Collections-Related Grants

The Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation offers Collections-Related Grants for Nonprofits, aimed at enhancing public interest in art through innovative projects. Grants support exhibitions, academic convenings, research, and catalog publication, focusing on art from the Spanish Americas, digital media, and more. The foundation prioritizes proposals from 501(c)(3) organizations in the U.S., particularly from New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, fostering partnerships that advance art scholarship and cultural engagement.

Collections-Related Grants for Nonprofits
The Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation provides a variety of grants related to our art collections for individuals and nonprofits. Through these programs, we seek to heighten public interest and awareness, fuel innovative scholarship, and promote dynamic partnerships in the fields of art and art history.
The Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation provides grants to nonprofit organizations whose innovative projects and original ideas will provide promising insights into the fields of art which we collect: Art of the Spanish Americas, Digital & Media Art, Japanese Bamboo, and Post-War Painting & Sculpture. We also welcome requests pertaining to the arts and culture of the American Southwest.
Grant Categories
The projects we support through our Collections-Related Grants for Nonprofits fall within one or more of the following categories:

• Exhibitions

We welcome the opportunity to become an early funder of landmark exhibitions that relate to our collections, and which significantly raise the public profile of those genres while also advancing art historical scholarship. Exhibition funding can include:

• development, scholarship, construction, outreach, traveling costs, admissions subsidies, and more.
• Convenings

To encourage scholarly debate and dialogue, we fund academic conferences and workshops that will significantly advance the fields of art scholarship related to our collections. We urge applicants to familiarize themselves with industry standards for honoraria and per diems in advance of creating a convening budget.
Academic
Research, travel, manuscript development, hiring research assistants, equipment, etc. to support original scholarship related to our collection areas. Academic projects should culminate in a clear final deliverable such as a book manuscript or peer-reviewed article. For potential partners working in university settings, a letter stating our policy on funding indirect costs is available on our Grantee Resources page.
Exhibition Catalog Support
In conjunction with our exhibition support, we are pleased to support development, research, and publication costs associated with museum catalogs relating to artists in our collection.
As of January 2022, our previous Publication Grant program is currently on hold while we reevaluate our strategic priorities.
Before submitting your application, please read our Criteria for Collections-Related Nonprofit Grants and FAQ page.

Eligibility

We accept applications during three yearly grant cycles for bold proposals that align with our collections areas and artists. 501(c)(3) organizations, fiscally sponsored organizations, and university departments are welcome to apply.Although we fund projects from across the United States, we are particularly interested in receiving proposals from our target regions. In the U.S., this includes Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, with particular emphasis on rural and nonmetro institutions and organizations from within those states.For projects related to our Art of the Spanish Americas collection, we also occasionally fund international projects.