The Individual Excellence Awards program recognizes outstanding accomplishments by artists in a variety of disciplines. Awards give artists the resources to experiment and explore their art forms, develop skills and advance their careers, and receive affirmation and acknowledgment for outstanding work.

Competitive applications focused on the merit of past artistic work, combined with an open panel review conducted by nationally recognized professionals, ensure that only the most exceptional individuals receive funding.

GRANT AWARDS: Individual Excellence Awards are $5,000.

ELIGIBILITY: Creative artists who are residents of Ohio may apply to this program. Applicants must have lived in Ohio for one year prior to the September 1 deadline, and must remain in the state throughout the grant period.

Artists may submit only one application per calendar year, unless applying in the Criticism discipline, in which a second application for a separate body of work may be submitted.

Past Individual Excellence Award recipients are not eligible to apply at the next calendar deadline. Past work that resulted in an Individual Excellence Award may not be resubmitted at future deadlines; resubmission of funded work will result in disqualification from the review process. Students enrolled in a degree- or certificate-granting program are ineligible to apply.

NOTE: Up to two artists who worked together to create a body of work, and who plan to continue working together, may apply collaboratively, with each artist retaining creative ownership of the completed artwork. If awarded an Individual Excellence Award, the collaborative applicants split the award equally. Collaborative artists must each submit an application with the same narrative on each application, but only one should submit a complete set of required support materials.

HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS: Individual Excellence Awards recognize the exceptional merit of an Ohio artist’s past body of work. Awards celebrate the creativity and imagination that exemplify the highest level of achievement in a particular artistic discipline. Awards may be used for a variety of expenses related to an artist’s growth and development. Awards may not be used for continuing a degree-granting program and recipients must remain in the state during the grant year.