Creative Capital provides grants to support the creation of groundbreaking art by innovative and adventurous artists across the country through our national, open call process. Grants are awarded through an annual competition open to citizens, permanent residents, and O-1 visa holders of the United States. Candidates must apply to Creative Capital in order to be considered.

We are committed to funding and supporting conceptually and formally challenging, risk-taking, never-before-seen projects. Creative Capital receives more than 4,000 applications annually and funds approximately 50 artists each year. More than 75% of our awardees in recent years have been artists of color—including Black, Latinx, Asian, and Indigenous artists—of all ages, abilities, and regions across the United States.
Innovation is our primary selection criterion, and our focus on championing groundbreaking projects and ideas distinguishes Creative Capital from other granting organizations. While selecting projects that are genre-stretching and adventurous is at the core of our mission, we welcome multidisciplinary projects as well as projects that push boundaries within a single genre. All applications are reviewed by external reviewers who are scholars, curators, artists, past awardees, and experts in the field. The final recommendations for the awards are reviewed and then ratified by our Board. Awardees are announced in January. Under no circumstances will the reasons for the rejection of an application be provided.

Awardees receive direct project funding in varying amounts up to $50,000, advisory services, and a community of fellow awardees and other professionals who may provide additional support for the project. We encourage a spirit of mutual generosity among our awardees and seek to foster exchange through our artist gatherings. Over the course of a funded project, we partner with each artist to help define critical moments of development and determine how to best meet their goals. Creative Capital has helped hundreds of artists realize their projects since our inception in 1999.