{"id":1883122,"date":"2026-04-14T19:31:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T16:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1883122"},"modified":"2026-04-14T19:31:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T16:31:19","slug":"joyce-awards-to-relaunch-with-100000-unrestricted-artist-grants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1883122","title":{"rendered":"Joyce Awards to Relaunch with $100,000 Unrestricted Artist Grants"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/LaHavanaMadrid_2019_8622_by-Joel-Maisonet.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\n\tThe Chicago-based Joyce Foundation will relaunch its Joyce Awards, which have supported artists working in the Great Lakes region since 2004. The foundation will do so under a new funding model, having taken a year-long pause following its 2024 awards cycle.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe awards will pivot from a project-based grant of $100,000 to an unrestricted grant of $100,000 that will go directly to each of the four selected artists. Accompanying the $100,000 unrestricted grant is a $40,000 grant that will go to a Great Lakes\u2013based nonprofit organization, selected by a winning artist, that will help them \u201chelp realize, expand, or deepen their work in the region,\u201d according to a release.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Joyce Awards will also be administered in two cycles going forward, with artists based in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin eligible to win in even-numbered years, beginning in 2026, while artists based in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio eligible to win in odd-numbered years, beginning in 2027.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnother change is that artists are now able to self-nominate for the 2026 cohort, beginning today, with the application period running through May 4. The 2026 cohort will be announced in November, and applications for the 2027 cohort will open in the spring of that year. The Joyce Foundation will continue to invite peers to nominate artists for the awards, who will then submit applications that will be reviewed alongside those of the self-nominated artists.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"Performers<\/div>\n<\/div>
Performance still of Sh\u0101trang\u0101: Women Weaving Worlds<\/em> (2018) by Ananya Chatterjea, who won a Joyce Award in 2016. <\/span>Photo Randy Karels\/Courtesy the artist and The O\u2019Shaughnessy, St. Paul, Minnesota<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tIn addition to being based in one of those six Great Lakes states, the artists must \u201cexplore issues related to racial equity and deeply engage communities through collaborative approaches,\u201d according to the submission guidelines, though the awards are open to artists \u201cworking in the visual arts, performing arts, film and media, multimedia, literary arts, or other traditional, interdisciplinary, or community-based cultural practices.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cRecognizing the power of the arts to drive social change and build a more equitable and thriving Great Lakes region, for two decades, the Joyce Awards have been central to advancing the Foundation\u2019s mission,\u201d Mia Khimm, the foundation\u2019s culture program director, told ARTnews<\/em> in an email about the focus of the awards.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Joyce Foundation is also partnering with United States Artists (USA), one of the top artists grants administrators in the country, to disburse the funds. \u201cUnited States Artists is committed to putting unrestricted dollars into the hands of artists,\u201d USA president and CEO Judilee Reed said in an email, noting that this kind of support \u201crecognizes the crucial role that artists have in sustaining the vitality and well-being of our society.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"People<\/div>\n<\/div>
Seitu Jones was able to realize CREATE: The Community Meal<\/em> (2014) through his 2013 Joyce Awards win.<\/span>Photo Andy King<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tThe Joyce Awards launched in 2004, and in its first 20 years, they have provided more than $5 million to realize more than 90 new works. The Joyce Foundation took the 20th anniversary as a moment to reevaluate its impact and think about how it could best serve artists going forward. These included conversations with past awardees, as well as other artists, arts leaders, and community leaders in the region \u201cto understand what artists and the arts community need most in these complex times,\u201d Khimm said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat came out of those conversations was a need to provide artists with unrestricted support, Khimm said. \u201cUnrestricted, direct support gives artists the flexibility to use awards on their own terms, responding to their most pressing needs, while supporting artists to take creative risks, adapt to changing circumstances, and prioritize meaningful community engagement. In the current moment, that kind of trust and responsiveness matters more than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe decision to include culture organizations as part of the funding model, Khimm said, is part of the Joyce Foundation\u2019s \u201cbroader commitment to fostering a vibrant ecosystem where artists, organizations, and communities thrive together.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/joyce-awards-relaunch-unrestricted-artist-grants-1234781155\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/LaHavanaMadrid_2019_8622_by-Joel-Maisonet.jpg?w=1024″] The Chicago-based Joyce Foundation will relaunch its Joyce Awards, which have supported artists working in the Great Lakes region since 2004. The foundation will do so under a new funding model, having taken a year-long pause following its 2024 awards cycle. The awards will pivot from a project-based grant of $100,000 to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-1883122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1883122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1883122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1883122\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1883122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1883122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1883122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}