The list below includes a variety of funding sources at the college, university, national, and international level. Links to the program pages have been provided in the titles. Deadlines as of December 2020 have been listed where available. Be sure to consult the program pages for complete guidelines.
Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellows
The Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowships program awards 65 fellowships annually. The fellowships support a year of research and writing to help advanced graduate students in the humanities and social sciences in the last year of Ph.D. dissertation writing. The total award of up to $43,000 includes a stipend plus additional funds for university fees and research support. In addition to the monetary support that the fellowship offers, Dissertation Completion Fellows may apply to participate in a seminar on preparing for the academic job market. The seminar takes place over three days in the fall of the fellowship year.
ACLS believes that humanistic scholarship benefits from inclusivity of voices, narratives, and subjects that have historically been underrepresented or under-studied in academe. We especially welcome applications from PhD candidates whose perspectives and/or research projects cultivate greater openness to new sources of knowledge, innovation in scholarly communication, and, above all, responsiveness to the interests and histories of people of color and other historically marginalized communities, including (but not limited to) Black/African American, Hispanic/Latinx, and Indigenous communities from around the world; people with disabilities; queer, trans, and gender nonconforming people; and people of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. We also believe that institutional diversity enhances the scholarly enterprise, and we encourage applications from PhD candidates from all types of institutions in the United States.
This program is made possible by a generous grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Read more about this fellowship program.
Fulbright Scholar Opportunities at the University of Maryland
The Fulbright Program is a collection of U.S.-government funded international educational exchange programs, the brainchildren of James William Fulbright. At the close of WWII, and at the start of his 30-year career as a U.S. senator for Arkansas, Fulbright convinced his congressional colleagues to use the proceeds from the sale of surplus U.S. war material to fund a series of bi-lateral student and scholar exchanges with countries around the world. Fulbright’s name subsequently became attached to an array of U.S. government sponsored international educational exchanges. Learn more about the Fulbright program.
The Fulbright application process begins 18 months in advance of the first grants in an award cycle. Application information is generally available in early February of each year for awards beginning in September of the following year (e.g., the Core competition for academic year 2021-2022 opened in February 2020). With the exception of the seminar offerings, the deadline for all applications for awards is 11:59 p.m., Eastern Standard Time on SEPTEMBER 16TH.
Not available for 2021-2022 opportunities? You can still explore Fulbright opportunities for 2022 and beyond.
- Visit the the Fulbright Facebook page for daily updates on how you can benefit from Fulbright.
- Become a contact to a Fulbright administrator for the Council for International Exchange of Scholars.
- Watch the Exploring Fulbright channel.
- And, visit the Fulbright website for information throughout the year.
Graduate Student Government Graduate Student Grant
The purpose of graduate student grant (GSG) is to offer additional support to graduate students’ professional development and research. This includes:
- Costs of presenting at a conference, including travel, accommodation, and registration.
- Costs of conducting research. Any research expense that is related to a degree requirement or career advancement is an allowable expense. Two types of expenses explicitly not covered by the GSG are human subjects compensation (e.g. for psychology experiments or ethnographic data collection) and laboratory equipment (e.g. consumables like test tube).
Eligibility:
- Graduate student currently enrolled in a graduate degree granting program.
- Conference attended must be in the applicant’s academic field, or in a closely related field.
ASTR Grants For Researchers With Heavy Teaching Loads
Deadline: July 16, 2021
Award: Up to $1000
Generally stated, the goal of the ASTR Grant for Researchers with Heavy Teaching Loads is to ensure that institutional affiliation does not hinder the contributions of individual faculty to debates that concern us all and that are central to ASTR’s mission of cultivating scholarship on all aspects of theatre studies. In practical terms, the award provides:
- Research support, which may take the form of funding to obtain or travel to research materials (i.e. archives, interview subjects) or contributing to funding of research assistance or course release, etc.;
- Registration for the annual ASTR conference; and
- One year’s membership in ASTR.
ASTR Helen Krich Chinoy Dissertation Fellowships
Deadline: July 16, 2021
Award: $3000 divided typically between three recipients
The Helen Krich Chinoy Dissertation Fellowship is intended to assist Ph.D. candidates with the expenses of travel to national and international collections to conduct research projects connected with their dissertations. The total award amount of $3000 is typically divided into three equal awards.
ASTR Brooks McNamara Publishing Subvention
Deadline: July 16, 2021
Award: Up to $600
This subvention, up to a maximum of $600, supports the costs of securing rights to reproduce illustrations for publication, costs of acquiring illustrations, and/or the costs of reproducing illustrations in conjunction with a book under contract for publication. Electronic publications will also be considered.
ASTR Research Fellowships
Deadline: July 16, 2021
Award: $3000 divided between multiple recipients
The purpose of the ASTR Research Fellowships is to underwrite some of the research expenses of scholars undertaking projects significant to the field of theatre and/or performance studies.
ASTR Targeted Research Area Grants
Deadline: July 16, 2021
Award: Up to $3000, divided between multiple recipients
This grant of up to $3000 total per annum (which may be split among more than one award) is intended to support specific projects by scholars working in areas important to ASTR’s mission that are currently under-represented in its various activities. Such areas include, but are not limited to, the following: pre-1900 research and Asian, African, Latin American, and Middle Eastern theatre, dance, and performance. Translations of important theatre documents, including plays, will also be considered. This award is not intended to support curriculum development. Recipients are encouraged to submit their resulting work, if appropriate, to Theatre Survey and to liaise with the editors as the project develops.
ASTR Collaborative Research Award
Deadline: July 16, 2020
Award: $1,750, divided amongst multiple recipients
The exchange would take the form of collaboration on scholarly or creative research. The award facilitates reciprocal visits by faculty between two U.S. institutions, or the hosting of a faculty member from abroad at a U.S. institution (or vice versa). All faculty named in the application should be involved in the application’s development. Applicants are encouraged to seek matching funds from their home institutions. In specific circumstances, the award could be used for a one-way visit by a scholar or artist from an under-resourced institution, if the application otherwise fulfills the objectives of the award.
Project outcomes might include:
- A jointly written article submitted to Theatre Survey;
- A seminar or plenary presentation at the ASTR annual meeting;
- A collaborative research or creative project (which could take the form of practical work);
- Reciprocal workshops or seminars for students;
- Reciprocal public lectures or forums; or
- Some combination of these activities.
TaPRA David Bradby Award
Award: a free conference place, membership fee, conference dinner and accommodation.
Nominations are invited to celebrate outstanding research (including practice-based/applied research) in any theatre or performance area or discipline. Nominees may be based anywhere in the world. The research must have been published or first made available in the public domain within 24 months of the nomination date. Must be nominated by a TaPRA member.
TCG Global Connections
Award: Up to $5,000 or $10,000
The Global Connections program was designed by TCG and is funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. US-based theatre organizations and individual artists may apply to one of the two initiatives of this program:
Global Connections—On the Road: This initiative will award grants of up to $5,000 each to foster new relationships with international colleagues that will inspire each other’s work and aesthetics by creating opportunities for cultural exchange.
Global Connections—In the Lab: This initiative will award grants of $10,000 each to further pre-existing international collaborations by supporting residencies that either advance the development of a piece or explore elements leading up to a full production.
ARHU Faculty Funds Competition
Deadline: March 5, 2021
Award: Up to $5,000, dependent on the award type
The College of Arts and Humanities announces Spring 2021 Faculty Funds Competition Call for Proposals. ARHU will not be able to offer conference funds, but has added a special purpose grant and broadened the criteria for the advancement grants. Deadline for applications is 5 pm, Friday, March 5, 2021. Examples of past funded proposals can be found in the ARHU Proposal Library. TTK and PTK faculty are eligible.
(Formerly Innovation Grants) ARHU Advancement Grants: Up to $5,000 will be awarded for projects that advance a faculty’s professional creative or research success in their field. Work proposed can advance ongoing efforts, address a new idea, or be a pilot project. Successful applications must demonstrate: 1) how the project meets the faculty member’s professional advancement at UMD; 2) how the work contributes to the faculty member’s larger field of study.
Special Purpose Advancement Grants in Equity and Justice: In addition to the
regular Advancement Grants, the Dean has added a special purpose fund, as part
of the new ARHU campaign to address racism, equity and justice. Up to $5,000
will be awarded to projects that demonstrate all of the Advancement Grant criteria,
plus directly contribute or address racism, equity and/or social justice.
Submissions will be reviewed as either general ARHU Advancement Grants, or Special
Purpose Grants, not both.
Subvention Funds: Funds can cover costs required by a publisher that are assigned to faculty, such as reproduction of images. Up to $2,000 may be requested.
Junior Faculty Summer Fellowship: Tenure track assistant professors are eligible to apply for a $5,000 summer fellowship. Up to three fellowships may be awarded. The fellowship will be provided as summer salary; an itemized budget is not required.
Cosmos Scholars Grant
Award: Between $500 and $5000
The program provides grants to meet specific research needs not covered by other supporting funds, including but not limited to special supplies, travel, unanticipated expenses that would enhance the work, etc. Specifically excluded are general financial support, tuition, and living expenses (except in connection with supported travel).
The major criterion for selection is the excellence of the research proposal. No specific format or organization is required. The proposal should include a research question (hypothesis) and clearly explain how it will be tested or investigated. It is important to describe how and when the research will be performed, and why the results will be important or useful. Our preference is for topics not anticipated when the overall research program was proposed and therefore not covered by support originally planned.
It is essential to make the project description understandable to scholars in other fields, while retaining enough detail to satisfy a specialist in the field of the proposal.
Advanced Doctoral Student Dissertation Grants: Cultivating Emerging Qualitative/Mixed Methods Scholars
The Consortium on Race, Gender and Ethnicity (CRGE) is a university-wide, interdisciplinary research organization and pedagogic unit that collaborates with departments and colleges across the University of Maryland campus to promote faculty and graduate student development. It is dedicated to the promotion of intersectional scholarship examining the lived experiences of historically underrepresented minorities (URM) and dimensions of inequality; mentoring of intersectional and URM groups in the pipeline from undergraduate degrees through early career faculty; and fostering collaboration. Our work seeks to identify effective and responsive practices to increase retention and promotion of URM faculty.
The Deadline for this opportunity has passed. More information will be available should a new round of applications be announced.
Independent Scholarship, Research, and Creativity Awards (ISRCA)
Award: Up to $10,000 per award
The Provost and the Vice President for Research invite applications for the Independent Scholarship, Research, and Creativity Awards (ISRCA) from fulltime, tenured/tenure-track faculty members at the University of Maryland, College Park, at the assistant professor rank or higher. This new program provides several funding options to support faculty pursuing scholarly or creative projects. Funding will be available beginning January 2020 and must be expended within two years of the award date.
The ISRCA program defines scholarly and creative pursuits to include both the scholarship of discovery (i.e., the pursuit of knowledge and/or creative expression for its own sake) and the scholarship of integration (i.e., the interpretation and critical analysis of original research or creative expressions). Types of inquiry and methods supported by ISRCA include, but are not limited to: 2 historical, humanistic, interpretive, or ethnographic approaches; explorations of aesthetic, ethical, and/or cultural values and their roles in society; critical and rhetorical analyses; archival and/or field research; development and/or production of creative works. If you are unsure whether your work would qualify, please contact Hana Kabashi (hkabashi@umd.edu) to discuss your proposal.
Faculty-Student Research Award
Award: $10,000
The FSRA supports faculty research, scholarship, and creative projects that directly involve one or more graduate students. Please consult the FSRA Guidelines for information about eligibility and application requirements.
The Graduate School invites eligible applicants to attend the FSRA Information Session on Tuesday, September 10, at 3:30 pm in the Maryland Room (0100 Marie Mount Hall). At the meeting, they will review the award requirements and engage with several faculty who have either served on selection committees or have been past award recipients. If you would like to attend the FRSA Information Session, please RSVP here.
U21 Graduate Collaborative Research Awards
Award: Up to $5,0000
U21’s Graduate Collaborative Research Awards are designed to be flexible and encourage doctoral candidates, with the support of their supervisors/advisors, to think innovatively about how their research could benefit from engagement with other members of the U21 network.
- Projects can be in any discipline or cross-disciplinary and should aid the development of transferable skills for doctoral candidates, allowing them to work independently, as well as in teams, on activities that benefit their doctoral research.
- These projects aim to give doctoral candidates a global view of problem-solving and group work, and facilitate cross-cultural working practices.
- Publicly accessible outputs are expected from each project; the form of the outputs will depend on the nature of the project.
- At least 3 U21 member institutions — from at least 2 countries — must be involved in each project; there must be at least one doctoral candidate from each U21 member involved in the project.
- The total allocated budget for the awards is US $30,000. It is expected that several projects will be supported from this budget.
Alvin H. Johnson Dissertation Fellowship: American Musicological Society
Deadline: January 8, 2021
Average Award: $22,000
The Society makes available up to three funded dissertation-year fellowships each year. Any student registered in good standing for a doctorate at a North American university who has completed all formal degree requirements except the dissertation at the time of full application is eligible to apply. The fellowships are not intended for support of the early stages of research: it is expected that a Fellow’s dissertation will be completed within the fellowship year.
American Fellowships: American Association of Women
Average Award: $20,000
AAUW American Fellowships support women scholars who are completing dissertations, planning research leave from accredited institutions, or preparing research for publication. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Candidates are evaluated on the basis of scholarly excellence; quality and originality of project design; and active commitment to helping women and girls through service in their communities, professions, or fields of research.
Kress Foundation Art Grants
Deadline: January, April, and October
We offer grants in defined program areas and professional development fellowships for historians of art and architecture, art conservators, art museum curators and educators, and art librarians.
LOI needs to be accepted first.
Big Ten Academic Alliance: Smithsonian Fellowship
The Big Ten Academic Alliance and the Smithsonian Institution (SI) invite doctoral candidates at Big Ten Academic Alliance Member Universities to apply for one-year fellowships to support research in residence at Smithsonian Institution facilities. All fields of study that are actively pursued by the museums and research organizations of the Smithsonian Institution are eligible.
Chateaubriand Fellowship Program
Deadline: January 6, 2021
The Chateaubriand Fellowship is a grant offered by the Embassy of France in the United States. It supports outstanding Ph.D. students from American universities who wish to conduct research in France for a period ranging from 4 to 9 months. Chateaubriand fellows are selected through a merit-based competition, through a collaborative process involving expert evaluators in both countries.
Kurt Weill Foundation Grant Program
Deadline: February 1, 2021
The Kurt Weill Foundation Grant Program awards financial support worldwide to not-for-profit organizations for performances of musical works by Kurt Weill and Marc Blitzstein, to individuals and not-for-profit organizations for scholarly research pertaining to Kurt Weill, Lotte Lenya, and Marc Blitzstein, and to not-for-profit organizations for relevant educational or scholarly initiatives.
Chairish Scholarship Program
Chairish is offering a scholarship designed to support students from diverse backgrounds and students who are majoring in design-related fields such as architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, and engineering fields. Each year, we will award up to $5,000 in college scholarships to two deserving students.
American Council of Learned Societies Digital Extension Grant
Average Award: $150,000
This program aims to extend the opportunity to participate in the digital transformation of humanistic inquiry to a greater number of humanities scholars
Dispatching Artists and Cultural Specialists: Japan Foundation
This program is designed to provide financial support for artists and Japanese cultural specialists who participate in cultural events (e.g., performances, demonstrations, lectures and workshops) overseas with the aim of introducing Japanese arts and culture or of contributing to international society through arts and cultural projects.
Fellowships for New Americans: Paul and Daisy Soros Foundation
Every year, The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans supports thirty New Americans, immigrants or the children of immigrants, who are pursuing graduate school in the United States.
Founders Grants: Children’s Theatre Foundation of America
Average Award: $2,000
The CTFA is seeking projects from 501c3 IRS certified not-for-profit theatres and theatre artists in the United States to encourage and support the development of new and innovative concepts and approaches to theatre for young audiences that: Have the potential to demonstrate diversity, racial equity and inclusion, promote the involvement of communities that have been historically disadvantaged and socially and politically excluded based on race, and serve as a model to address issues of social justice and inclusion.
Limited submission.
Funding for Readings and Workshops: Poets and Writers, Inc.
Rolling Submission
To support as many literary events as possible, we generally grant no more than $1,500 to organizations in New York State and California, and $500 to organizations in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, New Orleans, Seattle, Tucson, and Washington, D.C., during the course of our fiscal year (July 1 to June 30). Decisions on maximum grant amounts are based on the availability of funds and are made at the discretion of Poets & Writers.
Graduate Program Scholarships: SR Education Group
Average Award: $5,000
Entries will be reviewed by the Sponsor’s judges. Judges will determine the winner based on financial need, academic commitment and personal circumstances.
Graduate School Fellowships: Liebmann (Dolores Zohrab) Fund
Rolling Submission
Average Award: $18,000
Graduate school fellowships in any recognized field of study in the humanities, social sciences or natural sciences (including law, medicine, engineering, architecture or other formal professional training) Independent research or study projects which must be carried out entirely in the United States of America. Publications focusing on Armenian studies, Armenian history and Armenian literature of the nineteenth century or earlier.
Grant Program: Dreyfus (Max and Victoria) Foundation
Deadline: November 10 and May 10
The Foundation does not make grants to individuals. Grants are considered for IRS-qualified non-profit organizations located within the United States, and typically range from $1,000 to $20,000. The Foundation will consider requests to support museums, cultural, and performing arts programs; schools, hospitals, educational and skills training programs, programs for youth, seniors, and the handicapped; environmental and wildlife protection activities; and other community-based organizations and their programs.
Humanities Program: Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation
Rolling Submission
The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation promotes the advancement and perpetuation of humanistic inquiry and artistic creativity by encouraging excellence in scholarship and in the performing arts, and by supporting research libraries and other institutions which transmit our cultural heritage.
Limited submission.
Asian Cultural Council Fellowships and Grants
The Asian Cultural Council makes fellowships and grants to support cultural exchange in the arts for practicing artists, scholars, and arts professionals.
Priority is given to process-driven activities that enable cultural immersion, relationship-building, collaboration, or the exchange of knowledge among peers. Examples of process-driven activities include research, training, study, and exploration. ACC fellowships and grants are not intended for production-focused activities such as touring, performing, exhibiting, publishing, or making work.
In addition to funding, ACC offers logistical and programmatic support to its fellowship and grant recipients. The level of support varies by fellowship or grant type and by destination country.
International Dissertation Research Fellowship: Social Science Research Council
Average Award: $22,000
The Mellon International Dissertation Research Fellowship (IDRF) offers nine to twelve months of support to graduate students in the humanities and humanistic social sciences who are enrolled in PhD programs in the United States and conducting dissertation research on non-US topics.
Limited submission.
James Harris ARHU Visionary Scholarship: University of Maryland
Deadline: December
The College of Arts and Humanities holds an annual competition open to Masters and Doctoral students for the James. F. Harris Arts and Humanities Visionary Scholarship. This award honors the humanities and arts in action. Past recipients have demonstrated a well-rounded approach to service and community engagement in addition to their scholarship.
Leesa Social Impact Scholarship: Leesa Mattress Company
Deadline: November
Average Award: $10,000
The Leesa Social Impact Scholarship will provide $10,000 to support four exceptional students as they embark on their own journey toward social action. At Leesa, we set out to measure our success as much by our impact on the world as we do by our financial performance. To date, we have donated over 10,000 mattresses and provided multiple cash awards and grants to people who share our concern for the millions of people seeking refuge from homelessness, domestic risk and human trafficking.
LGBT Scholarships: Point Foundation
Deadline: January
Average Award: $10,000
Point Foundation empowers promising lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer students to achieve their full academic and leadership potential – despite the obstacles often put before them – to make a significant impact on society.
Media Projects: National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
Average Award: $75,000
The Media Projects program supports documentary film, television, radio, and podcast projects that engage public audiences with humanities ideas in creative and appealing ways.
Mellon Fellowships for Dissertation Research in Original Sources: Council on Library and Information Resources
The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) is pleased to offer fellowships generously funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for dissertation research in the humanities or related social sciences using original sources.
NOTE: This program has been temporarily discontinued. An announcement will be made if and when new applications will be accepted.
Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
Deadline: October 15, 2021
Average Award: $50,000 Stipend
The A. W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship supports research in the history, theory, and criticism of the visual arts of any period or culture. For appointment to the A. W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2022–2024, the Center encourages applications in the fields of the visual arts and culture of African Americans, Africa, and the African diaspora.
Mini Grant: Maryland Humanities Council
Deadline: March
Mitchem Dissertation Fellowship: Marquette University
Deadline: January 4, 2021
The fellowship provides a student from other U.S. universities with one year of financial support, including a stipend, fringe benefits, and research and travel funds. The fellow will be in residence at Marquette for an academic year, during which the recipient will teach one course in his or her area of specialization while completing his or her dissertation. The recipient will also participate in a formal mentoring program.
National Dance Project: Presentation Grants: New England Foundation for the Arts
Deadline: By invitation only, two months prior to event
Average Award: $35,000
Presentation Grants are made to U.S. nonprofit presenting organizations to support the engagements of NDP awarded projects on tour by subsidizing up to 50% of the artist’s fee (including housing, per diem, and travel).
PhD Scholarships: Henkel (Gerda) Foundation
Rolling Submission
The sole object of the Foundation is to promote science at universities and research institutes, primarily by supporting specific projects in the field of the humanities that have a specialist scope and are limited in time. A special concern of the Foundation is the advancement of postgraduates.
President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program: University of Maryland
The University seeks applicants whose research, teaching, and service will contribute to diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunity in higher education and at the University of Maryland. The President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program is interested in scholars with the potential to bring to their research and teaching the critical perspective that comes from their educational background or understanding of the experiences of groups historically underrepresented in higher education. The program, in particular, encourages applicants who would increase representation in campus units where women and minorities are underrepresented.
Princeton Arts Fellowship: Lewis Center for the Arts
Deadline: Next cycle opens July 2021
Average Award: $81,000 Stipend
Princeton Arts Fellowships, funded in part by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, David E. Kelley Society of Fellows in the Arts, and the Maurice R. Greenberg Scholarship Fund, will be awarded to artists whose achievements have been recognized as demonstrating extraordinary promise in any area of artistic practice and teaching.
Professional Development Scholarships for Graduate Students: College Art Association
Average Award: $10,000
CAA’s Professional Development Fellowships program supports promising artists, designers, craftspersons, historians, curators, and critics who are enrolled in MFA, PhD, and other terminal degree programs.
Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship Program: Cultural Vistas
The Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship Program is a distinguished transatlantic initiative that offers a select cohort of accomplished Americans the opportunity to complete a comprehensive intercultural professional program in Germany
Scholarship for Graphic and Web Design: Sprak Design
Deadline: December
Average Award: $500
Summer Scholar Award: University of Maryland
Deadline: February 14, 2021
The Maryland Summer Scholars Program (MSS) provides opportunities for University of Maryland, College Park (UMD) undergraduates to spend much of the summer working closely with faculty mentors on ambitious research, scholarly, or artistic projects. The MSS program provides awards of $3,000 to approximately 25-30 outstanding undergraduates each summer.