Ben Krain
Kensuke Yamada, awarded an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Arkansas Arts Council in 2021

Until April 16, the Arkansas Arts Council will be accepting applications in six categories for its annual Individual Artist Fellowship program, with up to $5,000 awarded to as many as 18 Arkansas artists. Unlike many grant programs designed to fund an artist’s specific travel or development need, the fellowships the organization awards are “are unconditional, non-matching grants made directly to individual artists. Awarded annually, these fellowships recognize the artistic creative excellence of the recipient’s work and enable the selected artists to devote more time and energy to creating their art and mastering their craft.”

A welcome boost, especially in a moment like this one, where artists are staring down yet another year of monetary and artistic uncertainty.

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The six categories this year are: multisensory art; community engagement art; contemporary craft; performance art: Mississippi Delta Blues contemporary songwriting or score; visual arts: graphic novel or narrative; literary arts: flash fiction or flash creative nonfiction. More on what constitutes those categories at the link here, along with criteria for applying.