Eligibility

Who Can Apply

• We encourage all artists of any discipline including visual artists, choreographers, composers, poets, and curators or activists who reside in New York State. The final project will be included in Nueva Luz in print and digital. 
• We seek archivists, photographers, sculptors, writers, new media artists, dancers, actors, playwrights, musicians, filmmakers, fashion designers, craft artists, podcasters, poets, DJ’s, muralists, graphic artist, installation artists, sound artists, graphic designers, multimedia visual artists and more may apply.
• Collaborating artists are eligible to apply, but only one artist can submit the application.
• Must be a New York State resident and must show proof of residency.
• Must be at least 18 years of age.

Who Can Not Apply

• Graduate or Undergraduate students matriculated in an arts or related degree program at the time of application submission.
• En Foco’s Board members and staff are ineligible to apply.
• 2023 Fellowship and Media Arts recipients may not apply this year.

Submission Requirements

1. Create or use an existing account with submittable.com
2. A written description of your intended project (Minimum of 300 words) and how it involves or relates to the Nueva Luz Study Center. What about the Nueva Luz Archive interests you? Which era, theme, or issue speaks to you, and how does it tie back to the commissioned work? 
3. Identify how the $1,000 production expenses are intended to be spent. 
4. A one-page resume/CV
5. 150-word biography.
6. Headshot (300 dpi)
7. Brief Artist statement (100-word or less)
8. 3-5 work samples that support your proposed idea.

Accepted files: PDF documents (up to 10MB each), images (jpg or png; up to 5 MB each), video (mov or mp4; up to 250MB each, or link to embedded files on YouTube or Vimeo), sound files, and links to social media.

The application form does not have to be completed in a single session; the system will save your draft application. We suggest you save often as you fill out the form and save a copy of any narrative texts.

Selection Criteria

• Contributes to an existing idea, artist and/or theme based in the Nueva Luz archives. 
• Presents a clear concept that can be realized by the applicant.
• Demonstrates the ability to complete the project within time and allotted financial resources.
• Presents a clear project budget with appropriate costs related to the final outcome.
• All application requirements are complete.

Selection Process

Proposals will be selected exclusively on the clarity and quality of the proposal submitted using the criteria above. All proposals will be reviewed by a panel that includes creators working in various disciplines, curators, writers and people who are experienced working with archives.

Award Notification

The three commissioned recipients, and all other applicants will be notified by email in early fall.

En Foco reserves the rights to use final artworks for marketing/promotional and educational purposes. Participating artists will be asked to sign a contract that defines the mutual rights and usage of final artworks.

ABOUT EN FOCO

En Foco is a non-profit organization that nurtures and supports contemporary fine art and documentary photographers of diverse cultures, primarily U.S. residents of Latino, African, and Asian Heritage, and Native Peoples of the Americas and Pacific Islanders. Since it was founded in 1974, En Foco has been an outspoken leader and advocate for equitable support and access to resources for photographers of color. It has distinguished itself through its sustained commitment to providing its primary constituency and the communities they represent financial support, public programming, information services, and cultural advocacy initiatives.

En Foco is supported in part with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature. Additional support is provided by The Joy of Giving Something, Inc., the New York Community Trust, the Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation, Mellon Foundation, and the Ford Foundation. 

ABOUT NUEVA LUZ STUDY CENTER

Nueva Luz Study Center is En Foco’s hub for information about its rich history.  It includes access to the digital database programming to make these resources accessible to a wide array of people.

To access the Study Center, please visit: https://enfoco.org/study-center