Young Space, no.74
Things that matter.
“I try to make work about things that matter.” —Kerry James Marshall
Over the weekend, I attended the opening of a major open call exhibition by Wisconsin Visual Artists, which is celebrating 125 years as an organization this year. My dad joined shortly after we moved to Wisconsin (I was only a toddler), back when it was still called Wisconsin Painters & Sculptors. I remember going to openings at different galleries and parties at members’ homes when I was kid. (One time at one of these parties, I won a small etching that fell from a giant homemade piñata full of art, and I still have it.) A lot has changed since then, but it’s heartening that the community support has never waned.
A few weeks ago, national figures were released that again placed my state near the very bottom of the nation’s per-capita arts funding. Last year, Wisconsin was dead last (although I did see something recently about a proposal to quadruple the meager annual spending to a little over $4 million). This year, we hold tight at 18 cents a head, trailed only by Florida, which tragically slashed its $32 million budget last year, and Georgia, which also sits now at 14 cents. It goes without saying that it’s not a good time for publicly funded initiatives in the arts.
In contrast, Minnesota leads the nation at $9.67. Being neighbors—I love the Twin Cities, the Mississippi River road, its 10,000 lakes—I try to go there often. The difference between support for the arts in Minnesota vs. Wisconsin is palpable. Cooperative artist studios are more numerous; rural initiatives like Art of the Rural or Department of Transformation are empowered to create opportunities for marginalized artists and communities; Arts Midwest is based there; and the Walker Art Center shows some of the region’s most compelling and conceptually rigorous exhibitions.
It’s not as if Wisconsin doesn’t have great art initiatives. All around the state are artist-run spaces that tap into local community; UW-Madison’s art program is thankfully robust; a small number of galleries support themselves through ties to Chicago or further afield through fairs; The Bubbler at Madison Public Library is one of the nation’s most ambitious public arts and hands-on learning programs; and a self-organized statewide group of curators and arts organizers meets semi-annually to exchange ideas and resources.
The thing about working in a place with little-to-no funding generally available is that in order to make things happen, one has to be kinda scrappy. This can lead to some interesting outcomes because when resources run thin, creativity is the ultimate boon. At the reception over the weekend, it came up a few times in conversations with different people that when there is an event here, the turnout is often big. People are obviously hungry for it, but unlike in a major city/cultural hub, we also have to be prepared to drive one, two, even three or four hours to see critically engaging shows or meet other artists.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how sometimes all it takes is one person with a combination of vision, deep pockets, time, and commitment to supporting the arts in a particular area, and it can transform the region’s arts culture. Laura Merage, an artist and philanthropist in Denver, helped to transform the ecosystem there through the founding of RedLine in 2008, a nonprofit that has since supported well over 125 artists with free studio spaces and exhibition and mentorship opportunities. Denver is also home to the absolutely marvelous Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum and a number of established and up-and-coming galleries.
Then there’s George Kaiser’s grant to end all grants, the Tulsa Artist Fellowship, which aims to support local artists over a three-year period with a whopping $150,000 grant plus stipends to cover housing, healthcare, childcare, studio support, and moving expenses. Talk about investing in the local culture by supporting the people who know how to use their resources wisely. (If you’re in Tulsa, applications are now open.)
One thing I wish Wisconsin could find the means to support is artists’ studios—more hubs—more subsidized communal spaces. I would love if we could support a culture of exceptional quality, relying less on corporate sponsorship that muddies the waters. I wish I could do less ho-humming about all of the interesting minds leaving for greener pastures as art programs shutter or a DIY project is no longer sustainable as costs rise. In the meantime, I’m eternally grateful for projects like The Grilled Cheese Grant (which I was proud to contribute to again this year) or WVA.
I suppose this is all to say that, no matter where you are, the arts can never have enough funding. Even the best-funded areas will have perennially under-supported projects that are working at levels well beyond capacity. That’s what art people do. And in this nervewracking and terrifying time, we have to keep sticking together and keep showing up.
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See you next week.
—Kate
What you’ll find below:
Featured artist: Armi Teva
Exhibitions to see in London, Mexico City, Miami, New York City, and Taos
Twelve opportunities for artists with deadlines coming up soon
Featured Artist: Armi Teva
Armi Teva’s ceramics immediately captured my attention for their playfulness—especially her tablet-like faces and and tile compositions. Based in Helsinki, the artist has also worked on numerous public art commissions and freestanding sculptures, emphasizing the convergence of illustration, ceramics, and painting in dreamlike compositions with spongy, globby, hand-cut details. Find more on Instagram.
Exhibitions
LONDON | GRIMM
Jonathan Wateridge: Vanishing Point
Wateridge’s ghostly figures traverse blurry architectural spaces, cast in bold shadows as if projected from another realm, partly there and partly elsewhere.
Runs through April 5
MEXICO CITY | NARANJO 141 x OLYMPIA
Thresholds
Olympia presents Thresholds: Part I, the first iteration of a two-part exhibition jointly held with NARANJO 141 in Mexico City, bringing together works by Lily Alice Baker, Colleen Herman, Lee Maxey, Katarina Riesing, and Pauline Shaw. Thresholds: Part II runs concurrently in New York.
Runs through April 13
TAOS | THE VALLEY
Amelia Lockwood: Rose Pit
Ever since I saw The Valley’s booth of Amelia Lockwood’s work at NADA Miami a couple of years back, I’ve been pretty hooked on the artist’s otherworldly sculptures. Her solo show “stages a drama of inverted florals caught in cosmic suspension.”
Runs through May 10
More shows worth a peek:
Carla Weeks and Alanna Hernandez: Home Body at Primary, Miami, through April 12
Inside Out II at Scroll, New York City, through April 19
Ricardo Brey: Obatalá at Alexander Gray Associates, New York City, through April 19
Citra Sasmita: Into Eternal Land at the Barbican, London, through April 21
Myrlande Constant: The Spiritual World of Haiti at Fort Gansevoort, New York City, through April 26
Artist Opportunities
Young Space emphasizes fully-funded opportunities with low or no entry fees and programs that focus on creative and professional development for visual artists and curators. Deadlines are coming up soon to apply for these grants, fellowships, residencies, and more.
Paid subscribers, check out the whole list anytime at yngspc.com/opportunities and enter the password you received in your signup email. Can’t find it? Just shoot me a note. Thank your for your support!
RHA Gallery x Áras Éanna Residency
Deadline: April 4
The RHA School in partnership with Áras Éanna offer a visual artist residency on Inis Oírr from July 6 to July 31, 2025. Each residency includes an on-site private apartment and a self-contained studio, plus access to the Áras Éanna galleries and theatre. The successful applicant will receive a €1,000 stipend funded by Ealaín na Gaeltachta.
Submission fee: none
WFF Housing Stability Grants for New York City Artists
Deadline: April 8
The Woodman Family Foundation Housing Stability Grant for Artists (WFF HSG) provides grants of $30,000, distributed over three years, to NYC-based visual artists in need who are seeking support for stable housing. In its inaugural cycle, the WFF HSG will award grants to five artists.
Submission fee: none
McColl Center 2026 Artist-in-Residence
Deadline: April 14
Artists-in-residence receive private housing adjacent to McColl Center, a large-scale private studio in a historic building in Uptown Charlotte, curatorial guidance, marketing and PR support, and a generous stipend. While in residency, artists have the freedom to fully focus on artistic research, exploration, and creation.
Submission fee: $35
SaveArtSpace Open Call for Art on Billboards in NYC
Deadline: April 14
SaveArtSpace presents its 10th Anniversary celebration The People’s Art, a group public art exhibition on billboard ad space in New York, NY, opening May 30, 2025, curated by Anne-Laure Lemaitre, RJ Rushmore, Zahra Sherzad, Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo, and Travis Rix. Artists of all ages and talents are invited to submit their artwork. The selected artists will also be exhibited at Satellite Gallery, 279 Broome St., NYC, with a one-night opening reception anniversary party on May 30, 2025.
Submission fee: $10 per image
Filter Photo Fellowship
Deadline: April 15
Open to emerging and early-career artists and arts administrators, the Filter Photo Fellowship offers a unique, experiential opportunity to work collaboratively with an established nonprofit arts organization. It is designed to foster the professional development of an artist or arts administrator seeking to better understand and develop skills in the workings of a small nonprofit. This is a 10-hr/wk position lasting from June 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026. Compensation includes ongoing mentoring with staff and industry professionals (as available), in addition to a stipend of $15,000 (paid monthly).
Submission fee: none
Anonymous Was a Woman Environmental Art Grants
Deadline: April 15
The Anonymous Was A Woman Environmental Art Grants (AWAW EAG) provides grants of up to $20,000 to environmental art projects led by women-identifying artists in the United States and U.S. Territories. Proposals should illustrate thorough consideration of a project’s ecological and social ethics. Projects that explore interdependence, relationships, and systems through Indigenous and ancestral practices are encouraged to apply. For the 2025 cycle, the program will distribute over $520,000 in funding.
Submission fee: none
Year-Long Residency at Mudflat Studio
Deadline: April 16
Clay artists are invited to apply for a one-year residency position at Mudflat Studio in Somerville, MA. This highly competitive program provides a private studio space at no cost with 24/7 access to Mudflat’s facility, a $75 monthly materials stipend, an $800 monthly housing stipend, opportunities to teach and sell work, and a solo exhibition and reception at Mudflat to showcase work created during the residency year. Residency dates run September 1 to August 31.
Submission fee: none
Center for Craft 2026 Curatorial Fellowship
Deadline: April 18
The Curatorial Fellowship is a 10-month program awarding an emerging curator $5,000 with the goal of advancing and supporting their practice. This fellowship provides a platform for exploring new curatorial approaches to craft.
Submission fee: none
Gasworks London Residency for Artist based in Ecuador
Deadline: April 21
This residency open call is for an artist at a pivotal point in their career based in Ecuador. The eleven-week, fully funded residency will take place at Gasworks in London from July 7 to September 15, 2025. Gasworks provides administrative, pastoral, and curatorial support throughout the residency but expects residents to be self-motivated and to lead on the research and production of their own work during their time in residence.
Submission fee: none
Visual Arts Scotland Inches Carr Craft Creative Development Award 2025
Deadline: April 25
The purpose of the award is to enable artists to develop their practice to a higher level, consider innovation and introduce new materials or techniques to their existing practice. The award includes a £5,000 bursary for a maker, a £2,000 bursary for mentoring support whose discipline and/or professional experience would add value to the winner's practice, a group exhibition with the shortlisted exhibition applicants in July 2025 in Edinburgh, and the opportunity to be included in the 2027 Visual Arts Scotland (VAS) Biennial at National Galleries Scotland, Edinburgh.
Submission fee: none
NAARCA x Cove Park Residency for Artists in Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, or Scotland
Deadline: April 25
This program builds upon the research, commissions, and institutional projects NAARCA has launched since 2021 which focus upon the climate crisis, the biodiversity crisis, climate justice and the four pillars of sustainability – ecological, social, psychological and cultural. Two funded residency exchanges will take place between June 2025 and December 2025. NAARCA resident(s) will receive a fee, materials/equipment allowance, and a travel stipend. Hosting a NAARCA resident in 2025 are Artica Svalbard (Norway), Cove Park (Scotland), Narsaq International Research Station (Greenland), and Skaftfell Arts Center (Iceland).
Submission fee: none
Harpo Foundation Grants for Visual Artists
Deadline: April 28
Grants of $10,000 are awarded to artists who are citizens or legal permanent residents of the U.S. Applications from Native American artists for these grants are automatically considered for the $25,000 Impact Award for Native American Art.
Submission fee: $15
See all opportunities
Paid subscribers can access a full list of all current opportunities anytime—updated at least a couple of times each week.
Whether you’re a free or paid subscriber, you can also browse through listings in earlier digests in the archive.
If you are part of an organization or art business that offers opportunities or services you think artists should know about, consider a featured listing or post. Email me at kate@young-space.com or just reply to this email for more info.
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