The Next Step Fund, funded by the McKnight Foundation*, provides project grants up to $5,000 to professional artists in any discipline for the purpose of career development and artistic achievement. Applicants may be at any stage of their career, but must demonstrate achievement in their artistic field and have a history of public presentation or community contribution. This is a highly competitive program. Please read the guidelines before you apply. The application will be activated six weeks before each deadline.
An ideal Next Step Fund project is one that:
- helps an artist overcome a barrier to significant, long-term success
- professionalizes or increases artistic output and quality
- enables an artist to complete a project that marks a significant milestone in their career, and/or
- assists an artist in reaching a new community or market
If you are unable to attend a Next Step Fund workshop in person, a one-hour video of the workshop with Closed Captions, is available at this link.