Instructions and Application
This application form and all materials related to your APF application will be treated confidentially and will not be shared beyond the APF program without your explicit permission.
Required Application Materials
If you would like to apply for an Artist Protection Fund fellowship, you must submit the following required materials in the online application portal.
Completion of the Online Application
- Personal Information / Biographical Data
- An Artist Statement. Please discuss your artistic background and process and explain what projects you might undertake during a fellowship. Please note that artist statements are generally a maximum of one page.
- A Personal Statement (Statement of Threat). Please explain why you are applying to the Artist Protection Fund for support. Include a clear account of the threats or risks that you have been facing. Please note that personal statements are generally a maximum of one page.
- Current CV or resume. Please include the following information:
- Educational background
- Current position (location, dates of tenure, professional title & responsibilities);
- Previous positions (in chronological order: location, dates of tenure, professional title & responsibilities);
- List of recent exhibitions, performances, productions, publications, etc.;
- Other relevant work (including, artist presentations, grants/honors/awards, artistic/professional affiliations).
- Two (2) professional letters of reference from creative professionals who can speak to your artistic practice, exhibitions, publications, teaching or other advanced artistic experience. Reference letters must be on an official letterhead or accompanied by the referee’s CV, resume, or bio.
- Two (2) personal letters of reference from colleagues or people who are aware of the difficulties that you have been facing. These letters can also include artistic merit. Reference letters must be on official letterhead or accompanied by the referee’s CV, resume, or bio.
- APF requires four (4) original reference letters. Multiple letters should not include identical text.
- Letters from colleagues both inside and outside of your home country are preferred.
- Each referee should indicate their relationship to you and speak to their specific knowledge of your artistic background and/or circumstances.
- Referees should submit Reference Letters directly via the APF Application Portal or to APF@iie.org. It is the artist-applicant’s responsibility to contact their referees and confirm that all reference letters have been submitted.
- Letters of reference must be addressed to the Artist Protection Fund, and they must be current letters with the date indicated. General letters written for other programs and earlier dates are not accepted.
- Reference letters on letterhead are strongly preferred. If the referee is a freelance worker who does not have an institutional affiliation or letterhead, a CV or resume will be requested for verification.
- Professional letters of reference, cannot be from your immediate family members and/or friends. Your personal letters of reference should be from non-family members who can address the difficulties and threats you are facing, as well as your artistic merit.
*If you have submitted an online application and meet the APF program qualifications, you will be contacted for more information and asked to submit portfolio materials.
Required Portfolio Materials
If you are contacted to submit portfolio materials, you must also include:
- Updated Artist Statement
- Updated Personal Statement
- Updated Artistic CV/Resume
- Work Sample List for the work you will submit
- Materials: See below submission requirements for each artistic discipline
Ten (10) images of your work created in the last five years. Maximum height or width: 1240 pixels, file format: .jpg, resolution: 72 dpi, maximum file size: 5MB.
Ten (10) images of your work created in the last five years OR five (5) images and five (5) video/audio samples. *If you work mostly in video and/or sound, you are not required to submit images.
- Images: Maximum height or width: 1240 pixels, file format: .jpg, resolution: 72 dpi, maximum file size: 5MB.
- Video/Audio: Five (5) separate samples from different works, totaling no more than 10-minutes. (You may submit a link to the full version of the work in your work sample list.)
Two (2) to five (5) different projects created in the last five years. If running time exceeds ten (10) minutes, you should include a five (5) minute excerpt. (You may submit a link to the full version of the work in your work sample list.)
- Two (2) samples totaling no more than 10-minutes;
- A selection of excerpts from two (2) works edited together and totaling no more than 10- minutes;
- Up to five (5) separate samples from different works, totaling no more than 10-minutes.
- Fiction / Non-Fiction Writers and Poets
- One chapter or selection from a book published in the last five (5) years (maximum 15-pages in length). If none of your work is published in English, we will make every effort to provide basic translations to the reviewers. If possible, please provide either a translation or summary of the work in English and indicate who did the translation.
- Playwrights
- A selection from a play produced in the past five (5) years (maximum 15-pages in length). If online videos exist of your play on stage, we encourage you to share the links in your application materials. If none of your work is published in English, we will make every effort to provide basic translations to the reviewers. If possible, please provide either a translation or summary of the work in English and indicate who did the translation.
- Composers
- A score and an audio file copy of that score completed in the past five (5) years. Please note that applicants who would like the reviewers to listen to something other than the first ten minutes of a submitted work sample should provide an additional note to indicate the piece you would like to highlight. (You may submit a link to the full version of the work in your work sample list.)
- Musicians
- Up to five (5) audio and/or video samples completed in the past five (5) years. Please note that applicants who would like the reviewers to listen to something other than the first ten minutes of a submitted work sample should provide an additional note to indicate the piece you would like to highlight. (You may submit a link to the full version of the work in your work sample list.)