Dec. 22, 2022 at 1:31 pm

Virtual Fellowships Grants

Virtual Fellowships Grants are designed for individuals who cannot, for a variety of reasons, travel or commit to a residential research period at this time, but whose projects will be significantly advanced by the funding of access to primary sources online, dedicated time to work, and the validations of a fellowship award. Virtual, or non-residential, research fellowships are available to support both scholarly and artistic projects for a period of one month, with a stipend of $4,000.

Eligibility

Virtual Fellowships Grants for Scholarly Research

Applicants must make their own best cases for how a one-month virtual fellowship can provide vital support to pursue or advance their research. Here are some examples of scenarios an applicant might propose to use their fellowship funds:

A researcher requests dedicated time to review and evaluate archival notes and images collected on previous research trips and will fund childcare in order to do so.
A researcher requests dedicated time to research and write the final chapter of their manuscript without summer teaching obligations.
A researcher requests time to conduct remote research with digitized materials available through the Folger and other online collections.
An independent researcher needs to fund access to online databases.
A researcher plans to create and/or curate digital resources for use in undergraduate classrooms.
A researcher, working with a Folger digitized collection, requests time to examine these sources in detail, but must supplement adjunct teaching in order to do so.
A researcher, unable to take up a residential research fellowship because they have small children, requests funds to pay for the digitization of or the reproduction and permission fees for images of rare materials so they might access them from home.
A researcher with caregiving responsibilities requests time to revise and finalize their manuscript from home.

In all cases, fellowship funds are to support full-time work on a research project. Funds may be used to relieve personal and/or professional constraints to full-time research.

Scholars must hold a terminal degree in their field by the time they begin their virtual fellowship. To evaluate these applications each year, the Fellowships Program assembles an external committee of respected scholars, aiming for disciplinary, methodological, and geographical diversity. Committee membership changes annually. The committee is charged with evaluating applications based on the proposed topic’s impact, its relevance to the field, the originality and sophistication of the scholar’s approach, the feasibility of the scholar’s research objectives, and the proposed use of their research funds. Particular weight is accorded to the project’s impact, relevance, and approach. Furthermore, the Institute is committed to supporting work across fields of study in the early modern humanities that address inequities or marginalized subjects, and that point to richer and more inclusive histories.

Virtual Fellowships Grants for Artistic Research

Virtual fellowships for artistic research are open to artists working in all media whose work would benefit from significant primary research that is related to the histories, concepts, art, and objects of the early modern world. This includes, but is not limited to, visual artists, writers, dramaturgs, playwrights, performers, filmmakers, and composers. For context, here are some generalized examples from our 2022-23 cohort.

An artist working with a Folger digitized manuscript requests funding to produce imagery inspired by that manuscript using innovative printing techniques as well as creating related performance art pieces.
A visual artist requests funding to produce a series of paintings that explore mental illness in Tudor England.
A filmmaker requests funding to write a script for a miniseries inspired by Shakespeare and his contemporaries.
A playwright requests funding to research and write a contemporary Latinx interpretation of a play by Shakespeare.
An artist requests funding to produce performance art that explores the crossroads of scientific fact and speculative fiction in the early modern US.
An artist requests funding to create a multi-media exhibit that explores Indigenous objectification in the early modern world and its continuation today.
A writer requests funding to write long-form poetry focused on constructs of gender in the early modern period.

While a terminal degree is not required for Artistic Research Fellowships, applicants should describe their training and level of industry-specific experience in their CV. All applicants must apply as individuals, including artists working as collaborators.