Professional Artists

1. You must be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States, as well as a current legal resident of Virginia, and have been so for at least 24 consecutive months prior to the application deadline.

2. You must continue to be a legal resident of Virginia for the Fellowship period of May 2026 through May 2027. A legal resident has a valid Virginia driver’s license, and/or pays income taxes in Virginia, and/or is a registered Virginia voter. Applicants must be able to provide verification of residency upon request.

3. You cannot be a degree-seeking student during the Fellowship period of May 2026 through May 2027.

Artists who are NOT ELIGIBLE to apply to the Professional category include the following:

1. Recipients of a VMFA Professional Fellowship in the last 5 Fellowship cycles (2025-26, 2024-25, 2023-24, 2022-23, 2021-22)

2. Recipients of three or more Fellowships

3. Full-time VMFA employees

4. Undergraduate and Graduate students who will be enrolled full-time in a degree-seeking program during the academic year of Aug 2026 through May 2027.

Students (Graduate and Undergraduate)

1. You must be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States, as well as a current legal resident of Virginia, and have been so for at least 12 consecutive months prior to the application deadline.

2. You must continue to be a legal resident of Virginia for the Fellowship period of May 2026 through May 2027. A legal resident has a valid Virginia driver’s license, and/or pays income taxes in Virginia, and/or is a registered Virginia voter.

3. Students paying in-state tuition to an accredited Virginia college, university, or school of the arts qualify as legal residents of Virginia. If you do not qualify for in-state tuition in Virginia, you may not apply for a VMFA Fellowship until you establish Virginia residency. If you are a legal Virginia resident but attend school full-time outside of Virginia, you may still apply. Applicants must be able to provide verification of residency upon request.

4. You must be planning to be enrolled full-time and qualify as a Virginia resident as outlined above for the entire academic year Aug 2026 through May 2027 at an accredited college, university, or school of the arts.

Artists who are NOT ELIGIBLE to apply to either of the student categories include the following:

1. Recipients of three or more Fellowships

2. Full-time VMFA employees

3. Undergraduate and graduate students who will NOT be enrolled full-time in a degree seeking program during the academic year Aug 2026 through May 2027.

Fellowship applicants’ works are reviewed in a blind selection by distinguished jurors.

Jurors do not see the applicant’s personal information or the applicant’s resume/CV/transcript.

Awards are based solely on artistic merit.

All applicants will be notified of their award status by postal mail no later than the third week of February 2026. A list of the 2026-27 Fellowship recipients will also be posted on the VMFA website.

VMFA does not provide written or verbal explanations regarding the awards.

You may only submit one application during each fellowship cycle.

Click the link above to open the application. It may be helpful to preview the application and familiarize yourself with its format.

Please note that the application deadline is Friday, November 7, 2025. The application will automatically close at 5 pm.

Formstack is known to malfunction if the system is overloaded. We strongly encourage you to complete your application well in advance of the deadline to allow time for work samples to upload and to avoid potential technical issues. Please do not wait until minutes before 5 pm to submit your application.

A complete application includes:

• Applicant’s basic information (name, contact info, etc.)

• Resume/CV

• Unofficial transcript (Student Fellowship applicants only)

• Work samples (images/videos/research papers)

• Work sample details (title, date, medium of each submitted work)

• Artist statement (200 words maximum)

NOTE: An applicant’s basic information and work sample details are typed directly into the fields on the online application.

Only the resume/CV, transcript, work samples, and artist statement are separate files that must be uploaded to the application.

Before uploading your files, prepare them according to the guidelines below.

1. RESUME/CV: This should be your most current resume or CV.

File Format:
Word (.doc or .docx) or PDF (.pdf) files only.

File Names:
Last NameFirst Name_Resume or Last NameFirst Name_CV

For example, if your name is Benjamin Wigfall, your file name would be:
WigfallBenjamin_Resume or WigfallBenjamin_CV

2. UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT (Undergraduate and Graduate Students ONLY): This should be your most recent unofficial transcript.

File Format:
Word (.doc or .docx) or PDF (.pdf) files only.

File Names:
Last NameFirst Name_Transcript

For example, if your name is Benjamin Wigfall, your file name would be:
WigfallBenjamin_Transcript

NOTE: Resumes/CVs and transcripts are only for internal use so your name can be visible. Jurors do not have access to these documents.

3. ARTIST STATEMENT: Upload a statement of no more than 200 words about the work you are submitting (Art History Graduate applicants do not submit an artist statement). To maintain anonymity, the applicant’s name should be included in the file name but should not appear within the text of the artist statement.

File Format:
Word (.doc or .docx) or PDF (.pdf) files only.

File Names:
Last NameFirst Name_Artist Statement

For example, if your name is Benjamin Wigfall, your file name would be:
WigfallBenjamin_Artist Statement

Applicants must select the one discipline that most closely corresponds to the work they are submitting. Submissions are not judged within these disciplines, but instead within eligibility categories (Professional, Graduate, Undergraduate) across all disciplines.

Submitting images/videos/research papers that do not follow the guidelines (below) as they pertain to your selected discipline will result in disqualification.

If you have any questions, please contact the Fellowship Office before Friday, November 7.

For each of your work samples (image/video/research paper), you will be asked to enter additional details about the work. You will type the information into the fields provided on the online application. Depending on your discipline, this may include:

• Title of the work

• Date (year) of completion

• Description

• Medium

• Dimensions

• Primary Creative Responsibility/ies

• Running time and/or Original Format Running Times

Guidelines for Crafts, Drawing, Mixed Media, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, and Sculpture

1. A work sample consists of a total of eight digital images. The maximum total sum of all eight images is 25MB.

2. Of the eight images, at least six must represent individual works; no more than two images may be details of the individual works.

3. Professionals: All works must have been completed in the past three years (2022-present). No works-in-progress.

4. Students:  At least four of the works must have been completed in the past three years (2022-present). No works-in-progress.

5. No legible names or signatures may appear on the digital images to ensure anonymity with the juror.

File Format:
JPG or jpeg ONLY. No other formats will be accepted.

Image Size:
Maximum total sum of all eight images is 25MB, not 25MB per image.

You do not need to have the same file size/resolution for each image, however the total sum of all eight images cannot be greater than 25MB.

File Names:
Last NameFirst Name_VMFA_1, Last NameFirst Name_VMFA_2, and so on.

For example, if your name is Benjamin Wigfall, your file names would be:
WigfallBenjamin_VMFA_1, WigfallBenjamin_VMFA_2, and so on.

NOTE:

1. If you try to submit more than a total sum of 25MB, the online form will alert you that your file size is too large.

2. File names contain your name, but your name cannot be visible in the images themselves. For example, if you have signed your work, you must edit the image to erase/blur your name.

3. Mixed Media refers to combining different media or materials (such as paint, ink, cloth, paper, wood, found objects, etc.) in a single artwork. This category is not intended for an artist to submit a group of works in different individual mediums (such as one painting, one drawing, one photograph, etc.). Keep in mind, jurors are looking for a cohesive body of work within a single discipline.

Guidelines for Film/Video

1. Film/video applicants may submit personally conceived works in the following categories only: Narrative, Animation, and Experimental.

2. Only noncommercial, non-instructional works over which the applicant has exclusive control and primary creative responsibility will be accepted.

3. No music videos will be considered.

4. Submit video samples of three individual works that total 15 minutes (maximum) in length.

5. Work can be submitted online by providing a direct link to your downloadable video. Works should be uploaded to a host site, such as Vimeo, Dropbox, or Google Drive. Be sure your settings enable all videos to be downloaded and not just viewed.

6. Professionals: All three works must have been completed in the last three years(2022-present). No works-in-progress.

7. Students: At least one of the works must have been completed in the last three years (2022-present). No works-in-progress.

8. No legible names, credits, or signatures may appear on-screen on the individual on-screen works to ensure anonymity with the juror.

Video Length:
Maximum total sum of all three videos is 15 minutes, not 15 minutes per video.

You do not need to have the same length for each video, however the total sum of all three videos cannot be greater than 15 minutes.

File Names:
Last NameFirst Name_VMFA_1, Last NameFirst Name_VMFA_2, and so on.

For example, if your name is Benjamin Wigfall, your file names would be:
WigfallBenjamin_VMFA_1, WigfallBenjamin_VMFA_2, and so on.

Uploading Videos:
Videos must be uploaded (as specified above) to a host site before your application is submitted. You will enter a link to the video in the online application.

Videos must be downloadable. If you have password protected your submissions, please provide the password in your application.

NOTE: File names can contain your name, but your name cannot be visible in the videos themselves. For example, if your name appears in an opening title sequence or end credits, you must edit the video to erase/blur your name.

Guidelines for New/Emerging Media

1. New/Emerging Media refers to works of art made using nontraditional techniques that do not fit into one of the other eight disciplines listed. Examples of New/Emerging Media art could be, but are not limited to, combined media installations, environmental or site-specific artwork, digital artwork, or interactive artwork.

2. A work sample consists of either images (Option A) or film/video samples (Option B) or a mix of both images and videos (Option C).

   • Option A: Follow the Crafts, Drawing, etc. submission guidelines.
     Total of eight digital images
     The maximum total sum of all eight images is 25MB.
     Of the eight images, at least six must represent individual works; no more than two images may be details of the individual works.

   • Option B: Follow the Film/Video submission guidelines.
     Video samples of six individual works that total 15 minutes (maximum) in length.

   • Option C: Follow both Crafts, Drawing, etc. and Film/Video submission guidelines.
     Four images total maximum size 25MB and four video samples maximum total 10 minutes.

3. Professionals: All works must have been completed in the last three years (2022-present). No works-in-progress.

4. Students: At least one of the works must have been completed in the last three years (2021-present). No works-in-progress.

5. No legible names, credits, or signatures may appear to ensure anonymity with the juror.

Guidelines for Art History

1. A work sample consists of three research papers or published articles.

2. All papers or published articles must have been written in the past three years (2022-present) and be in English.

3. Art History applicants must have sole authorship of their work sample submissions.

Note: The applicant’s name should not appear anywhere within the papers/documents to ensure anonymity with the juror.

File Format:
Word (.doc or .docx) or PDF (.pdf) files only.

File Names:
Last NameFirst Name_VMFA_1, Last NameFirst Name_VMFA_2, and so on.

For example, if your name is Benjamin Wigfall, your file names would be:
WigfallBenjamin_VMFA_1, WigfallBenjamin_VMFA_2, and so on.

The Cy Twombly Fellowship, established in 2019, honors the renowned Virginia artist and two-time VMFA Fellowship winner. The award is supported by the McClintic Endowment and is to go to a graduate visual artist who is, and will continue to, make a significant contribution to the arts in Virginia.

This is a $6,000 graduate-level Fellowship. Graduate students do not need to apply separately for this Fellowship; all graduate student applicants will automatically be considered.

A legal resident of Virginia…

• has a valid VA driver’s license and/or

• pays income taxes in VA and/or

• is a registered VA voter and/or

• is a student who qualifies/pays in-state tuition to an accredited VA college, university, or school of the arts

An important residency note for students:

• Students who attend an accredited Virginia college, university, or school of the arts, but do not pay in-state tuition are not eligible to apply.

• Students who are legal residents of Virginia but attend college out-of-state still qualify as Virginia residents.

• VMFA, as a state agency, is required to process payments through the Commonwealth of Virginia’s financial management system.

• All recipients of a VMFA Fellowship must complete a Commonwealth of Virginia W-9 Form in order to be entered into the state’s payment system and be issued fellowship award checks.

• To complete a W-9 Form, you must have a valid SSN and be able to certify you are a “U.S. citizen or other U.S. person.”

• Holders of a Permanent Resident Card are lawful permanent residents and are eligible to apply for a VMFA Fellowship.

Undergraduate and graduate applicants must be enrolled full-time in a degree-seeking program at an accredited college, university, or school of the arts. Although most students who apply are majoring in an art-related field, it is not required.

The online application opens the first Friday in November of each year. Application information is updated on this webpage when it becomes available.

Deadline: Friday, November 7, 2025 at 5 pm

• Please be sure to start the application process early and contact the Fellowship Office before Friday, November 7 if you need any assistance completing the online application.

• Formstack is known to malfunction if the system is overloaded. We strongly encourage you to complete your application well in advance of the deadline to allow time for work samples to upload and to avoid potential technical issues. Please do not wait until minutes before 5 pm to submit your application.

• Paper applications, incomplete applications, and applications not received by the deadline will not be considered.

Yes! Before beginning the application, it may be helpful to familiarize yourself with its format and the information/files that you will be asked to provide.

Yes, you can save and resume the application by clicking the “Save and Resume Later” link found at the bottom of the application page. However, only text you have typed into the application fields will be saved. When you return to your application, you will have to reselect all of the files that you wish to upload.

This is a limitation of the Formstack platform, and we apologize in advance for any frustration this may cause.

After your application has been submitted, you will no longer have access to your application. You will not be able to view your application or make any changes.

If your application has been accepted, you will see the following message appear on a new screen:

“Congratulations! This is your confirmation that your 2026-27 VMFA Visual Arts Fellowship application is complete and has been successfully submitted.”

You will not receive an email confirming that your application has been accepted. If in doubt, feel free to contact the Fellowship Office for confirmation.

Formstack recommends using Firefox, but Google Chrome and Safari are also supported web browsers.

See the full list of browsers and other system requirements.

You will get an error message if the image files you are trying to submit are too large (more than 25MB total). You will need to resize your files and submit your application again.

You will also get an error message if you have forgotten to complete any of the required sections of the application. You will need to go back and complete these and then resubmit your application.

To troubleshoot technical issues, Formstack recommends:

• Using a reliable internet connection. A connectivity issue could prevent your application from being successfully submitted.

• Using the latest version of a compatible web browser.

• Clearing your cache following the directions provided on Formstack’s system requirements webpage.

In the past, applicants have reported that switching to a different device or internet connection has been a successful solution.

Applicants are asked to apply using only one artistic discipline for a few reasons, including the following:

1. Jurors can more easily judge the artistic merit in a body of work when that body of work is of a cohesive discipline.

2. For our Fellowship recipients, we would like to see demonstrated a museum quality body of work; one way that we see this defined is in the cohesiveness of the discipline.

The disciplines should be thought of as general categories. There are often works of art that could fit in more than one discipline. Applicants should select the discipline that most closely corresponds to the body of work they are submitting.

Submissions are not judged within these disciplines, but instead within eligibility categories (Professional, Graduate, Undergraduate) across all disciplines.

• Professionals: Works may not be in-progress, and all works must have been completed in the past three years (2022-present).

• Undergraduates/Graduates: Works may not be in-progress, and four of the works (or one of the films) must have been completed in the past three years (2022-present).

• Art History: All papers must have been written in the past three years (2022-present).

• If you are chosen to receive a Fellowship, all application materials are kept on record at VMFA.

• All remaining materials (application, resumes, transcripts, artist statements) are disposed of according to VA state guidelines.

All applicants are reviewed anonymously by jurors from outside institutions, arts organizations, and museums.

• Professional recipients are selected by a juror of national reputation.

• Undergraduate and Graduate visual arts recipients are selected by a distinguished regional arts professional.

• Graduate Art History recipients are selected by a distinguished out-of-state or regional art history professional.

VMFA invites new jurors each year to make selections. Selections are made anonymously, so winning repeatedly speaks to the talent of the recipients.

Jurors will remain anonymous until the Fellowship recipients are announced in February.

The juror only has access to an applicant’s:

• Work samples (images/videos/research papers)

• Work sample details (description of each work)

• Artist statement

All other application materials (personal information, CV/resume, and transcript) are for VMFA internal use only and are not seen by the juror.

Applications are reviewed using a blind jury process. It is very important to maintain anonymity to ensure that your work is judged solely on artistic merit. For this reason, we ask that:

• No legible artist names/signatures appear on artworks.

• No artist names appear in the opening or closing credits of a film/video.

• Artists names are not used in the text of the artist statement.

• Funds are given to recipients in 3 lump payments in the months of August, January, and April.

• There are no restrictions on how the award funds are spent.

• The award funds are intended to help further the recipient’s academic or professional career.

Professional recipients must:

1. Remain a permanent VA resident during the fellowship period of May 2026 through May 2027

2. Submit a year-end report regarding benefits of Fellowship funds

Undergraduate and Graduate recipients must:

1. Remain enrolled as full-time students during the entire academic year of Aug 2026 through May 2027 while maintaining VA residency

2. Provide official registrar’s enrollment certificate each semester

3. Submit 2 semester reports regarding benefits of Fellowship funds

• Artists who have been awarded a total of three VMFA Fellowships are no longer eligible for any future Fellowships.

• If you received a 2020 Virginia Artist Relief Fellowship, it does not count toward the three Fellowship limit.

• VMFA invites new jurors each year to make selections. Selections are made anonymously, so winning repeatedly speaks to the talent of the recipients.