FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 18, 2006

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS about the 2006 Revised Fellowship Categories

1. Why has Artist Trust changed the Artist Trust/WSAC Fellowship categories?

Artist Trust’s Fellowship categories have not been updated for over a decade and upon review do not best reflect the submissions received over recent grant cycles. After conducting a number of artist focus groups, surveys, and consultations with peer granting organizations—including New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), Creative Capital, PEW Fellowships in the Arts, and our partners at the Washington State Arts Commission—it was recognized that the program could better include categories that would encourage applications from all generative artists in Washington State. Artist Trust has modified and revised our Fellowship categories to reflect these findings.

2. Why has Theatre and Dance been conflated under Performing Arts?

As in the Visual Arts category, Performing Arts now reflects a broader definition of performance-based contemporary art practices and encourages applications from artists working in performance art, costume and set design, as well as choreography, movement-based performance, theatre performance, and playwriting.

3. What if I previously applied in the Design category?

Artist Trust has historically received very few applicants in this category (only ten during our last Fellowship cycle). Costume and set design have been included within a revised Performing Arts category while graphic design and illustration artists can apply in Visual Arts, and architectural and/or environmental design artists can apply in Emerging & Cross-Disciplinary Arts.

4. Why is Music not included in Performing Arts?

Music Arts is better articulated to align with Artist Trust Fellowship selection criteria as applicants must be generative and composition-based to apply in the Music Arts category. It is now clearly articulated as a composition-based category not a performance-based category.

5. Why add Traditional & Folk Arts as a category?

While artists working in traditional and folk art mediums have indeed previously applied in such categories as Craft, Music, or Visual Arts, the number of Traditional & Folk Arts applicants has been remarkably low for Artist Trust grant cycles and does not best reflect the varied makeup of artistic communities around the State. Furthermore, this new funding category allows for Traditional & Folk artists to apply in a category that will be reviewed by a panel of peers and experts specific to this category.

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