The Guggenheim Fellowship is an annual grant from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for individuals with established records in the creative arts, humanities, natural sciences, or social sciences. It supports a proposed project rather than study toward a degree or work by an institution.
The Foundation evaluates past achievement together with the promise of future work and makes roughly 190 awards each year. The accessible official application materials are still for the 2026 competition, so applicants should wait for the next guide before relying on cycle-specific dates.
Benefits & funding
- Each recipient receives an individual project grant.
- Grant amounts vary according to the Foundation’s fixed annual budget, the recipient’s other resources, and the purpose and scope of the proposed work.
- The Foundation does not publish a standard average or guarantee full funding of a project.
- Roughly 190 Fellowships are awarded each year across more than 50 fields.
- A Fellowship term may last from six months to one year; the proposed project does not need to be completed within that term.
Eligibility
- An applicant must be either a citizen or a permanent resident of the United States or Canada when applying.
- The Fellowship is intended for established, mid-career artists, writers, scholars, and scientists who can demonstrate notable prior achievement and promise for future work.
- Undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students are not eligible.
- A previous Guggenheim Fellow may not receive another Fellowship.
- Applications are accepted from individuals, including independent practitioners; organizations, institutions, and groups are not eligible.
- The proposed work must fall within the Foundation’s supported project scope; excluded projects include residencies, curricula, educational programs, websites, blogs, anthologies, oral histories, e-books, textbooks, and work for children or young audiences.
Can you apply?
Open to all applicants
No nationality, residency, education, or experience limits are listed.
Circlebreaker is a free database of global fellowships, scholarships and programs — every one decoded like this.
We only check the criteria we have data for. Always confirm full eligibility on the official page before applying.
Application process
- 1When the competition opens, create or access an account in the Foundation’s online application portal.
- 2Complete the portal sections covering contact details, the project, addresses, positions, languages, organizations, education, references, and supporting documents.
- 3Upload a career narrative, a list of significant work, and a statement of plans in the required format.
- 4Submit the complete application by the cycle deadline. The Foundation later contacts references and, where applicable, sends instructions for work examples.
- 5Wait for the trustees’ confirmation and the Foundation’s result notice, typically issued in April.
Program timeline
Most recent published application deadline, for the 2026 competition.
Sep 16, 2025
Work examples due for applicants asked to submit them in that competition.
Oct 31, 2025
April 2026
Applicants notified of the 2026 competition results.
Next competition
The accessible official materials do not yet publish an exact opening date.