Six to twelve months of support for established artists, writers, scholars, scientists, and other mid-career practitioners in the United States and Canada.
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The Guggenheim Fellowship 2027 is open to established mid-career professionals in the creative arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences who are citizens or permanent residents of the United States or Canada. Roughly 190 Fellowships are awarded each year. Fellowship terms can last from six months to one year, and funding can generally support living expenses, materials, travel, equipment, and other costs connected to the Fellow’s proposed work. The amount of each Fellowship varies. Applications for the 2027 competition are due September 15, 2026.
OF THE FIELD.
Guggenheim Fellowship 2027 Snapshot
What: Guggenheim Fellowship 2027, United States and Canada Competition
Who: Mid-career professionals with established records of accomplishment in the creative arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences. Applicants must be U.S. or Canadian citizens or permanent residents. Previous Guggenheim Fellows and current undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students are ineligible.
Where: United States and Canada
Award / Support: Funding amounts from the Guggenheim depend on the specific program or foundation you apply to, with individual Guggenheim Fellowships generally ranging from $40,000 to $55,000
Application Fee: FREE
Deadline: September 15, 2026. Current 2027 competition information lists 11:59 PM as the deadline time.
Official Link: https://www.gf.org/program/how-to-apply
Strategy Coach Notes: https://www.patreon.com/pformart/posts/guggenheim-2027-167197937
Get The Application Strategy
The Guggenheim Fellowship requires applicants to connect an established body of achievement to a specific next project. The Foundation describes the Fellowship as a mid-career award and evaluates applicants through expert advisers working within individual fields. For artists, the relationship among the Career Narrative, List of Works, project proposal, references, and work examples becomes central to the application. The 2026 competition selected 223 Fellows from nearly 5,000 applicants across 55 disciplines, based on prior career achievement and exceptional promise. The Strategy Coach Notes will examine how to structure these materials so that reviewers can see a clear trajectory from previous accomplishments to the proposed work.
About the Guggenheim Fellowship 2027
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has awarded Fellowships since 1925. The program supports individuals across the creative arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. The Foundation describes successful candidates as mid-career professionals whose work is well established and who have already made significant contributions to their fields. Independent artists, writers, and scholars can apply. Institutional or university affiliation is unnecessary. Approximately 190 Fellowships are awarded annually.
The Fellowship provides recipients with a six- to twelve-month period to pursue a proposed project. The project does not have to be completed during the Fellowship term. Recipients may continue teaching or administrative work, and academics are not required to take sabbatical leave. Funding amounts vary. The Foundation states that funds can generally be used for expenses related to the proposed work, including living expenses, materials, travel, and equipment. Applications undergo field-specific peer review before recommendations reach the Committee of Selection and the Board of Trustees.
What Is Offered
- A Guggenheim Fellowship term lasting six months to one year
- A monetary Fellowship award with an amount determined individually estimated between $40,000 and $55,000
- Support that can generally be used for living expenses
- Support that can generally be used for materials
- Support that can generally be used for travel
- Support that can generally be used for equipment
- Freedom to pursue the proposed project during the Fellowship period
- A project period that does not require completion of the entire proposed work within the Fellowship term
Who Should Apply
This opportunity is designed for mid-career professionals with established records of accomplishment and significant prior contributions to their fields. Applicants must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States or Canada when they apply. Independent artists and practitioners are eligible. Current students and previous Guggenheim Fellows cannot apply.
For artists, eligibility depends on being the creator of the work. The Foundation explicitly identifies composers, choreographers, filmmakers, playwrights, and performance artists who create their own work as eligible examples. It excludes conductors, singers, instrumentalists, dancers applying as performers, actors, and theater directors whose role is interpreting work created by others.
Collaborative projects involving two equal applicants can also be proposed as joint applications.
Guggenheim Fellowship 2027 Timeline
Mid-August 2026: 2027 application becomes available.
September 15, 2026: Application deadline.
September 29, 2026: Work samples due for fields that require them, according to current 2027 application guidance.
October 13, 2026: Reference letters due according to current 2027 application guidance.
January to April 2027: Adviser and selection review.
April 2027: New Fellows are typically announced.
Why The Guggenheim Fellowship 2027 Matters
The Guggenheim Fellowship is structured around an artist’s established body of work and capacity for future achievement. The 2026 competition illustrates the level of selectivity. The Foundation selected 223 Fellows from nearly 5,000 applicants working across 55 disciplines. Selection considered prior career achievement and exceptional promise.
For contemporary performance practitioners, the eligibility language deserves particular attention. Choreographers and performance artists creating their own work are explicitly within the Foundation’s scope. Artists whose practices span performance, visual art, film, writing, or interdisciplinary forms should review the Foundation’s field categories and previous Fellows before choosing the field that best represents the proposed project.
The Foundation’s 2026 Fellows provide a useful reference for understanding the career stage, body of accomplishment, disciplinary range, and kinds of practices represented in recent selections.
Explore the 2026 Guggenheim Fellows
OF THE FIELD.
Apply
Deadline: September 15, 2026
Apply: https://www.gf.org/program/how-to-apply
