This is the inaugural year of what will be an annual opportunity that supports creative projects led by artists based in Connecticut. Six $10,000 grants will be awarded through an juried open call process.
There is no fee to apply for a Provision Fund grant.
Provision Fund is administered by Real Art Ways as a part of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts Regional Regranting Program
About • Eligibility • Apply • FAQ
About
About
Provision Fund 2026
Projects must be grounded in the visual arts and have a public-facing component. (Funded projects will not take place at Real Art Ways)
Individual artists, collaborative teams, and informal collectives are eligible and encouraged to apply.
Three guest jurors will assess applications on the basis of artistic merit, feasibility, and thoughtful engagement with the community and/or site of the public facing component.
Timeline
July 20, 2026
Applications open
September 20, 2026 (11:59pm)
Applications close
November 2026
Awardees announced
January 15, 2027 -
January 15,2028
Project Grant Period
2026 Jurors
Saya Woolfalk
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Inspired by her Japanese, African American, and European family background Saya Woolfalk creates paintings, collages, prints, sculpture, video, and performances. Alluding to anthropology, feminist theory, science fiction, and Eastern religion, her works reveal the ongoing elaborate fiction of the Empathics, a community of female plant-human hybrids who possess extraordinary abilities to understand the feelings, desires, and motivations of others.
During the past two decades, Woolfalk has presented multimedia works, immersive installations, and performances in solo and group shows at museums and galleries throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Her many public commissions include The Coretta Scott King Peace and Meditation Garden, at the King Center in Atlanta.
Works by the artist are in the collections of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art Museum; the Hunter Museum of American Art; AKG Buffalo Art Museum; the Baltimore Museum of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art; the Studio Museum in Harlem; the Chrysler Museum of Art; the Mead Museum of Art; the Everson Museum of Art; the Newark Museum of Art; the Weatherspoon Art Museum; and many other institutions.
Among Woolfalk’s numerous honors and awards are the Fulbright grant for study in Brazil; residencies at the Studio Museum in Harlem; the Pilchuck Glass School; the Newark Museum of Art; the Toledo Museum of Art; and the 2023 Anonymous Was a Woman award.
Saya Woolfalk earned her B.A. in visual art and economics from Brown University in 2001 and her MFA in sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2004.
Saya Woolfalk is represented by Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects.
Seph Rodney
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Seph Rodney, PhD is a regular contributor to The New York Times, and a former senior critic and opinions editor for Hyperallergic. He has also written for CNN, NBC, Art in America, Art Forum, The Guardian, and several other publications. In 2020 he won the Rabkin Arts Journalism prize and in 2022 won the Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant. He is also a curator of contemporary art exhibitions, previously co-curating Get in the Game, at SF MoMA, the largest show that museum has undertaken. He is currently co-curating This Land, an exhibition about the American Landscape which will open at The Church at Sag Harbor in June of 2026.
Kelsey Halliday Johnson
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Kelsey Halliday Johnson (she/they) is the Executive Director of Space in Portland, Maine. For over fifteen years, Kelsey has worked as a presenter and curator with a consistent dedication for championing under-recognized artists and intersectional values.
She is a graduate of Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Wesleyan University, and has taught at a range of colleges and universities as well as Interlochen Arts Academy. Her writing has been published by the University of Pennsylvania Press, Locks Art Publications, Title Magazine, Performa, Studio Magazine from the Studio Museum in Harlem, Common Field, and Mural Arts Philadelphia, among others. She has served on boards for Sierra Club Maine, International House Philadelphia, The Artblog, the Arts & Culture Steering Committee for the City of Portland, and currently serves on the boards of Cape Elizabeth Land Trust, WPRB Princeton 103.3FM, and the Portland Museum of Art Collections Committee.
Eligibility
Eligibility
Provision Fund 2026
Applicants
Applicants may be individual artists, artist groups or informal collectives.
Applicants must be independent and unincorporated, whether applying as an individual or group. Nonprofit organizations are not eligible.
Applicants applying as a group/collective must assign a Lead Applicant who will submit the application and receive a check for funding.
Applicants/Lead Applicants may not be full-time students.
Applicants/Lead Applicants must live in Connecticut.
Projects
This program is meant to fund innovative projects that have a public-facing component. This aspect of your project may take shape in a number of different ways. Examples of potential projects could include publications, living room galleries, garage performance spaces, virtual reality film screenings, community gardens, oral history and archival projects, and many others. We are open to, and excited for, new ideas of how your project will engage the public.
The project must be rooted in the visual arts. In the context of this grant, the visual arts is defined as broadly as possible. Projects may involve other disciplines, but visual art must be the driving force.
Projects that are collaborative in spirit are encouraged.
Funded projects must be completed within the grant year and with the awarded funds. Grants are not intended to be a small part of a much larger project. (For example, if an established artist is raising money for a $50,000 public art project, this is not the appropriate source of funding.)
Work commissioned by organizations, such as museums or universities, is ineligible.
Financial
A competitive application must include a line item paying the artists for their labor.
Tax Identity: Each application submitted by a group or collective must assign a Lead Applicant. Individual applicants and Lead Applicants must be able to provide a Social Security Number (for 1099-NEC tax reporting).
Fiscal Independence: The project must be managed by the artist(s) themselves. The artist(s) must retain creative and financial control.
Selection Criteria
Artistic excellence and clarity of vision
Feasibility of proposed project
Quality of the public-facing component
Thoughtful engagement with community, site, and/or social context
Apply
Apply
Provision Fund 2026
APPLICATION PROCESS
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Project Title: What is the name of your project? (Working titles are fine)
Project Summary (up to 150 words): Provide a brief description of your project.
Project Narrative (up to 500 words): Tell us more. Include how your project meets the Selection Criteria.
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Project Timeline: What are your project’s key milestones? When will they take place? Projects must be completed within 12 months of January 15, 2027. If needed, a Timeline Template is available below.
Timelines are submitted by uploading a .pdf or .xlsx file.
Location Details (up to 250 words): Where and how will the public interact with your project? If a location isn't confirmed, describe the type of space (e.g. vacant lot, library, digital platform, etc.) and your plan to secure it.
Budget: Please provide a table of projected expenses and income. If needed, a Budget Template is available below.
Artist Fees are a required portion of the budget breakdown.
Budgets are reviewed to assess the feasibility of the proposed project.
Budgets are submitted by uploading a .pdf or .xlsx file.
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We have two different places to submit work samples within the application - one for still images and one for video links. Applicants may submit a total 5-10 work samples.
Work Sample: Images High-quality images (jpg/png files that do not exceed 7mb each). A description of each work sample will be required within the application form.
Suggested forms of image work samples:
Past/current work demonstrating the ability of the applicant or team.
Conceptual drawings, mock-ups, or preliminary studies of the proposed project.
Work Sample: Video Links Applicants may submit links to 5 video samples via a single PDF file.
When submitting a link, be sure it brings us directly to the video you wish to submit.
Jurors can dedicate 2 minutes of viewing time to each video. If your video is longer than 2 minutes, indicate the time codes you would like the jurors to watch.
Provide a description of each sample - include title, year, time codes and any information you find pertinent for the jury to know.
Videos should be numbered in the order the applicant prefers they be viewed by jurors.
Attention artists submitting video links: To assist with jurying, a screenshot/still image from each video sample must be uploaded within the Work Sample: Images section of the application.
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Tell us about yourself and/or your team (up to 300 words): Why does this project matter to you?
CV/Resume: If applying as a group, you do not need a group CV/resume. Please combine each member’s individual CV/resume into a single PDF file.
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An opportunity to tell us anything else you feel is pertinent.
All applications are accepted online via Submittable.
Frequently Asked Questions
Still have questions? Take a look at the FAQ or reach out anytime. If you’re feeling ready, go ahead and apply.
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If you already have a location confirmed, that’s great – but it’s not required. If you don’t, share a few possibilities or the type of space you’re imagining (gallery, storefront, park, online platform, etc.). This helps jurors understand your vision and the way(s) your project will interact with the public.
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If you are a part of a collective or team, consider the following when selecting your lead organizer: the lead organizer will be the primary contact and main administrator for the grant application and process. The lead organizer will also receive the check and be responsible for any income taxes owed as a result of receiving the grant.
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Provision Fund is intended to support projects that go beyond individual studio practice and traditional approaches to publicly presenting artwork. While this does not necessarily exclude a gallery exhibition, a strong project proposal will justify how this approach fulfills the selection criteria of the Provision Fund.
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No, however, for the artist or lead organizer to accept payment of the award, they must have a Social Security number since the funds are taxable. Additional collaborators and/or participants do not need to be US citizens or have Social Security numbers.
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Yes, projects can be presented at nonprofits as venues; however, all projects must operate autonomously and be managed independently from the host organization. We recognize that 501(c)(3) organizations can have limited program budgets, but this grant is oriented toward artist-led initiatives and not toward supplementing organizational funding gaps.
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Provision Fund intends to support artist led projects. It is acceptable for an artist’s proposal to contain curatorial elements. However, curatorial projects led by curators are ineligible.
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Yes, web-based projects are eligible, as long as their content is rooted in visual art.
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Yes, as long as the lead organizer is based in Connecticut, they are eligible.