Writing Grants and Proposals to Support an Art Practice

Artists are asked to write proposals for a variety of opportunities – grants, residencies, and exhibitions. This workshop is a deep dive into proposal and grant writing. These opportunities elevate your practice, provide exciting new avenues for advancing your career, and offer funding to support your materials and travel.

Participants will learn about the basic components of any artist proposal, including work samples, budgets, and the narrative. Artists are encouraged to bring samples of their artwork, gaining feedback, and learning more about the strengths in their work and how best to write about it. Engage in exercises focused on framing your narrative, and fine-tune essential components like artist statements and biographies—integral tools for pursuing grants, solo exhibitions, and various artistic opportunities.

Jennifer Murray is an artist, educator and curator who lives and works in Chicago. She is the executive director of Filter Photo and was previously the director of A+D Gallery, at Columbia College Chicago for eleven years where she organized a broad range of exhibitions in art and design. Murray is an independent curator organizing exhibitions engaging new audiences with emerging artists. She teaches a broad range of topics from photography skills to portfolio development and professional practices for emerging artists. She is an instructor at Loyola University Chicago and an independent artists' consultant and mentor working with artists on project development and exhibition preparation. Murray received an MFA in photography from Columbia College Chicago in 2002.

Notebook and/or laptop

Writing tools

Participants can bring physical pieces of artwork to share or digital files. For digital files, please bring images on a flash drive or external hard drive that can connect to a Mac computer or store them in your preferred cloud service like Dropbox or Google Drive. Please be prepared to sign into your cloud storage account with the instructor’s computer to retrieve them for sharing with the group.