Applicants must meet all of the following requirements to apply.

• Must be 25 years of age or older at the time of the deadline.
• Artists must be originators of work submitted.
  • Performing arts applicants may submit their interpretation of others' work.
• Must be a Utah resident, and living primarily in Utah, for two consecutive years immediately prior to the application deadline.
• Previous fellowship recipients may not apply.
• Must have a U.S. Tax ID Number (SSN, EIN, ITIN, or other).
  • Note: Fellowship recipients are responsible for all applicable federal taxes. Recipients will receive a Form 1099 from the State of Utah. We urge that you keep all receipts and other appropriate records for tax filing purposes. Please consult a tax accountant with questions; we cannot advise on tax matters.
• Individuals enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate degree in the arts, or a degree in a field related to their art form, are not eligible to apply. 
• Artist teams/groups are not eligible to apply.
• Immediate family members, board members, or employees of the Utah Division of Arts & Museums are not eligible to apply. 

Literary Arts: Writers working in the areas of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, screenwriting, playwriting, or other literary uses of the written word are eligible to apply. 

Performing Arts: Disciplines rotate every three years between music, dance, and theatre. The 2026 focus is music. Artists practicing in a variety of music-related performing arts — such as composing, songwriting, singing, conducting, traditional arts, and new genres — are eligible.

Visual Arts & Design: 

• Artists practicing in mediums such as clay, drawing, fiber, glass, illustration, installation, mixed media, painting, photography, plastic, printmaking, sculpture, three-dimensional art, two-dimensional art, and works on paper are eligible. Other eligible fields include experimental/new genres, such as new technology, certain digital arts, multisensory works, and other artforms that don’t fit neatly within traditional categories. Narrative and documentary filmmakers aren’t eligible. 
• Designers working in the fields of 4D design, architecture, exhibition design, furniture design, graphic design, industrial design, interior design, landscape design, packaging design, product design, textile and fashion design, theatrical/stage design (costume, lighting, prop, set, sound), and urban design are eligible to apply. 

To be considered, applicants must:

• Have created a substantial, independent body of work over at least a five-year professional arts career.
  • Note: Work produced while pursuing an accredited degree is not applicable toward the five-year period of professional accomplishment.
• Have made a recognized contribution to their discipline through public presentation of their work.
• Demonstrate a consistent level of artistic ability throughout their professional arts career.
• Provide evidence of continued commitment to serious exploration of their artistic form.

Review process:

Applications are prescreened by staff for completion, eligibility, and adherence to published guidelines. Applicants meeting eligibility requirements whose applications are found to have an issue will be contacted and given the opportunity to correct the issue. No late applications will be accepted.

Following the application prescreen, the fellowship jurors will review all eligible applications and make final fellow selections. 

The Utah Division of Arts & Museums is a state agency involved in public funding for arts and museums. As a public entity, it reserves the right to make final decisions on the use of public funds for projects, programs, acquisitions, commissions, or other activities as deemed appropriate by the division and/or board. 

Applicants will be asked to provide the following information.
NOTE: Please pay attention to word count requirements.

1. Bio: Minimum of 200 words, maximum of 300 words.
   A professional bio written in the third person. May include the medium you work in, key themes found in your art practice, art-related education, awards, significant past or current projects, where you are from, and where you live and work.
2. Artist’s statement: Minimum of 300 words, maximum of 500 words.
   A statement written in the first person describing your artistic practice and the overarching concepts behind it.
3. Description of intent: Maximum of 300 words.
   Please describe why this fellowship award is important to your artistic practice and development.
4. Professional CV or résumé: Maximum of six pages.
   It may include the following items as they relate to your discipline:
   • Education
   • Documentation of exhibition/performance history
   • Awards/grants
   • Commissions/collections
   • Publications
   • Gallery/agent representation
   • Reviews
5. Work samples: View specific work sample requirements for each discipline below.
   Note: In the application, there is an area to enter your website or social media artist profile; this is optional – the juror may select to review it or not.

Literary Arts Required Work Samples

• Prose samples: Up to five work samples, double-spaced, up to 10 pages per sample; excerpts are allowed.
• Poetry samples: Up to five work samples, up to 10 pages per sample; single-spacing allowed.
• Must be works created in the past five years.
• You may submit all poetry, all prose, or a combination of both, but the total number of work samples must equal five. 
• There is an individual attachment limit of 400 MB and a cumulative attachment limit of 800 MB per application on Submittable.
• All work must be original and not AI-assisted.

Performing Arts Required Work Samples

• Must provide five work samples (no more, no fewer). 
• Must be works created in the past five years.
• There is an individual attachment limit of 400 MB and a cumulative attachment limit of 800 MB per application on Submittable.
• May include a mixture of video, audio, images, or other documentation of work.
• Video samples must be submitted via a link to a platform such as Vimeo or YouTube. Please make sure you grant public access to your platform so the juror may view your work. 
• For audio platforms, files are accepted in these formats: .mp3, .wav, .wma
• Video and audio samples should be no more than three minutes in length. If your work sample is longer, please identify the three-minute timestamp you wish the juror to review.
• If you submit a work sample as a performer, it should be easy to identify the applicant. If more than one person is seen in the work sample, the applicant must make clear how to identify themselves for the juror. 
• Composers: If you submit a written composition as a work sample, please upload only up to five pages per work sample.
• Teachers/professors: You may include information about teaching but must also include information about work outside of your teaching role. 
• In the Submittable form, you will be required to list the title, year completed, identifying information, and timestamp (if applicable).
• Artificial Intelligence Note: Acknowledgement must be made of any artwork created with AI assistance. Artists must include AI in the medium description of the submitted artwork. Neglecting to acknowledge AI use in the making of a submitted artwork is grounds for disqualification.

Visual Arts & Design Required Work Samples

• Must provide 10 work samples (no more, no fewer). 
• Works must have been created in the past five years.
• Each work sample must be unique. Do not submit multiple work samples of the same project. Each individual work sample can include multiple images of the same project saved as one portfolio file.
• There is an individual attachment limit of 400 MB and a cumulative attachment limit of 800 MB per application.
• In the Submittable form, you will be required to list the title, medium, year completed, and dimensions of images/videos.
• May include a mixture of video, audio, images, or other documentation of work.
• Video or audio samples must be submitted via a link to a platform such as Vimeo or YouTube. Please make sure you grant public access to your platform so the juror may view your work. 
• Teachers/professors: You may include information about teaching but must also include information about work outside of your teaching role.
• Artificial Intelligence Note: Acknowledgement must be made of any artwork created with AI assistance. Artists must include AI in the medium description of the submitted artwork. Neglecting to acknowledge AI use in the making of a submitted artwork is grounds for disqualification.

On February 11, UA&M staff facilitated an online information session about applying for the Utah Artist Fellowship. 

A recording of this session can be accessed by clicking here.

Application opens: Jan. 29

Information sessions: Feb. 11

Application closes: March 6 at 5 p.m. No late applications will be accepted, so please plan accordingly. 

Artists notified of results via Submittable: May 6

If you require assistance or accommodations, please use our accessibility form by clicking this link. We ask that you submit the accessibility form at least two weeks before the fellowship application deadline. For our fellowship information sessions, please contact us two weeks in advance of the information sessions for accessibility assistance. 

Question: Can I apply in more than one category? 

Answer: Yes, but individuals can only receive the fellowship in one category, and the fellowship is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You must create a separate application for each fellowship category in which you are applying. 

Question: If late applications are not accepted, how do I correct an issue with my application?

Answer: If you have submitted a complete application (before the deadline) and are then contacted by a UA&M staff member and asked to fix an issue with your application (e.g., a broken web link), you will be allowed to do so.