Recognizing current and historical inequities in presentations and understandings of American art history, the Terra Foundation encourages temporary loan exhibitions that address these disparities and exclusions at institutions worldwide.
Terra Foundation Exhibition grants provide support for organizations to plan and present temporary exhibitions comprised primarily of loans.
The Terra Foundation encourages proposals from organizations (e.g., museums, art centers, and community-based cultural organizations) of varying sizes and annual budgets and representing the full spectrum of geographic regions, within and outside the United States.
Prospective applicants from Duke University – contact Carol Vorhaus in the Office of Foundation Relations, University Development at carol.vorhaus@duke.edu.
Deadline for Letters of Inquiry: March 7, 2025
The Terra Foundation supports visual arts projects with a focus on art of the United States and Indigenous art of North America that question and broaden understandings of American art and transform how its stories are told.
We encourage projects that:
- generate knowledge and interpretive frameworks that reflect the range and complexity of American art and its histories through the diversity of artists represented, voices included, and stories told
- center artists, scholars, and communities who have been systemically excluded from narratives, practices, and presentations of American art
- commit to inclusive and equitable practices across project development and implementation in order to lead to structural change
For this program, the Terra Foundation accepts proposals only from institutions with United States 501(c)(3) status or its international equivalent. If co-organizing a temporary exhibition with a partner museum, the co-organizers must apply jointly. Grants are not made to individuals.
We anticipate that individual grants will range between $25,000 and $200,000, with an average grant size of $100,000. This is a highly competitive program, and we are unable to fund all eligible and positively reviewed projects.