The Clyfford Still Museum (CSM) invites applications for its new residential fellowship program. Six Fellows will be selected to engage the Museum and its collections in Denver, July 1-31, 2025.
About the Clyfford Still and CSM
Clyfford Still forged a path that was radically different from his peers. At the height of his success, he elected to represent his own interests instead of relying upon the art market. He held on to over 93% of everything he made and entrusted this corpus to an unnamed American city. The Clyfford Still Museum opened its doors in 2011 after his widow, Patricia Still, selected the City and County of Denver to be the home for the estate. Over the course of the first decade, the Museum offered the public a glimpse at Still’s artistic achievement, housed in an architectural marvel. As it embarks on its second decade, the Clyfford Still Museum asks how else we might draw strength from this gift.
Areas of Focus
CSM will offer fellowships in the following categories:
Studio Art
The Fellow will pursue studio practice that would benefit from research on and engagement with CSM’s collection and/or archives.
Art History or Criticism
The Fellow will deeply study CSM’s collections and archives in order to illuminate the historical and philosophical stakes of Still’s art and writings; to bring his work in vibrant conversation with the work of his peers as well as those of subsequent generations; and/or find critical resonance between his work and that of contemporary artists.
Early Childhood Education
The Fellow will develop projects that would benefit from and contribute to the practices in early childhood education pursued by the Learning and Engagement team at CSM. Proposed projects would advance the development of new possibilities at the intersections of art museums, education, and early learning.
Social Enterprise
The Fellow will thoroughly investigate financial frameworks suitable for nonprofits and social enterprises, such as our own, that support the freedom of innovation. This pursuit was highly valued in Still’s philosophy and is essential to the future Clyfford Still Museum’s success.
Qualifications
We invite proposals for projects that engage CSM staff, collections, and programs and align with one of the four stated focus areas. Applicants must meet the following criteria:
- a U.S. citizen or permanent resident of the United States;
- at least 25 years old by June 1 in the application year
Application Process
Submit applications by January 31 to jobs@clyffordstillmuseum.org with “The Institute” included in the subject line and include the following:
- Application Cover Sheet (download, fill out, and return with application)
- Project Proposal – maximum of two pages that addresses:
- Project title and description (200 words)
- How the project engages CSM resources
- How the work completed at CSM might be disseminated on its own or as part of a longer project (for example, research conducted during the four weeks might appear as a publication, presentation, or completed artwork in the future)
- How the project advances the fellow’s professional trajectory
- Three-minute video presentation of the project – On your phone or computer, record yourself presenting to the selection committee on your project. Attach a file if less than 10MB or include a link to download the file from a transfer service (WeTransfer, Dropbox, Hightail, etc.) with your application. Add your name to the video file before you send it.
- Professional CV or Resume
- Work sample
- Artists should include a PDF with five examples of work.
- Scholars and researchers might include a single published text no more than 20 pages long.
- Educators might include examples of curricula, a single published text of no more than 20 pages, or program descriptions.
- Social enterprise Fellows might include a business plan or pitch deck.
- Contact information for three professional references
- Literature review / Market research (3 sources) – please identify three studies or enterprises that your proposed project draws from, stands in conversation with, or would expand upon. Alternatively, identify three works or archival sources you seek to focus your project on from the Clyfford Still Museum collections. This review offers us a better sense of how this project links to different disciplinary backgrounds and the resources we have to share.
Selection Process
A committee of staff and external advisors will review the proposals. Candidates will be invited for an online interview in February or March. Candidates will be notified by March 31, 2025.
Fellowship Award Terms
The Museum will provide Fellows with the following:
- $4,000 honorarium
- Round-trip economy class travel to and from Denver
- Housing in Denver during the program & workspace appropriate to the proposed project. CSM will accommodate the accessibility needs of all Fellows.
- Fellows will participate in a roundtable discussion of the work they did during their time at the Institute.
Additional questions may be sent to jobs@clyffordstillmuseum.org.
**By accepting this fellowship, you agree to have images and videos taken for promotional purposes, to be interviewed on camera about your experience, to present your project at a public roundtable event, and to have the presentation recorded. The roundtable event recording will be shared via YouTube.
Institute Information Sessions
Do you have questions about the 2025 Institute Residential Fellowship? Please attend one of our upcoming information sessions to learn more. We will host two virtual information sessions and one in-person session at the Museum. Please sign up to attend one of the Zoom sessions or use the form below to sign up for the in-person session:
- Virtual Information Session 1: 5 p.m. MST on Tuesday, January 7
- Virtual Information Session 2: 10 a.m. MST on Wednesday, January 8
- In-person Information Session: 4 p.m. on Friday, January 10 at the Clyfford Still Museum (enter your information below and sign up to attend this session)