Deadline: Monday September 30th, 2013
The Clark Hulings Fund for Burgeoning Visual Artists helps early-stage professionals seize opportunities to drive their careers forward. By providing targeted support at pivotal moments, The Fund strives to improve the prospects of up-and-coming individuals, and enable many more people to encounter and be enriched by their work.
The Clark Hulings Fund supports people like Clark Hulings, who embarked on his easel-painting career when he was forty years old, abandoning a thriving profession as a commercial illustrator to “teach himself how to be a gallery painter,” as he himself put it. Hulings was fortunate to finance this transition himself with savings from his illustration work. Most do not have this option.
Hulings believed that artistic development can and should occur continually. He experimented with different techniques, honed his craft with live drawing classes until well into his eighties and never stopped “trying to be a better artist.” His tremendous, unflagging work ethic is reflected in his choice of subject matter: Hulings most liked to paint everyday people as they worked and lived their lives.
It is natural, therefore, that Hulings’s interest in work drives the activities of The Fund, for Hulings also understood that, no matter how great the talent or how strong the discipline, the door to success swings on financial pegs. Career advancement is predicated on the ability to seize and exploit opportunities, especially unanticipated ones. The Clark Hulings Fund offers exactly this kind of support.
Award Amounts and Cycle
The Fund aims to distribute its first award in November 2013. Beginning in 2014, two awards will be given per year, one in each category (1-painting, drawing and works on paper, and 2-sculpture). Grants will be given of up to $5,000, depending on the need stipulated in the request. Individuals who receive an award will not be eligible to apply again for five years.
Guidelines
The Fund considers proposals from professional artists who have secured tangible prospects for advancing their careers, but lack sufficient financial resources to capitalize on those opportunities. Examples include but are not limited to: the completion of work due to a gallery, museum, or private collection, the transportation of work or of the artist to an exhibition of that artist’s material, the management of logistical or technical requirements to realize a project, etc.
The Fund does not support performance, literary or commercial work.
Who Should Apply?
Professional painters, sculptors and artists working on paper who:
- Employ traditional media, not including photography, film or video.
- Have had their work published and/or exhibited professionally.
- Have been hired or commissioned to create new work.
- Have received opportunities to exhibit their work.
Submission Requirements:
- Fiscal Sponsor: The Fund cannot make awards to individuals.
Click here for information on securing a sponsor for your application. - Artist Statement
- Request for Support, including a detailed proposal and images, if available
- Examples of previous work
- Resume/CV
- Supporting materials, if relevant (letter of intent from a gallery, commission statement, referrals, references, etc.).
Review Process
A group of five panelists will review the proposals of qualified applicants and advise on specific grants to be made during each cycle. One of the five will be a director of the Fund, either Mary or Elizabeth Hulings. The other four will be members of the visual art community (i.e., artists, critics, curators, gallerists, publishers, scholars, private collectors, etc.). The goal is to have as broad a representation as possible. With the exception of The Fund directors, panelists will contribute for two-year terms, which will be staggered. Panelists may serve multiple terms.
Application submission window- September 1-30, 2013