2027–2029 Tulsa Artist Fellowship Application

Tulsa Artist Fellowship announces the opening of applications for the 2027–2029 award term, beginning Tuesday, April 7, through May 7, 2026. Artists and arts workers across disciplines with at least five years’ experience are invited to apply via tulsaartistfellowship.org. A cohort of up to ten awardees, to be announced live on November 6 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, will each be supported through a comprehensive package, including up to $150,000 in financial support over three years, along with housing, studio space, and professional resources. “Tulsa Artist Fellowship is committed to creating the conditions for artists to take meaningful risks in their work while remaining deeply connected to community,” said Carolyn Sickles, Executive & Artistic Director. “By supporting artists over time and within place, we aim to foster practices that are both rigorous and responsive—work that resonates in Tulsa and contributes to broader cultural conversations.” Each year, Tulsa Artist Fellowship convenes a national panel of arts professionals from across the United States to review applications. Panelists include leading figures in the field, practicing artists, arts workers, past awardees, and key stakeholders. Working independently, they assess submissions and identify a shortlist of candidates for interview. In parallel, outreach-focused contributors support the open call by drawing on their networks to identify eligible applicants. Together, this process deepens the Fellowship’s engagement with the broad and diverse communities shaping contemporary artistic practice. Current awardees are developing projects that engage deeply with themes of public memory, place, and identity. Multidisciplinary artist and 2024–2026 awardee Le’Andra LeSeur, through the multifaceted exhibition Monument Eternal, explored the violence of erasure, the weight of silence, and their profound effects on collective identity and well-being by transforming sites of historical racial terror, such as Stone Mountain and Okemah, Oklahoma, into landscapes of healing and reflection. Through video, sculpture, and performance, LeSeur confronts and transcends these spaces, reclaiming memory and resisting the silence surrounding systemic injustice. Established in 2015 by the George Kaiser Family Foundation (GKFF), Tulsa Artist Fellowship is a civic initiative that supports contemporary artists and arts workers while contributing to Tulsa’s cultural landscape. Awardees commit to developing ambitious, community-engaged projects during the three-year term, positioning the Fellowship as a national model for place-based artistic investment and impact. For more information, please visit https://www.tulsaartistfellowship.org.

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