Apply for a Grant

Project Grants Eligibility & Guidelines

Support for bold, public-facing visual art projects across Alabama.

The Verdant Fund awards grants of up to $7,000, distributing a total of $60,000 annually. These grants support non-traditional, public-facing visual art projects that take place in Alabama.

Funding is open to individual artists, artist-curators, collectives, and collaboratives. The lead artist must reside in Alabama and maintain a permanent address in the state.

Projects should be artist-driven, occur outside traditional venues (such as museums, galleries or art centers), and include a public-facing or community engagement component.

Suspended steel lantern house installation by Kristen Tordella-Williams
From the project “Home Within” 2026

We prioritize and bolster the perspectives of underrepresented voices—specifically women, artists of color, the LGBTQ community, artists with disabilities, and those living and working within Alabama’s rural landscapes.

We fund innovative, visually driven projects such as:

  • Visual art interventions in public spaces i.e. murals (temporary or permanent) billboards, digital mapping or wrapping
  • Site-specific installation in non-art venues or public spaces (temporary or permanent);
  • Temporary sculpture
  • Artist book-making, zines, or short-run publications (so long as some form of free public access is considered)
  • Fiber arts or craft centered projects that engage community or seek to push the field forward
  • Experimentation in new mediums
  • Socially engaged or ‘Civic Practice’ projects that engage communities in direct collaboration to create culturally relevant projects, or visual art concepts
  • Moving Image, or new media work with a foundation in visual arts
  • Dialog driven practices that contribute to the contemporary art field (podcasts, research projects, critical theory or new forms of art journalism
  • “Non-traditional” creation of space including, but not limited to, unconventional exhibition or program concepts

What We Do Not Fund

  • Projects tied to an art institution (either for or non-profit) as part of their regular programming
  • Projects that exist only behind a paywall or with limited invitation or access
  • Documentary or Narrative Film (that doesn’t contribute significantly to the visual art field)
  • Projects submitted without a lead artist residing in Alabama

Selection Process

Projects will be selected via a panel of field professionals from both inside and outside the State of Alabama. Projects that meet the above qualification are graded on a rubric for Artistic Merit, Social Relevance, Critical Value, Clarity, Feasibility.

Highly graded projects are then selected to prioritize:

  • Under-represented or under-supported artists
  • Need, or likelihood a project will happen without the Verdant Fund
  • Career impact for artists working in the State
  • Overall Contribution to the field, or artistic lexicon of the State
  • Impact in underserved communities, or projects that bring arts access to siloed parts of the State
  • Creation of new work, or exploration of new territory in visual arts

The Verdant Fund invites three jurors (composed of regionally and nationally recognized artists, curators, and arts professionals), who will review the submissions and select the grantees. The Verdant Fund partners – Alabama Contemporary Art Center, the Coleman Center for the Arts, and Space One Eleven – do not determine awardees.

Selection of projects will be announced in December. Projects may commence the following January.

There will be documentation and reporting requirements for funded projects.

Want to learn more about the application?

Check out the FAQ, Attend an information session, download a Sample Application and a Budget Template.

How will Projects Be Reviewed?

All proposals are evaluated based on the following criteria:

  1. Artistic Merit

    • Does this project/proposal show a high level of skill and consideration to form?
    • Is this project/proposal non-traditional, public-facing, and/or does it seek to innovate within the field of contemporary visual arts?

  2. Equity + Relevance

    • Is this my story to tell? Is this project appropriate for the current cultural moment?
    • Does this project/proposal represent and/or seek to engage BIPOC communities, women,
      people with disabilities, rural communities, and LGBTQ communities? If yes, do members of those communities share power in the planning, implementation and outcome?
    • Does this project/proposal thoroughly consider access? This includes but is not limited to physical and financial barriers.

  3. Critical Value

    • Is the content of this project thoughtful, well researched, or does it show a critical engagement with culture?

  4. Clarity of Ideas in Proposal

    • Does the application give the reader a concrete sense of what will be in the proposed project?
    • Does the project/proposal feel cohesive and have the appropriate scope or breadth?

  5. Feasibility

    • Is the budget reasonable?
    • Is the scale of this project serviceable?
    • Do you see any insurmountable hurdles?

Bring your ideas to life.

Apply for a Grant