Our Fellowships support the development and presentation of outstanding art and research projects by international, emerging artists, writers, scholars, and activists. With each Biennial Focus, a new VLC Fellowship Cohort is appointed for two years.

Vera List Center Fellowships

Vera List Center Fellowships support the development and presentation of ambitious art and research projects by national and international early or mid-career artists, writers, scholars, and activists, especially those who are members of underrepresented communities in the art world and those who struggle to find support because of the experimental, political, and/or research-intensive nature of their practice. The VLC Fellowship appointment is one of reciprocity and mutual benefits: VLC Fellows draw from the curatorial, academic, and professional resources of the Vera List Center and The New School, including faculty and students, as they contribute to the intellectual foundation of the Center. As commissions, the resulting VLC Fellowship projects are presented to the public through the Vera List Center’s interdisciplinary public programs and institutional networks.

With each Biennial Focus, a new VLC Fellowship Cohort is appointed based on submissions to an open call or by nomination. The 2025–2027 Focus Theme: Matter of Intelligence Open Call accepts applications through January 6, 2025. 

Joint or named VLC Fellowship initiatives include the Borderlands Fellowship, a collaboration of the VLC and the Center for Imagination in the Borderlands at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, intended to support research projects with an Indigenous lens to reflect on questions of borderlands. The Boris Lurie Fellow, established with a three-year grant from the Boris Lurie Art Foundation, is awarded to an artist living outside the U.S. with special consideration to those facing political hardship. The Sámi Fellowship was a joint initiative between Frame Contemporary Art Finland, the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York, and the Vera List Center. The VLC ArtsLink Fellow is jointly appointed by the Vera List Center and CEC ArtsLink. In addition to the Vera List Center Fellows, each Biennial Focus includes Jane Lombard Fellows, selected by a nominating committee as part of the Jane Lombard Prize for Art and Social Justice. 

To learn more about the Vera List Center programs and initiatives, such as our VLC Seminars, Exhibitions, VLC Forum, Publications, and VLC Fellowship, please visit www.veralistcenter.org. 

Fellowship Benefits and Requirements

The Vera List Center Fellowship is part-time and non-residential, lasting two years. Along with the $25,000 in financial support, the VLC provides extensive curatorial and professional development services to support the fellowship project from conception through production and presentation. In addition to these financial and professional resources, fellows receive a budget for travel, project production, and presentation, allocated in consultation with and at the discretion of the VLC. Each fellowship is highly individualized, depending on the research, project feasibility, and intended outcomes. 

Fellows are expected to research, develop, and present an original fellowship project within the framework of the two-year fellowship (or closely therein) at or with the VLC and its partners, collaborating on all forms of presentation, outreach, and community engagement. Past VLC Fellowship projects have manifested in public in various forms, ranging from discursive events, exhibitions, performances, and publications. Successful fellowship proposals demonstrate a rigorous individual inquiry, engagement in collaborative research, and exchange with other VLC Fellows, VLC staff, and the New School community. Depending on a fellow’s experience, speaking in New School classes may be possible. 

Fellows are not required to spend two years in New York. Covid-permitting, non-New York City residents are provided with additional travel funding to undertake intermittent short-term residencies in New York, to engage with the VLC’s team and the VLC Fellowship cohort, to speak in New School classes, and to take full advantage of the fellowship benefits. Fellows are supported for two years by the VLC’s curatorial and operational team, as well as by a graduate student research assistant. They are also paired with a VLC Board companion. They can access a wide range of activities throughout The New School and enjoy extensive library privileges. Meetings and informal gatherings with New School faculty and students, past VLC Fellows, and other constituencies are organized regularly and offer opportunities for professional development and social exchanges. Fellows contribute to the Center’s programming throughout the fellowship and participate in the life of the Vera List Center.

Considerations and Criteria

In addition to the artistic and/or scholarly excellence of the proposed fellowship project, applications will be assessed for:

  • The critical and creative ways the proposal expands on and interrogates the VLC Focus Theme as it explores diverse approaches to intelligence 
  • The significance of the VLC Fellowship and proposed project  to the candidate’s long-term practice
  • The candidate’s ability to translate research interests to practical and viable work or project within the fellowship timeframe
  • How well do VLC and New School resources align with the project’s needs and feasibility?
  • Whether the proposed project advances diverse insights into the field of politically engaged art, the Vera List Center and The New School 

You can learn about previous research fellows and their projects here. While past fellowship projects are an indication of the kinds of projects we’ve supported, they are not an exhaustive representation of our interests and ways of working with Fellows and applicants.

Eligibility and Conditions

Journalists, scholars, activists, visual and performing artists, critics, public intellectuals, curators, and cultural practitioners working in any field where they engage art and politics are encouraged to apply. 

We strongly encourage applications from diverse candidates worldwide, especially those who have not yet received significant institutional support and for whom the opportunity to research, experiment, and make new work in a university setting would be impactful. 

Fellowship candidates must demonstrate experience in conceiving, researching, and executing work and projects. Applicants may not be enrolled in a degree-granting program. Projects primarily focused on promotion, funding ongoing business operations, or curating and documenting existing work are not eligible.

The fellowship research stipend (US$25,000) will be paid by hiring Fellows to the New School and is subject to tax and other governmental deductions. The New School is an equal opportunity institution.