Eliza Moore Fellowship for Artistic Excellence 2026 ($10,000 Grant Available)

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About Eliza Moore Fellowship for Artistic Excellence

The award includes a $10,000 individual grant and requires a 2 - 5 week stay at Oak Spring. While at Oak Spring Garden Foundation (OSGF), the Fellow will be able to meet with staff, explore the 700-acre landscape and the efforts in sustainable land management, and visit OSGF's rare book library that holds over 19,000 objects, including many examples of botanical art.

OSGF intends to award the Fellowship to an exceptional artist whose works show remarkable promise to contribute to a deeper understanding of the natural world, and humankind's place in it. The Fellow will be scheduled to visit when there are other Interdisciplinary Residents or Fellows on-site.

Dates

Fellows should arrive on the same start date of an Interdisciplinary Residency, or Botanical Artist Residency, and the Fellow will complete their introductory tours with other Residents.  In 2026, these dates are:

• Monday, March 2, 2026

• Sunday, April 14 (up to 3-week stay only)

• Monday, June 1

• Monday, July 13

• Sunday, August 13 (up to 3-week stay only)

• Monday, September 21

• Sponsor Organisation: Oak Spring Garden Foundation

Benefits of Eliza Moore Fellowship for Artistic Excellence

Award

• The $10,000 individual grant associated with this award can be put towards travel to and from OSGF, materials and supplies purchased for their residency, and other items that will support their work, before or after their stay at OSGF.
• The selected Fellow should make travel arrangements to Dulles International Airport, where Oak Spring will arrange ground transportation for them to their estate in Upperville, VA. The Fellow will be housed in nicely appointed shared accommodations. The Fellow will have a private bedroom and bathroom and share a living room and kitchen with 1 - 3 other Residents or Fellows.

Eliza Moore Fellowship for Artistic Excellence Requirements

• Eligible applicants must be early-career artists not enrolled in an undergraduate degree program in 2026. They will consider individuals with a proven track-record of professionalism, but who are yet under-recognized, as early-career. Eligible early-career applicants will have some recognition in the form of exhibitions, commissions, performances, grant awards, residencies, Fellowships and/or publications.
• Individuals who have participated in an extensive number of solo exhibitions, or who have published a significant number of books will be considered established or late career and are not eligible for the Eliza Moore Fellowship. They encourage those who are not eligible for this Fellowship to apply to the Interdisciplinary Residency.
• The successful Fellow must be self-directed and able to work independently while on site. Applicants are expected to show dedication to their artistic practice, clear connection to the natural world in their work, exceptional promise, and good communication skills.

Application Date and Process

The application portal will open on February 14, 2025 and close on May 31st, 2025. Please note that there is one application for all of their 2026 Residency and Fellowship programs, and you will be prompted to select which programs you would like to be considered for. You will be asked to submit:

1. a resume/curriculum vitae (not to exceed two pages),

2. a 200 - 300-word statement on your artistic practice,

3. a statement of 200 - 300 words stating how your work relates to Oak Spring Garden Foundation’s mission to “perpetuate and share the gifts of Rachel (“Bunny”) Lambert Mellon, including her residence, garden, estate and the Oak Spring Garden Library, to serve the public interest. OSGF is dedicated to inspiring and facilitating scholarship and public dialogue on the history and future of plants, including the culture of gardens and landscapes and the importance of plants for human well-being,”

4. work samples

For visual artists: 5 - 10 images, please include the dimensions, year, medium, and title of each work sample. 
For creative non-fiction, fiction, essayists, or other writers: 7 - 10 pages total that demonstrate your current interests. Please use 12-point font, 1-inch margins, and double-space your writing sample.  Do not include photocopies of published work, title pages, tables of contents or HYPERLINKS.  Please be sure to state the genre of the work sample.
For time-based artists, including: filmmakers, musicians, dancers, and performance artists: 10 minutes cumulatively of work samples.  OSGF encourages video files to be uploaded directly to Submittable, but when necessary, we also accept links to vimeo or other external sites as long as the appropriate passwords are provided.
For poets and playwrights: you may submit 7 - 10 pages total.  Poetry may be spaced as needed, and scripts should follow standard script formatting. 

Application Deadline

01 June, 2025

Scholarship Application Portal

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