United States Artists
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| Founded | 2005 |
|---|---|
| Type | Philanthropic arts organization |
| Focus | American artists |
| Location |
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Area served
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United States |
| Method | Awards unrestricted grants of $50,000 to 50 artists per annum |
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Key people
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Carolina Garcia Jayaram, CEO |
| Endowment | Initial seed funding of (US) $22.6M provided by Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Prudential Foundation, and Rasmuson Foundation |
| Website | http://unitedstatesartists.org |
United States Artists (USA) is an independent nonprofit and nongovernmental philanthropic organization based in Chicago and dedicated to supporting the work of living American artists by the granting of cash awards, called USA Fellowships. It was founded in 2005 with initial funding from the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, The Prudential Foundation, and the Rasmuson Foundation, and the first set of 50 fellowships were announced in 2006. The organization is governed by a Board of Directors and receives additional funding from several major American foundations, corporate partners, and private citizens.
The organization's stated mission is "to invest in America's finest artists and illuminate the value of artists to society." In addition, the organization asserts that "USA Fellowships honor and award an artist’s unique vision as a whole rather than funding a particular project. Artists at different career levels, from emerging to established, are eligible."
Prerequisites for consideration include that the artist be 21 or older, a US citizen or legal resident. In addition, nominees must be accomplished artists, must have acquired art training, formal or informal, must have tried to derive income from those skills, and must have been "actively engaged in creating artwork and presenting it to the public." To be considered for a grant, an artist must first be nominated by at least one of a group of "nominators" chosen by the organization. This is an anonymous group of arts scholars, critics, and artists from various disciplines; they operate independently of one another. The nominators submit names of artists they believe should be considered for an award.
Once nominated artists have been notified of their nomination, they are then directed to apply for the grant in order to be considered. The awards are announced once a year. The Fellows announcement is made in December of each year.
Grants are awarded yearly to artists working in eight categories:
Architecture and Design: Architects and educators Marcelo Spina and Georgina Huljich, architecture educator Stephen Luoni, landscape architect and educator Kate Orff, and architects Jesse Reiser and Nanako Umemoto.
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