Do I need to live in or near Minneapolis to apply for this fellowship?

Not necessarily, however because most of the benefits offered by this fellowship take place at Highpoint it’s important that regular travel to and from Highpoint is reasonably manageable. Highpoint is located in the uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis

Who is this fellowship for? Who is eligible?

This fellowship is for artists belonging to Indigenous communities, Asian and Pacific Island communities, the Somali diaspora and other African immigrant communities, the African American community, the Latinx community, and other communities identifying as Black, Indigenous, or people of color

Early career artists, established artists, and everything between are eligible to apply. This fellowship is for artists with an interest in printmaking who already have printmaking experience with one or more of the foundational printmaking techniques that the co-op at Highpoint supports (lithography, relief, screenprinting, intaglio, monotype, etc.). Printmaking experience will be demonstrated in the applicants’ work sample.

Applicants can be self-taught and/or formally educated in the printmaking technique(s) that they use.

If you are an artist interested in this fellowship but do not currently have experience with printmaking, please take advantage of the Full Color Scholarship. Artists from any BIPOC community can take adult printmaking classes tuition free. Our class listing are updated regularly and can be found here.

What would be required of me as a Fellow?

Fellows complete an “intake form” to facilitate mentorship planning.

Fellows participate in a studio orientation and agree to adhere to the protocols for safe studio use outlined in the co-op member contract and health and safety guidelines.

Fellows are expected to participate in at least one Highpoint community event during the residency such as a cooperative exhibition, Free Ink Day, or artist talk, etc.

Fellows are required to participate in program ongoing program evaluation (along with Highpoint staff and program steering committee).

Who reviews the applications?

Applications are reviewed by a panel of two individuals from outside of our organization (Highpoint). These individuals are artists and/or arts professionals that belong to one or more of the communities named above that this program seeks to provide access to. The panelists may or may not be printmakers or have printmaking experience.

How are the applications reviewed?

The initial review of applications is done remotely and independently by each panelist. The panelists will have access to each applicant’s images as well as their responses to the prompt questions. The panelists will score each application using the rubric criteria (below) then after several weeks of independent review, they will come together for an in-person final review, deliberation, and decision.

Rubric criteria:

1. Strength of content/concept informing images submitted and supporting responses

2. Visual strength of submitted images

3. Potential for artistic (conceptual and/or technical) growth as demonstrated by images and supporting responses

4. Potential for professional growth as demonstrated by responses

5. Motivation/ability to commit to a year long fellowship as demonstrated by responses

How does the selection process work?

Panelists review the applications independently before coming together in-person for a final review and deliberation. During the final review, the work sample from each applicant is projected while the panelists discuss and deliberate. Eventually, after several rounds of this review and discussion, the panelists agree upon two artists to award with the fellowship.

How should I prepare my responses to the prompt questions?

Be thoughtful. Consider each question thoroughly. The questions are designed to provide additional insight into your art practice, like supplemental information for your image sample.

Your responses can be submitted as either a written document or a video recording. If you plan to submit a recording, it might be helpful to jot down some talking points first to keep yourself within the 3 minute range.

How should I prepare my images?

Images should be clearly presented, in focus, and evenly lit. In general, two-dimensional work should be square in the frame. In short, you don’t want anything to take the focus away form the work.

How do I choose images to submit?

Each panelist will bring their own aesthetic preferences top the selection process and because we don’t make the panelists names public until after their decision is made, you won’t know what their preferences are. The work sample should serve, at least in part, to visually support your response to prompt question #6; what type of work do you make? What themes and ideas do you explore? What are these ideas/themes important to you?. It’s best to feature the work you are most confident in, the work that you think is the best. This work is likely the easiest to write about as well.

Submitted work may include other processes and materials but at least 2 of the 10 images need to showcase at least one form of foundational printmaking (lithography, intaglio, collagraph, letterpress, relief, monotype, screenprinting, etc.).

Applicants are allowed to include up to 2 videos in their image sample. Videos are especially useful for presenting large scale installation and time/performance-based work that isn’t as effectively shown as a static image.

Finally, as to whether or not the works sample should be cohesive or show an artists variety, unfortunately there is no correct answer. Some panelists may appreciate range and others might prefer a consistent body of work.

How do I apply?

You can click here to start your application.