Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities

The Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities is offered by Arts Midwest, an organization dedicated to supporting arts access and creative work throughout the Midwestern United States. This award recognizes and celebrates the accomplishments of mid-career visual artists with disabilities and is designed to promote accessibility in the arts while encouraging continued artistic development and community engagement. The program’s objective is to support disabled artists in the Midwest by providing financial support and public recognition, with an overarching goal of making arts a viable form of employment for people with disabilities—a group often overlooked by mainstream funders. The grant offers nine awards each year between 2023 and 2025, totaling 27 awards over three years, with each recipient receiving a $3,000 grant. The program is open to artists based in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, or Native Nations sharing this geography. The award has no restrictions on how the funds may be used; however, recipients are encouraged to use the funds to advance their artistic careers. Work samples submitted by awardees will be featured on the Arts Midwest website. Eligible applicants must be mid-career 2D or 3D visual artists who self-identify as disabled. Applicants must have been creating and developing their art careers for at least five to fifteen years and reside in one of the eligible states or Native Nations. The program is open to both self-applicants and nominees (with nominee consent). Application support is available for accessibility needs, including adapted forms or video submissions, and assistance from another person is permitted. Applicants must register and submit their applications through the SmartSimple grants portal, providing contact information, artistic discipline, an artist statement, a community statement, a growth statement, and 3-5 images or short videos of recent work. Disclosure of AI use in the work samples is required. The panel review process will consider artistic intentions, community connection, and demonstration of mid-career status, each rated on a 1-5 scale for a maximum of 15 points. The timeline for the 2025 application cycle is as follows: the application opens on June 9, 2025, and closes at 11:59 pm CDT on July 10, 2025. Awardees will be notified and announced in August 2025, with selected works featured online. The selection panel is compensated and composed to reflect diverse perspectives, including those of disabled artists and accessibility advocates. For questions or accessibility support, applicants can contact grants@artsmidwest.org or call 612-341-0755. Additional office hours for Q&A are scheduled for June 17 and June 24, 2025. This award is supported by the James Edward Scherbarth and Paul Francis Mosley Giving Fund and was created in honor of Mr. Scherbarth, a Minnesota artist and advocate for arts access. Recipients’ stories and updates are shared by Arts Midwest to highlight their impact and achievements. Further information is available on the Arts Midwest website.

Assistance and alternative application formats available. Nomination allowed with consent. Submit work from the last 5 years if possible; older work is accepted.