Getty Scholars Program Grant

Getty Scholars Program Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: J Paul Getty Trust
Amount: US $21,500 - US $65,000
Last Updated: August 15, 2025

Summary

The Getty Scholars Program fosters innovative research in art history and visual culture by providing a collaborative environment for international scholars. Established in 1985, it supports a diverse cohort focused on an annual theme, offering various fellowship categories for established researchers and emerging scholars. With access to the Getty's extensive resources, residents engage with a vibrant community in Los Angeles. The program also emphasizes the importance of African American art history through targeted fellowships, making significant contributions to the field.

Overview

Getty Scholars Program Supporting a vibrant intellectual community to carry out innovative research in art history and visual culture About Goal: The Getty Scholars Program supports innovative research about art, conceived in the broadest terms, and its histories, by providing a locus for international scholars to forge collaborations across disciplines and professional practices, while also developing new audiences for their work. During their residency, the scholar cohort is immersed in a vibrant local community devoted to the advancement of knowledge and hosted at an institution committed to preserving, understanding, interpreting, and sharing its vast library and collections. Scholars may be in residence at the Getty Center or Getty Villa. Background History: Since 1985, the Getty Scholars Program has hosted around 1,300 residential scholars from over fifty countries to conduct research on topics related to the annual theme while residing in Los Angeles. Selected projects have spanned geographical regions and time periods, from ancient to contemporary eras. Getty receives between 300 and 400 applications each year and awards fellowships to about twenty applicants annually.Structure: A mix of senior scholars and junior fellows are selected for the Scholars Program cohort. The cohort's research projects are focused on an annual theme. The three main grant categories are:Scholar Grants for established researchers and professionals who have held PhDs for at least 5 years and/or possess strong records of publication and professional activity, at the Getty Center or Getty Villa Postdoctoral Fellowships for recently granted PhDs at the Getty Center or Getty Villa Predoctoral Fellowships for PhD candidates at the Getty CenterArtist in Residence: Since 1992 the Getty Research Institute (GRI) has hosted 37 Artists in Residence, providing them with dedicated time and space to develop new creative outputs. The Artist in Residence program puts visual artists in dialogue with researchers, fostering discussions of artistic practice in the creation, exhibition, and interpretation of art, which in turn benefits new scholarship in art history and visual culture. During their nine-month residencies, artists have access to an on-site studio as well as the Getty Library and Special Collections. Through this confluence, the GRI's collections become an integral tool of contemporary artistic practice and activate new directions in research.The Artist in Residence is usually selected by invitation, though we welcome Scholar Grant applications from artists under the annual theme. Annual Theme Extinction African American Art History Initiative (AAAHI) Fellowship:In addition to the annual theme, grants are available under the AAAHI Fellowship. This residential program provides financial support and housing to scholars who are expanding critical inquiry of African American art and its frameworks. As part of the larger scholar year cohort, AAAHI Fellows have opportunities to present their research and receive feedback from an interdisciplinary group of peers. While proposals do not have to address the concurrent annual theme, they may highlight any salient intersections with it. AAAHI will support two fellows to generate new knowledge in the expanding field of African American art history. Projects that propose engagement with Getty’s growing collections of archival and primary source material related to African American art history—particularly post-World War II—are welcome. However, relevance to Getty holdings is not a project requirement. We invite applications from scholars who focus on African American art and visual culture in all time periods and media and in a broad range of theoretical and methodological traditions. Applicants should indicate how their project would align with AAAHI's aim to make African American art history more visible to the public and accessible to the scholarly community worldwide. Terms Scholar Grant recipients at the Getty Center may be in residence from three to nine months and receive varying stipends as detailed below. Amount Three-month residency: September–December/January–March; $21,500 stipend Six-month residency: September–March/January–June; $43,000 stipend Nine-month residency: September–June; $65,000 stipendAAAHI Fellowships are limited to nine-month residencies and are granted $65,000 stipends for established scholars.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Scholar Grant applicants should have received a PhD before the specified date. Applicants from associated fields who do not hold a PhD but have commensurate professional experience will also be considered.Applicants who received their degree after September 1, 2020 should apply for a Postdoctoral Fellowship.After a waiting period of six years, previous Getty Residential Grant recipients in any category are eligible to reapply for another grant in whichever category they are eligible for and interested in.

Ineligibility

Current Getty staff and members of their immediate family are not eligible for Scholar Grants or Pre- and Postdoctoral Fellowships.