What the program offers and entails

Each fellow will receive a $1,000 stipend to support creative work and the opportunity to propose supported/paid events, workshops, or classes (virtual or in-person). The cohort of 6–8 fellows will develop their projects and build meaningful creative relationships through supportive and productive work-sharing, learning, and time spent in discussion. Fellows also get personalized connections to our network of exceptional alumni and mentors, who are leading editors, curators, publishers, critics, theatre professionals, artists, etc. NJCF alumni can also apply for additional project funding. NJCF has existing (and is developing new) partnerships with major cultural institutions, and we’re excited to make connections that are appropriate for you and your work.

This is an artist-driven fellowship! Your participation is crucial. Fellows will be invited to bring their own pressing questions, lead sessions, facilitate discussion, and participate actively in shaping the course of our work together. 

The monthly chevruta meeting is especially fellow-directed. It’s a chance to build a closer relationship with one other artist in the group to get feedback, study text, co-work, or whatever is most useful for you to do together. Some generative exercises and a format will be offered to start, but each pair will choose how they want to make that time most productive. At least one pair who didn’t know each other before NJCF still consider each other “art spouses” and collaborators almost four years after their cohort ended, and another still meet on Zoom weekly for a creative co-work session. (No guarantees, but it can be a meaningful relationship!)

Time commitment

Meetings will be held on Wednesday evenings from 7pm–9pm est (4pm–6pm pst) from October to June, with holiday breaks. The weekly meetings will be divided into two meetings a month with the whole cohort and director Maia Ipp; one meeting a month with a chevruta/partner; and one meeting a month studying text with Rabbi Matt Green. 

Eligibility 

The best way to get a sense of what we’re excited about is to look at the work of past fellows. NJCF supports early-stage, working artists. We tend toward the formally experimental and are looking for fresh perspectives. 

We want to help you get to your next "big thing"—a major grant or residency, solo performance/bigger venue, book publication, etc. Each year we select 6–8 artists who will benefit most from sustained engagement with their projects and from a cohort experience. There is no specific age range or degree requirement, but fellows have mostly been between ages 25 and 45, and often have MFAs or equivalent professional experience. 

NJCF especially encourages artists whose identities or practices are underrepresented in mainstream Jewish life to apply: trans, BIPOC, post-Soviet, queer, Mizrahi, Sephardi, disabled, OTD, and others. Fellows must be over 21 and live in the United States. Artists currently enrolled in a degree-granting program are not eligible to apply. Because we want to increase access to Jewish institutional support for a broader swath of culture-makers, artists who will be in another Jewish arts/culture fellowship in 2023-24 are not eligible to apply this year. (Email us at info@newjewishculture.org with questions if you’re not certain about your eligibility.) 

Whatever your relationship to Jewishness—“it’s complicated”; “half-”; frum; anti-Zionist; patrilineal; “Jew-ish”; Diasporist; Jubu; cultural; secular; etc.—if you’re interested in pursuing and investigating your work in a Jewish context (and you meet the requirements), you’re eligible. Similarly, your work could focus on esoteric Jewish rituals, your grandmother, little-known Mizrahi music, or forestation in the Zionist project—or it might not engage directly with Jewish themes at all. We believe in an expansive idea of Jewish life and culture. We are interested in work that broadens our collective understanding of what “Jewish art” means.

Applications are reviewed by a committee that includes NJCF program staff, alumni, and accomplished professionals in the field (curators, art writers, arts professionals, etc.). Finalists will be invited to a Zoom interview. All applicants will be notified of their status by the end of September.

What recent fellows have said about their experience: 

“Apply if you want the most dedicated, honest, and genuine crit group of your life.”

“I knew that every week someone thoughtful would be sharing intimate work, mid-process. It was a discovery every meeting.”

“NJCF was supportive from top down, bottom up, and in all directions. What makes this fellowship different is that we were treated as co-facilitators; as people who were here because we had something to contribute. To learn: yes. But also: to contribute. This fellowship was the opposite of paternalistic and it made me feel like I could grow and take risks and I didn’t have to prove that I deserved to be here—that kind of support was baked in from the start.”

“I would want future applicants to know that you don't have to pass a Jewish litmus test to join this fellowship. Judaism is diasporic by its nature, and we all have different experiences with it. Don't count yourself out because you haven't been to Hebrew school.”

“The mix of people you assembled really felt hand-picked to be diverse in all ways (including medium) but also people who are invested [in the process] and going to be good people to each other.”

Application Fee

There will be an $18 application fee when you apply. These fees directly support the application review process. If this fee represents an undue burden for you, please write to info@newjewishculture.org to request an application without a fee requirement.

If you have any questions please contact us at info@newjewishculture.org