The XENO PRIZE for Performance Arts Grant

The XENO PRIZE for Performance Arts Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Franklin Furnace Fund
Amount: US $5,000
Last Updated: February 19, 2026

Summary

The XENO PRIZE for Performance Arts, awarded by Franklin Furnace, supports early-career LGBTQ+-identifying performance artists creating new work in 26 states with restrictive gender-affirming laws. This annual prize, established in 2023, offers $5000 to a selected recipient from proposals submitted for the Franklin Furnace FUND for Performance Art. The deadline for submissions is April 1, 2025, encouraging innovative voices in the contemporary performance art landscape.

Overview

The XENO PRIZE for Performance Art and Artists’ Books In pursuit of its mission to present, preserve, interpret, educate and advocate on behalf of avant-garde art, especially forms that may be vulnerable due to institutional neglect, cultural bias, their ephemeral nature, or politically unpopular content, Franklin Furnace has since 2023 offered the annual XENO Prizes for Performance Art and Artists’ Books, named in honor of xenophiles, people who appreciate all people and cultures. The 2025 XENO PRIZE for Performance Art recipient will be selected from among proposals for the 2025-26 Franklin Furnace FUND for Performance Art (deadline April 1, 2025), to receive $5000 in support of new work by an early-career LGBTQ+-identifying performance artist working in one of the 26 United States where, according to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, laws and policies restrict gender-affirming care.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. States include: AL, AR, AZ, FL, GA, IA, ID, IN, KY, LA, MO, MS, MT, NC, NE, ND, NH, OK, OH, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, WV, WY.Eligible ArtistsFranklin Furnace FUND for Performance Art supported artists are early career generative non-student performance artists who actively generate new original work. Eligible artists and collectives must meet all of the descriptors listed below.Career StatusEarly career performance artists who have yet to be substantially celebrated within their field, the media, funding circles, or the public at large and are in the early stages of their creative development.Student StatusAre NOT participating in any degree granting programs in any field including k-12, undergraduate, or graduate programs.Vocation StatusVocational Artists focused on generating new artwork.Authorship StatusArtists who actively generate new work and claim creative authorship and creative control in the creation of new work.

Ineligibility

Ineligible artists and collectives:Career StatusMid- / late- career OR established in any arts discipline.Student StatusAre or will be students enrolled in degree-granting programs during the grant period.Vocation StatusAcademic, amateur, educational, avocational, or hobby artists or managers administrators, builders, or technicians without a history of generating new artwork.Authorship StatusArtists who Interpret, perform, critique, report on, edit, or design the work of others (e.g., singers, musicians, screenwriters, dancers, actors, instrumentalists, vocalists, arrangers, editors, journalists, designers in sets/lights/costumes /sound, or critics) but do not generate new work.