The Met: Interdisciplinary Fellowship Grant

The Met: Interdisciplinary Fellowship Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Metropolitan Museum Of Art
Amount: Up to US $63,000
Last Updated: September 02, 2025

Summary

The Met's Interdisciplinary Fellowship promotes innovative research across various disciplines, inviting scholars from diverse backgrounds to engage with the Museum's extensive collections. This one-year program supports independent projects that transcend traditional boundaries, fostering collaboration among departments. Applicants must hold or pursue advanced degrees in arts, humanities, or social sciences, demonstrating excellence and project feasibility. With stipends of up to $57,000, the fellowship aims to enrich the scholarly community and explore connections between visual arts and other fields.

Overview

Mission Statement The Metropolitan Museum of Art collects, studies, conserves, and presents significant works of art across time and cultures in order to connect all people to creativity, knowledge, ideas, and one another. Fellowships Applicants come from diverse backgrounds and nationalities and vary widely in their perspectives and training. Each year, The Met creates a close knit community of scholars whose individual interests collectively illuminate the Museum's collection of artworks spanning 5,000 years of human creativity. Exploring new avenues of research in the history of art and visual culture, education, public practice, and critical theory, fellows expand, challenge, and actively redefine the very limits and purview of these disciplines by introducing fresh ideas drawn from philosophy, anthropology, museum studies, historiography, conservation, and the material sciences. Interdisciplinary Fellowship This one-year fellowship is part of the Museum's History of Art and Visual Culture Fellowship program and is intended as an independent research project. The fellowship encourages cross departmental projects that explore connections between various cultures and collections in the Museum and that go beyond traditional boundaries, bridging the visual arts and other disciplines in the humanities, social sciences, performing arts, and fine arts. Fellows may explore connections between public practice, education, and the humanities, relating but not limited to curriculum development, gallery teaching, and interpretation. The project should relate to and make use of the Museum's resources, including its collections, libraries, archives, and programs. Fellowship applications integrating independent research projects and artistic practice are welcome. However, since the Museum has a separate program for artist residencies, the Interdisciplinary Fellowship is not intended to culminate in an exhibition, installation, or public program, nor can the Museum provide studio space for fellows. The fellow will work with one or more supervisors and mentors across department areas, and will have the opportunity to work closely with other members of the professional staff and as part of the larger community of fellows at The Met. The fellow is invited to participate in the annual Fellows Colloquia to share research results. Fellowship Period The fellowship period is September 1 through August 31. All fellowships must take place within this period. All fellows must be in residence at The Met for the entirety of their 12-month fellowship period. Funding Junior fellows receive a stipend of $47,000. Senior fellows receive a stipend of $57,000. Both junior and senior fellows also receive up to an additional $6,000 for travel (maximum of six weeks).

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. The fellowship is open to candidates holding either an MA or MFA, or currently pursuing or holding a PhD in the arts, humanities, or social sciences. Eligible fields may include but are not limited to: anthropology, archaeology, history, literature, medicine, philosophy, psychology, political science, ethnic studies, sociology, gender studies, religion, education, film studies, and performance (music, dance, theater, etc.).Applicants should demonstrate the following:Excellent achievement and potential for future achievementRealistic project goals that will be accomplished within the fellowship periodProject goals that make innovative or original use of the Museum's collection and resources or engage with its institutional practices, history, and culture, with particular reference to crossing traditional disciplinary boundariesAbility to work collaboratively in a team environmentExcellent communication and organizational skillsThe Fellowship Program is open to and regularly hosts international scholars. However, due to changes in travel and visa restrictions, which have fluctuated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Museum cannot guarantee that international scholars will be able to travel to New York for the fellowship period. Please consult the U.S. Department of State and New York State websites for updates on the current status of international and interstate travel. While we will make reasonable efforts to accommodate future unforeseen changes, we are unable to modify program dates on an individual basis.Applicants may only apply for one type of fellowship per application cycle. The only exception to this is the History of Art and Visual Culture Fellowship, which can be applied to concurrently with the Leonard A. Lauder Fellowship and the Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellowship.

Ineligibility

We are unable to accept proposals for exhibitions, symposia, or similar programs. Applications in which such a project is the major objective of the proposal will be disqualified.