Fellowship 2025–2026

2025–2026 A.I.R. GALLERY FELLOWSHIP APPLICATION
 

A 12-month professional development and solo exhibition opportunity for emerging and underrepresented women and non-binary artists.

ELIGIBILITY:

     In order to be eligible for the A.I.R. Fellowship program you must:
 

• Be a woman or non-binary artist.
• Be 18 years of age or older.
• Be a resident of New York City, adjoining counties, or the Hudson Valley (Putnam, Dutchess, and Ulster counties). (September 2025–August 2026)
• Not have had a solo exhibition at a permanent venue in NYC in the last 5 years.
• Not be a student or enrolled in any degree-seeking program at the time of the program. (September 2025–August 2026)
• Not be participating in a comparable development, fellowship, or residency program during the Fellowship. (September 2025–August 2026)
• Not be a current member, employee, or board member of A.I.R. Gallery and must never have had a solo show at A.I.R. Gallery.
• Not be a Fellowship alum. 

 
     Not sure if you qualify? Check our frequently asked questions page for more info.

A Fellowship Program Info Session will be held on Thursday, August 29 at 6 PM ET via Zoom. 

To register, click here.

Artists awarded the A.I.R. Fellowship will receive a solo exhibition at the gallery, development workshops led by professionals in the field, a one-on-one studio visit with one of the review panelists, an artist-mentor at A.I.R. Gallery to work with throughout the program, and much more. Fellowship artists are expected to commit to participation in the program and the A.I.R. community by attending events and workshops.


WORK SAMPLES

To apply, please submit five unique work samples. Two of these samples must be images. The other three can be images, videos, or audio files. All work samples must have been completed within the past three years (from 2021 onward).


IMAGE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES  

• 72ppi, JPG, RGB files only.
• Images must not exceed 5 MB in size.
• Images MUST be oriented properly (ex: top of the image is up).
• All file names must be labeled with Title, Year, Medium, Dimensions (H x W x D), i.e. Untitled 2, 2022, Acrylic on canvas, 14x14 inches.jpg. Please DO NOT INCLUDE YOUR NAME IN THE FILE NAME.
• You must fill in all fields and upload all 5 images in order for your application to be complete.

 
VIDEO SUBMISSION GUIDELINES 

• Video samples must not exceed 1 minute in length and 100 MB in size.
• Video submissions must be original, time-based artworks (i.e. a clip from a video or film, or performance documentation). Please NO "behind the scenes" or "personal statement" videos.
• Video must be submitted as .MOV or MP4 format.
• Video credits must not contain the artist's name.
• All file names must be labeled with Title, Year, Medium, Duration, i.e. Untitled 2, 2022, digital video, 15 minutes.mp4.

 
ADDITIONAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES 

• All questions should be answered to the best of your ability.
• Please submit CVs and artist statements in PDF format ONLY.
• THIS IS AN ANONYMOUS REVIEW. Absolutely none of the submitted materials may include the artist's name or other identifying information (i.e. email address, phone number, or mailing address); the artist's name may not appear in the file name or body of images, statements, CVs, or any other submitted files. If a submitted file contains or is titled with the artist's name, the submission will be disqualified and the artist will not be permitted to re-apply until the next Fellowship cycle. 
• Any application that does not adhere to our guidelines will be automatically disqualified.
• No hyperlinks (i.e. to a personal website, Dropbox folder, etc.) allowed. Work samples must be uploaded directly to Submittable.

 

SELECTION PROCESS

  Each year, a rigorous selection review is conducted by a panel of three outside curators, critics, and established artists. Through a multi-round process, artists are selected based on the quality of and commitment to their work. A final interview and selection is made by A.I.R. New York Artists. A mandatory in-person interview is held prior to being accepted to the program. The A.I.R. Fellowship Program is open to artists working in all media and is intended to support those who could most benefit from the opportunities that the program offers.  Six artists will be awarded a Fellowship. This year's panelists are critic Media Farzin, artist Gavilán Rayna Russom, and curator Lanka Tattersall.

A.I.R. Gallery reserves the right to omit any applications that do not meet our specifications.

     If for any reason you do not get an email confirmation from Submittable after applying, please email info@airgallery.org. All applicants will be notified by APRIL 2025. Because of the large volume of applications we receive, we are unable to respond to individual inquiries regarding the status of applications.