2024-26 Princeton Arts Fellow Gi (Ginny) Huo works with Samuel Elijah Lee '27 on his on final project for the fall visual arts course "Objects and Myths of Nature: a Sculptural Study." Photo by Jon Sweeney
(PRINCETON, NJ) -- The Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University is now accepting applications from artists for two opportunities, the Princeton Arts Fellowship and the Hodder Fellowship. Details and links to the online applications are posted on the Lewis Center website. Both applications have a deadline of September 8, 2026.
In this cycle, Princeton Arts Fellowships will be awarded to early career dance, music, and theater artists, such as composers, conductors, musicians, choreographers, designers, directors and performance artists—this list is not meant to be exhaustive—who would find it beneficial to spend time teaching and working in an artistically vibrant university community. Creative writing and visual arts applications will be considered in next year's cycle. Fellows spend two consecutive academic years (September 1-July 1) at Princeton and formal teaching is expected. The normal work assignment will be to teach one course each semester subject to approval by the dean of the faculty, however fellows may be asked to take on an artistic assignment in lieu of a class, such as directing a play or creating a dance with students. Prior teaching experience is not required. Although the teaching load is light, the expectation is that fellows will be full and active members of the Princeton community, committed to frequent and engaged interactions with students during the academic year.
A $93,000 stipend is provided for each of the two years. As academic appointees, fellows are eligible for benefits during the two fellowship years. They may not hold concurrent teaching positions at other institutions for the duration of the fellowship.
The work location for these fellowship positions is in-person, on the Princeton University campus. Applicants may apply for the Princeton Arts Fellowship each time it is offered. Past recipients of the Hodder Fellowship and individuals who have had a sustained and continuous relationship with Princeton are not eligible to apply. Holders of Ph.D. degrees from Princeton are not eligible to apply. Fellowships are not intended to fund work leading to an advanced degree.
Through the online portal, Princeton Arts Fellowship applicants should include a curriculum vitae; work samples; and a 750-word proposal that includes how the applicant would hope to use the two years of the fellowship to develop their work, what they might teach or pursue with undergraduates, and their approach to community building in their artistic practice, teaching, and/or research.
Typically, two Princeton Arts Fellows are selected each year.
Princeton Arts Fellowships are funded in part by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, David E. Kelley Society of Fellows in the Arts, and the Maurice R. Greenberg Scholarship Fund.
Open to artists demonstrating "much more than ordinary intellectual and literary gifts," the Hodder Fellowship is awarded to artists "more for promise than for performance," enabling them to pursue an independent project for one academic year. Potential Hodder Fellows in this cycle are dance, music, theater, or visual artists, such as composers, choreographers, performance artists, visual artists, or other kinds of artists or humanists. Creative writing applications will be considered in next year's cycle. Given the strength of the applicant pool, most successful fellows have realized achievements in their fields; the Hodder is designed to provide fellows with the "studious leisure" to undertake significant new work. No teaching is required.
A $93,000 stipend is provided for this 10-month appointment as a visiting fellow. Fellows are eligible for benefits during the length of the fellowship. Fellows may not hold concurrent teaching positions at other institutions for the duration of the fellowship.
Applicants may apply for the Hodder Fellowship only twice in their lifetime. Previous recipients of the Princeton Arts Fellowship are not eligible to apply nor are individuals who have had a sustained and continuous relationship with Princeton. Fellowships are not intended to fund work leading to an advanced degree.
Through the online portal, Hodder Fellowship applicants should include a resume, a 500-word proposal for the fellowship year, work samples, and a 150-word statement on how the work samples relate to the proposal.
For this cycle, it is anticipated that four Hodder Fellows will be selected.
The Mary Mackall Gwinn Hodder Fellowship program is funded by the Charles John Morris Gwinn and Alfred Hodder Memorial Fund.
The online application for both fellowships must be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m. (ET) on September 8, 2026; late applications will not be accepted.
The Hodder Fellowship dates back to the 1940s and was historically awarded only to literary artists. Today, the Hodder is open to artists in all disciplines, and recent fellows have included playwrights, choreographers, filmmakers, and visual artists as well as writers, such as Leslie Cuyjet Abigail DeVille, Natalie Diaz, Mark Thomas Gibson, Virginia Grise, Mario Moore, Jiehae Park, Martyna Majok, Okwui Okpokwasili, Will Rawls, Nicole Sealey, and Tanyaradzwa Tawengwa.
The Princeton Arts Fellowship was launched in 2013. Among the 30 fellows to date are David Bengali, Will Davis, Gi (Ginny) Huo, Raja Feather Kelly, Jaamil Olawale Kosoko, yuniya edi kwon, Ani Liu, Michael J. Love, Tiona Nekkia McClodden, Christopher "Unpezverde" Núñez, Erika L. Sánchez, Danez Smith, Kamara Thomas, and Maysoon Zayid.
Visit the Lewis Center website to learn more about the fellowships and the Lewis Center for the Arts.
