The Creative Capital Award is a national open-call grant for individual artists and collaboratives proposing original new work in visual arts, performing arts, film, or literature. Multidisciplinary, technology, and socially engaged projects may apply within those disciplines.
Creative Capital Foundation selects recipients through a three-round external review process. Awardees develop their own projects rather than relocating to a host site, and can use the funding and services over five years. The 2027 call is closed; its deadline was April 2, 2026.
Benefits & funding
- An unrestricted project grant of $15,000–$50,000.
- Professional development support, industry connections, and community-building opportunities.
- A five-year engagement period in which awardees may use the funding and services to complete their projects.
- Applicants in the 2027 open call were automatically considered for the separate $10,000 State of the Art Prize through the same application and review process.
Eligibility
- The lead applicant and every collaborator must, at the time of application, be a U.S. citizen, permanent resident, Tribal ID holder, or O-1 visa holder.
- Each applicant must be at least 25 years old and have at least five years of professional artistic practice in the chosen discipline.
- Applicants may not be enrolled in a degree-granting program, may not have previously received a Creative Capital Award, and may not apply to the Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant in the same year.
- An artist may not be an applicant or collaborator on more than one proposed project in the same year. Collaboratives may include two to five artists, all of whom must meet the requirements.
- Eligible proposals create new work in visual arts, performing arts, film, or literature; multidisciplinary, technology, and socially engaged approaches are accepted within those categories.
- Ineligible proposals include promotional projects, ongoing business or nonprofit operations, curation or documentation of existing work, journalism, podcasts, student-focused educational projects, children’s or young-adult literature, graphic novels, and projects due to premiere or finish before July 1, 2027.
Can you apply?
Here's who can apply
Decoded from the official rules. A free account checks them against your passport, degree and age in seconds.
Experience required
≥ 5 yrs
Age requirement
≥ 25 yrs
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Application process
- 1Confirm eligibility and submit the free Round I application with project and discipline details, four short responses, a biography, résumé, and one sample from a completed past work.
- 2If advanced to Round II, submit an itemized budget, project timeline, up to two additional work samples, and proof of qualifying status.
- 3If advanced to Round III, confirm collaborators where applicable and optionally provide project updates for the final panel review.
Program timeline
Round I application portal opened.
March 2, 2026
Round I application deadline.
April 2, 2026, 3:00 p.m. ET
Round II advancement notifications.
June 2026
Round III final-panel advancement notifications.
September 2026
Final grant notifications.
December 2026
Early 2027
Public announcement of the 2027 awardees.