McKnight Community-Engaged Artist & Culture Bearer Fellowships

Staff

Mike Hoyt

About McKnight Artist & Culture Bearer Fellowship:

The next fellowship application will open in Jan. 2026

Founded on the belief that Minnesota thrives when its artists and culture bearers thrive, the McKnight Foundation’s arts and culture program is one of the oldest and largest of its kind in the country. Support for individual working Minnesota artists and culture bearers has been a cornerstone of the program since it began in 1982. The McKnight Artist & Culture Bearer Fellowships Program provides annual, unrestricted cash awards to outstanding mid-career Minnesota artists in 15 different creative disciplines. Program partner organizations administer the fellowships and structure them to respond to the unique challenges of different disciplines. Currently, the foundation contributes about $2.8 million per year to its statewide fellowships. For more information, visit mcknight.org/artistfellowships. 

This fellowship is limited to Community-Engaged Artists who are at a stage beyond emerging.  Community-Engaged Artists, as defined for the purposes of this fellowship, are artists who use their artistic practice to engage relationship aimed at producing social or cultural transformation. And this intention drives choice and process throughout the conception, design, stewardship, and implementation of their work. 

The fellowship program supports established mid-career artists by providing significant financial assistance, by creating opportunities to meet with local and national arts and cultural specialists, and by working with the fellows to engage in professional development or pilot new creative initiatives. 

The Pillsbury House Theatre-administered fellowship program uses an independent jury of arts specialists to competitively award two (2) fellowships. The fellowship runs for one year, and includes: 

$25,000 (unrestricted) Fellowship funding may be used to enhance any aspect of the artist’s life, such as overhead costs, the purchase of materials, travel, and other living expenses. Awards are subject to state and federal income tax guidelines. 
Additional professional development funds.   
Access to PH+T’s facilities and equipment.  
Support from PH+T staff and menu of community resources and services. 
Fellowship mentorship; Fellows will select a national expert in the field to be in dialogue with throughout the term of their fellowship. 
8 hours of consultation time, support, and resources from Springboard for the Arts. 
Access to national/international Artist Residency programs developed between McKnight and the Artist Communities Alliance.