MacColl Johnson Fellowship Program Grant

The MacColl Johnson Fellowship Program, managed by the Rhode Island Foundation in collaboration with the Alliance of Artists Communities, offers up to three $30,000 fellowships annually for emerging and mid-career Rhode Island writers. This fellowship, established in 2003, aims to support artistic development in the literary field. Eligible candidates must demonstrate residency and artistic promise. Applications are accepted for various written genres, emphasizing the submission of recent work to showcase current artistic practice.

The Rhode Island Foundation is employing the Alliance of Artists Communities, an independent international association, to manage applications and the jury process for The Robert and Margaret MacColl Johnson Fellowships.
The Robert and Margaret MacColl Johnson Fellowship Fund, established at the Rhode Island Foundation in 2003, provides up to three $30,000 artist fellowships each year, rotating among composers, writers, and visual artists on a three-year cycle.
The 2024 MacColl Johnson Fellowships will be awarded to emerging and mid-career writers in Rhode Island.

Eligibility

State Residency:Applicants must be Rhode Island residents 12 months prior to the application deadline, at the time of submitting the application, and during the period of the fellowship. If recommended for a Fellowship, applicants will be required to provide two (2) documents as proof of residency.
Disciplines / Genre: Applications are accepted for original work in fiction, non-fiction, poetry (including spoken word), playwriting, screenwriting, and other experimental/new-genre written forms.
Career Stage: Though the Fellowships are not awarded by career stage categories, applicants must demonstrate that they are within the range of an emerging to mid-career stage in their artistic profession, regardless of age. To assist applicants in determining if they are within this range, The Foundation defines the eligible career stages as follows:
Emerging Artists are considered to be in the early years of their professional careers, which may include having recently undertaken a career change to a significant artistic practice.
An emerging artist:

• demonstrates at least 3 years of professional practice and currently is creating independent work;
• demonstrates promising artistic development and may have attracted some early critical notice, but does not yet have an extensive record of recognition;
• has produced an elemental yet substantive body of work and has an accruing record of publication, public performances, and other presentations of work.
• Mid-career artists are those who have created an independent body of work over a number of years and have received some regional or national recognition.
• A mid-career artist:
• demonstrates at least 7 years of a sustained professional practice and is currently producing work;
• has produced an accruing body of work that demonstrates artistic exploration and development;

has received some regional and/or national recognition, but is not substantially established in the field, or has had substantial professional recognition at an earlier career stage.  This year, the fellowships are for Rhode Island-based writers. If you're a Rhode Island-based visual artist, you can apply in 2025; if you're a Rhode Island-based composer, you can apply in 2026.The fellowships are for individual artists. You are welcome to apply using work created collaboratively but make sure you explain the degree to which it represents your individual work in your Work Sample Index.Work Samples:You may submit a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 3 work samples. You are encouraged to submit your strongest work created within the past five years.
You may upload all your work samples in Submittable, provide URL web links to each of your work samples, or a combination of the two.
Maximum page limits per genre:

• Fiction, Literary Nonfiction, or Experimental Literary Forms: 4000 - 6000 words.
• Playwrights and screenwriters: 20-page excerpt of completed play or script.
• Poetry: 10 - 12 pages

Ineligibility

Established Artists: Established artists are not eligible. They are defined as having reached the mature stage of their careers and advanced levels of achievement.
An established artist:

• has a record of at least 15 years of a continuous and sustained professional artistic practice;

demonstrates a history of regional, national, and/or international professional recognition through commissions, critical reviews, performances, grant awards, residencies, fellowships, and/or productions; and
produces work that is regarded to have measurable critical and/or commercial value.
Previous Awardees: Previous awardees of the fellowship are not eligible; however, previous finalists/semi-finalists may apply again.
Students: Applicants who are high-school students or who are undergraduate or graduate college students enrolled in a degree-granting program, at the time of application or during the period of the fellowship, are not eligible.