Illuminations Grants for Black Trans Women Visual Artists

The Illuminations Grant for Black Trans Women Visual Artists is an annual $10000 grant awarded to provide critical support to Black trans women whose work has often been under-recognized in the visual art field. Now in its fifth year, this grant was developed and named in partnership with visual artist Mariette Pathy Allen, consultant and writer Aaryn Lang, and artist Serena Jara. The primary purpose of the grant is to shed light on the contributions of Black trans women visual artists and to confront the systemic barriers that deny them artistic opportunities and a sustainable craft. The grant is fully funded by Mariette Pathy Allen, whose photographic work over the past forty years has focused on expanding cultural consciousness around gender and transformation. The grant provides a $10000 award to a single winning artist and $1250 awards to four distinguished finalists. In addition to financial support, winning artists and finalists receive professional development resources, including studio visits with a rotating panel of judges and consultations with Queer Art staff. This support aims to bolster the creative and professional development of the recipients. For the 2025 cycle, the judges include Legacy Russell, Jordyn Jay, and Lee Laa Ray Guillory, each of whom will conduct a studio visit with the winning artist. The Queer Art staff will further provide consultations and access to tools developed through the Queer Art Mentorship program. Eligibility for the Illuminations Grant is limited to Black trans women visual artists based in the United States. Applications are open from March 31, 2025, to July 2, 2025. Qualified applicants must submit a complete application through the provided platform. The application requires contact information, a narrative biography, a headshot, demographic information, a one-sentence description of artistic practice, two short essay responses about their practice, two references, a CV, and up to twelve work samples. Acceptable formats for work samples include images, videos, PDFs, and external media from YouTube, Vimeo, and SoundCloud. Detailed specifications for file formats and sizes are provided in the application instructions. An information session for the grant will be held on June 23, 2025, at 6:00 PM EST via Zoom. This session is designed to offer additional guidance and answer applicant questions. The grant application has no associated fee. Interested applicants are encouraged to review the Frequently Asked Questions on the Queer Art website for further details about the grant and the application process. For questions about the grant or the application process, applicants should contact Andrius Alvarez-Backus, Design and Marketing Manager at Queer Art, via email at andrius@queer-art.org. The Illuminations Grant continues to provide an essential platform for Black trans women visual artists to receive recognition and support for their contributions to the visual arts, addressing a significant gap in representation and opportunities within the field.

Applicants are encouraged to attend the Zoom info session on June 23, 2025, to ask questions and refine their applications.