gallery conversations and symposium, offered in conjunction with The Art of the Peales installation and publication
- “Paul Cret and Modern Classicism” symposium, The Athenaeum of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Museum of Art
- Modern Times Scholars’ Day, offered in conjunction with Modern Times: American Art 1910–1950
- “Art Splash: Bright Lights, Little City,” offered in conjunction with Modern Times: American Art 1910–1950
- “William Birch and the Complexities of American Visual Culture: A Symposium Celebrating the Tenth Anniversary of the Visual Culture Program,” Library Company of Philadelphia
- Lenders’ Day and Scholars’ Day, offered in conjunction with American Watercolor in the Age of Homer and Sargent
- Watercolor Salons, offered in in conjunction with American Watercolor in the Age of Homer and Sargent
- “Women and Watercolor” with artist Eileen Goodman and Kathleen A. Foster, The Robert L. McNeil, Jr., Senior Curator of American Art, and Director, Center for American Art
- “Pigment and Paper” with conservator Scott Homolka and Mellon Fellow in Paper Conservation Rebecca Pollak
- “Philadelphia Illustrators” with artist Jerry Pinkney and Barra Foundation Fellow Laura Fravel
- Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon
- “Objects of Study: Paper, Ink, and the Material Turn” symposium, Philadelphia Museum of Art and the University of Pennsylvania. Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
- “The Art of Revolutions” conference hosted by the American Philosophical Society and co-sponsored by the Museum of the American Revolution and the Philadelphia Museum of Art
- Eighth Annual Anne d’Harnoncourt Symposium: Museum as Score, Philadelphia Museum of Art and the University of Pennsylvania
- Mellon–University of Pennsylvania Graduate Seminar Workshop focusing on Classical Splendor: Painted Furniture for a Grand Philadelphia House
- “Latrobe and Philadelphia: The Waln House and Furniture Revealed and Reconsidered” symposium, offered in conjunction with Classical Splendor: Painted Furniture for a Grand Philadelphia House. Keynote speaker Annabelle Selldorf of Selldorf Architects. Cosponsored by the Center for American Art and The Decorative Arts Trust
- “Object Lessons: New Thinking about Still Life” symposium, offered in conjunction with Audubon to Warhol: The Art of American Still Life. Keynote speaker Adam Gopnik, essayist and staff writer for the New Yorker
- “Batman, Superman—Prometheus?” panel and book signing with artists Bill Sienkiewicz, Yuko Shimizu, and David Mack and publisher Josh O’Neill, offered in conjunction with The Wrath of the Gods: Masterpieces by Rubens, Michelangelo, and Titian
- “Printmaking Now” lecture by Sarah Suzuki, Associate Curator, Museum of Modern Art, in honor of the Print Center’s Centennial
- Teacher preview of Audubon to Warhol: The Art of American Still Life. Lecture by exhibition curator Mark Mitchell
- “Try a Technique: Botanical Illustration” teacher workshop, offered in conjunction with Audubon to Warhol: The Art of American Still Life with artist Rose Levine
How to Apply
To apply, mail or email the following by March 6, 2020*:- A letter of proposal outlining the goals and activities of the project
- A budget detailing the overall expenses as well as the component that might be supported by a grant