Arts Council
Kentucky Arts Council Offers Fellowships to Writers, Composers, Choreographers and Interdisciplinary Artists

FRANKFORT, Ky. –The Kentucky Arts Council is currently accepting applications for the highly competitive Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowship awards. This year the awards are open to artists working in the literary arts (fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry and play/scriptwriting), librettos (opera or musical theatre), music composition, dance choreography and interdisciplinary arts (for works sharing a combination of choreography and music composition).  The application deadline for the Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowships is March 15, 2008. To access the guidelines, instructions and application, go to: http://artscouncil.ky.gov/guide/prog3/asf_gdl.htm.

In alternate years, the coveted $7,500 fellowships are awarded to visual and media artists.

The purpose of the Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowship Program is to support Kentucky artists engaged in creating artwork of high quality and to recognize creative excellence in practicing, professional Kentucky artists.  The fellowship awards are named after retired Kentucky journalist and past Arts Council Board chair, Al Smith.

The Fellowship program utilizes a "blind jurying" process which does not provide the selection panel with applicants' names; the panel reviews the work samples and applications according to application numbers only. Criteria for the awards include artistic excellence, professional achievement and the potential of the fellowship award to enhance the artist's development and encourage the continuation of the artist's work.

For more information about the Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowship Program or other Kentucky Arts Council opportunities for artists, contact Individual Artist Program Director Tamara Coffey at 502-564-3757, 888-833-2787 or tamara.coffey@ky.gov.

The Kentucky Arts Council is a state agency in the Commerce Cabinet that creates opportunities for Kentuckians to value, participate in and benefit from the arts. Kentucky Arts Council funding is provided by the Kentucky State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.

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The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, invests in programs that develop vibrant communities, provide lifelong education in the arts and support arts participation. Every $1 invested in operating support grants by the Kentucky Arts Council leverages $24 in earned income and matching funds from individuals, philanthropic sources and other levels of government.