Terra Foundation for American Art
/OVERVIEW: The Terra Foundation for American Art makes broad grants for exhibitions and academic programs in order to increase access to and appreciation of American Art in the U.S. and around the world. The foundation also runs local grantmaking programs for art and artists local to the Chicago area, including exhibitions, public programs, and research and learning resources.
IP TAKE: The bulk of Terra’s grants support art museums and institutes working in the field of historical American visual arts, not necessarily grassroots outfits that work at the local level with vulnerable groups. However, it does make grants to a range of grantees, so there’s some hope despite its preference for established institutions and scholars. Its grantees range from the world’s largest and most famous art museums to small local art venues and galleries. Terra also supports academic American art history by funding symposia, conferences and fellowships at institutions around the world. Where appropriate, grantees must credit the foundation in research articles, symposia or otherwise.
Terra is very accessible and runs open application programs for all its grant and fellowship programs and offers specific instructions, guidelines and due dates on its individual program pages. Some grant opportunities require LOIs, while others do not, so please refer to each grant’s application guidelines on how to approach.
Grants are highly competitive here, so plan accordingly when editing your proposal and make sure to have your application peer-reviewed, if appropriate.
PROFILE: Art collector, businessman and former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Cultural Affairs Daniel Terra established the Terra Foundation for American Art in 1978. Based in Chicago, the foundation “is dedicated to fostering exploration, understanding and enjoyment of the visual arts of the United States for national and international audiences.” Terra supports exhibitions, academic programs, fellowships and visiting professorships and publications. In Chicago, it makes grants for K-12 education and public programs related to American art.
Grants for Visual Arts
The Terra Foundation’s grantmaking largely focuses on visual arts produced in “what is now the geographic United States” circa 1500 to 1980. The foundation’s three main goals are increasing public access to and appreciation of American art, supporting the field of American art scholarship and increasing appreciation of American art in Chicago. Visual arts grantmaking programs include the following:
Exhibition grants support temporary exhibitions that primarily include art on loan and that address “current and historical inequities in presentations and understandings of American art history.” Grantees have ranged from the world’s most prestigious museums to many smaller, specialized arts organizations both within and outside the United States. One recent grant supports an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, focusing on “African American potters in the nineteenth-century American South… and the contemporary artists who have responded to this body of work.” Another grantee, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, used funding to organize an exhibit of American artist Simone Leigh’s work, to be displayed at the United States Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia and at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston. Other recent grantees include Denver Art Museum, Grey Art Gallery, Copenhagen Contemporary, and Centre Pompidou, to name a few.
Past/Present grants support temporary exhibitions at U.S. museums that connect historical American art with “more recent art and conversations of current relevance.” One recent grant supported the exhibit Artists Respond: American Art and the Vietnam War, 1965-1975 at the Smithsonian Institute.
Similarly, collections grants support reinterpretations of permanent collections focused on the foundation’s goals. These grants, ranging from $25,000 to $75,000, seek to fund permanent collection re-installations and temporary exhibitions drawn from permanent collections.
Terra also awards grants for academic programs run by museums and arts organizations and publishing and translation projects on American art that you can learn more about below.
Grants for Higher Education
The Terra Foundation also makes grants to colleges and universities, as well as scholarships and fellowships for individuals studying or researching historical American art. Grants to institutions support academic workshops and symposia in the field of American art across the globe.
The Convening Grants program typically provides between $10,000 to $25,000, up to 20% of which can be used towards administrative costs and up to 15% of which can be used for indirect costs. Please note that the Terra Foundation prefers not to be the sole funder of such activities. One recent grant under this program supported a four-day conference at the Athens campus of Hellenic American University, focused on exploring the relationship between modern American art and iconic aspects of Greek culture.
Terra additionally supports higher education through its individual grants and fellowships program. The foundation currently runs multiple programs consisting of residencies at affiliated museums including the Smithsonian, the American Academy in Rome, the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, and the Netherlands’ Rijksmuseum.
Terra’s publication grants program, which supports the publication of manuscripts on American art as well as the translation to or from English of books on American art. Book publication projects at Yale University, the University of Illinois and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland are among the program’s recent recipients.
Grants for Chicago & Other Grantmaking Opportunities:
The Terra Foundation makes grants for K-12 education and public programs in the Chicago area. Education grants support both in- and out-of-school learning opportunities in American art, and public program grants focus on exhibits, installations and events with broad reach and that have the potential to develop the public’s interest in American visual arts.
The Terra Foundation also makes grants for local art and artists in the Chicago area, including funding for exhibitions, public programs, and research and learning. This grantmaking program, called Art Design Chicago, “aims to strengthen the local visual art ecosystem and encourage new and deeper partnerships between cultural organizations, creatives, and communities.”
Important Grant Details:
The Terra Foundation makes about $7 million a year in grants. The foundation’s exhibition grants are made in amounts from $25,000 to $250,000, while academic grants generally remain under $25,000. This funder supports a broad range of visual arts organizations, including some of the world’s largest landmark venues to local art museums and galleries in smaller towns and cities. The foundation maintains a searchable database of its past grants.
Terra runs open application programs for all of its grantmaking programs and provides specific information, guidelines and due dates on the individual program pages that are linked to its grant and fellowship opportunities page. General inquiries may be directed to the foundation’s staff via email at grants@terraamericanart.org or telephone at 312-664-3939.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
LINKS:
