Art-history funding often supports a research period rather than general undergraduate tuition. Start with your degree stage, topic, sources and availability for a residency.
A short museum fellowship, a dissertation-stage award and support for a recent PhD use different eligibility. The selected programs below should not be presented as open to every art-history major.
Compare verified routes
Checked October 14, 2026. Full current rules apply.
| Program | Intended applicant | Support/deadline |
|---|---|---|
| CAA Professional Development Fellowship in Art History | Eligible final-year/recent PhDs in relevant history/curatorial fields, U.S. citizen/permanent resident with need | $10,000 unrestricted award; current deadline not printed in retrieved overview |
| Smithsonian SAAM research fellowships | Eligible graduate/predoctoral and later scholars researching U.S. art/craft/visual culture | Graduate: $10,000 for ten weeks; predoctoral: $45,000/year prorated; October 15, 2026 |
| SAAM Audrey Flack Short-Term Fellowship | Eligible predoctoral/later researchers unable to undertake a longer residency | $5,000 for one month; opens December 1, deadline February 1, 2027 |
Residency is a real commitment
SAAM supports onsite full-time research using Smithsonian collections. Its main fellowship tenures run June 1, 2027–August 31, 2028; Flack’s short appointment uses a different end window. Read your category before building a calendar. SAAM rules.
Ask about remaining travel, accommodation, insurance and research costs. An annual rate prorated for a shorter stay is not automatically the full annual amount. A travel allowance is not an unlimited reimbursement.
Explain why the collection and proposed adviser matter to your question. Do not claim an invitation or access arrangement you have not confirmed.
A completed chapter and a proposal answer different questions
CAA requests a CV, personal essay, dissertation prospectus, completed chapter, completion date where relevant and two recommendations. Its membership/nonmember-ID requirement is not a statement that paying for membership guarantees eligibility. CAA materials.
Choose evidence showing your actual contribution. A hypothetical applicant could distinguish what the completed chapter establishes from research still planned. Do not fabricate archive visits, provenance, image permissions or publications.
Credit collaborators and protect unpublished material. Check archive and reproduction rights before attaching images or documents.
Some grants are for institutions, not individuals
Kress says its grant programs award institutions, while its competitive fellowships support specified professional-development stages. Do not apply an institutional project grant as though it were personal tuition aid. Kress categories.
For a departmental offer, separately record tuition, stipend, assistantship duties, duration and renewal. A scholarship and a teaching appointment are not identical benefits.
Verify paused programs
Getty’s official page says the Getty Research Institute will not accept applications for 2027–28 during its temporary closure/modernization. Other Getty units have separate programs. Do not present the old $30,000 predoctoral amount as an open new-cycle offer. Getty pause.
A historical page can explain a program without establishing availability. Recheck the actual unit and year before adding it to a shortlist.
Next step
Verify degree stage and residency feasibility, prioritize the actual imminent deadline, and coordinate recommendations. Keep pending awards separate from confirmed support and ask whether outside funding can be combined.
