What We Do
The American Art Program (AAP) primarily supports projects focused on the visual arts (painting, sculpture, graphic arts, installation, etc.) of the United States of America and its occupied territories. However, because the definition of “American art” evolves over time, the AAP is mindful of and responsive to expanding definitions of personal and national identities in art, scholarship, and museums. AAP encompasses expressions of Indigenous cultural expression, concepts, forms, and traditions that may cross official national borders and aspires to define American art increasingly more hemispherically, as opportunities and resources permit.
AAP remains committed to supporting innovative projects related to pre-modern (e.g. pre-contact, Colonial, Republic) American art, and as it understands American identity and creative expression to be intertwined with global diasporic narratives. AAP also prioritizes the promotion of underrepresented artists and stories, in pre-modern as well as modern and contemporary art.
Note that AAP does not underwrite commissioned or site-specific works and does not extend grants directly to artists. Likewise, the AAP does not underwrite film, video art, dance, or theatrical performances.
Jaune Quick-to-See-Smith (1940 – 2025) State Names, 2000 oil, collage and mixed media on canvas Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Elizabeth Ann Dugan and museum purchase In “Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Memory Map,” Whitney Museum of American Art, April 19–August 13, 2023; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX, October 15, 2023–January 7, 2024. Courtesy the estate of the artist and Garth Greenan Gallery, New York.
Our Partners
AAP partners include museums, academic institutions, libraries, and archives, as well as non-collecting arts organizations that organize visual art exhibitions or otherwise advance art historical scholarship. Exhibition projects can be accompanied by catalogues and public programming, which AAP can also support. AAP can also support staffing opportunities at institutions with capacity for mentorship.
Our partners must be registered as 501(c)(3)s. Nonprofit organizations outside the United States may submit a full proposal once invited if they have a U.S. fiscal sponsor with 501(c)(3) status, or if they complete an equivalency determination through NGOsource.
