Foundation for Contemporary Arts
Installation view of
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41 Contemporary Artists Awarded 2026 Creative Research Grants from Foundation for Contemporary Arts

Foundation for Contemporary Arts announces the 2026 Creative Research Grants

Christopher Cozier, installation view of Turbulence (Version 2) at the Stavanger Art Museum, Stavanger, Norway, 2021. Photo by Markus Johansson.

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Christopher Cozier, installation view of Turbulence (Version 2) at the Stavanger Art Museum, Stavanger, Norway, 2021. Photo by Markus Johansson.

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Four dancers in mid-movement. In the left corner, one dancer lays face down on the ground. In the center of the image, another dancer straddles their knees while they sway to their left side, opening their mouth and closing their eyes. Behind them is an ethereal white sparkle coming from a light, which also reflects onto the entire room in white and blue hues. Behind them, also in the center, are two more dancers who are standing up and holding each other’s shoulders with their heads touching. In the background are several squares covered in a green texture that look similar to moss. The floor may or may not be marble, but appears to be one that is cold to the touch.
News

41 Contemporary Artists Awarded 2026 Creative Research Grants from Foundation for Contemporary Arts

Foundation for Contemporary Arts announces the 2026 Creative Research Grants

Ogemdi Ude, performance still from MAJOR at New York Live Arts, New York, NY, 2026. Pictured: Junyla Silmon, song tucker, Jailyn Phillips-Wiley, and Chanel Stone. Photo by Maria Baranova, courtesy of New York Live Arts.

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Ogemdi Ude, performance still from MAJOR at New York Live Arts, New York, NY, 2026. Pictured: Junyla Silmon, song tucker, Jailyn Phillips-Wiley, and Chanel Stone. Photo by Maria Baranova, courtesy of New York Live Arts.

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Olivia Block mid-performance. She is sitting down in front of a piano that she is playing with one hand while singing into a microphone that hangs in front of her sheet music. There is a table of electronic equipment with a red beverage in a plastic bottle laid out in front of her. Wires are plugged into and coming out of her gear. Behind Block are room dividers, panels, and a bit of a wall that is lit up with solid blue, sea green, and purple projections, as well as white dots and white amorphous shapes. She is wearing a black turtleneck with a gold necklace over it.
News

41 Contemporary Artists Awarded 2026 Creative Research Grants from Foundation for Contemporary Arts

Foundation for Contemporary Arts announces the 2026 Creative Research Grants

Olivia Block, performance still from Before the Air Was Born at Taktlos Festival, Kunstraum Walcheturm, Zürich, Switzerland, 2025. Photo by Michelle Ettlin.

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Olivia Block, performance still from Before the Air Was Born at Taktlos Festival, Kunstraum Walcheturm, Zürich, Switzerland, 2025. Photo by Michelle Ettlin.

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Lai Yi Ohlsen and Pareena Lim performing, moving in a circle. They are both wearing costumes inspired by Eastern Asian performance traditions. Lai Yi Ohlsen is facing the audience is in light purple dress, while Pareena Lim, facing back stage, is in light yellow. Both of their hands are in the air to their sides, and they each have one foot in front of the other. Behind the duo is a white curtain that is just a bit short of reaching the ground, the pitch-black of back stage is visible from below. The floor is light purple, matching Lai’s dress.
News

41 Contemporary Artists Awarded 2026 Creative Research Grants from Foundation for Contemporary Arts

Foundation for Contemporary Arts announces the 2026 Creative Research Grants

Benjamin Akio Kimitch, performance still from Tiger Hands at The Shed, New York, NY, 2022. Pictured: Lai Yi Ohlsen and Pareena Lim. Photo by Erin Baiano.

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Benjamin Akio Kimitch, performance still from Tiger Hands at The Shed, New York, NY, 2022. Pictured: Lai Yi Ohlsen and Pareena Lim. Photo by Erin Baiano.

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Lukas Avendaño mid-performance, lying down with her back on a stone table, arms to the side and eyes closed. Avendaño is naked, but covered from the waist down by a hospital linen, which matches the bare white brick wall in the background and the white lamp that hangs above the center of her body. White cloths are neatly stacked on the table along her body and head, which is decorated with a gold crown of thorns. There are also several trays and a small bouquet of white, purple, and red flowers beside her.
News

41 Contemporary Artists Awarded 2026 Creative Research Grants from Foundation for Contemporary Arts

Foundation for Contemporary Arts announces the 2026 Creative Research Grants

Lukas Avendaño, performance still from Buscando a Bruno at Casa Nacional del Estudiante, Mexico City, Mexico, 2018. Photo by Mario Patiño.

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Lukas Avendaño, performance still from Buscando a Bruno at Casa Nacional del Estudiante, Mexico City, Mexico, 2018. Photo by Mario Patiño.

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Installation view of “Negotiated Difference,” a rhizomatic sculpture consisting of carved wood and 3D-printed filaments in wood, metal, and plastic, connected with various objects including balusters, pipes, and bowling pins. The sculpture spreads throughout the grey floor of a gallery room, which has white walls and a pipe grid.
News

41 Contemporary Artists Awarded 2026 Creative Research Grants from Foundation for Contemporary Arts

Foundation for Contemporary Arts announces the 2026 Creative Research Grants

Shirley Tse, installation view of Negotiated Differences, shown as part of Stake and Holders, M+ Pavilion, Hong Kong, 2020. Photo by Ringo Cheung.

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Shirley Tse, installation view of Negotiated Differences, shown as part of Stake and Holders, M+ Pavilion, Hong Kong, 2020. Photo by Ringo Cheung.

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Our Mission

FCA encourages, sponsors, and promotes innovative work in the arts

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2026 Grants to Artists Awards2026 GranteesSee All 2026 GranteesView All

24 artists working in 5 disciplines

Headshot of Brenda Coultas. Coultas is looking at the camera, wearing a white long sleeve button-up collared shirt. Her body is positioned between the two different materials on the wall behind her. To Coultas' right is a patterned curtain in autumn colors with a bit of baby blue. To her left is wallpaper with beige, white, seafoam blue and baby blue lines running up and down, separated by color, and interrupted by dark yellow and blue shapes.
Brenda Coultas
C.D. Wright Award for Poetry
Poetry
Portrait of Teresa Baker. Baker smiles at the camera, sitting with her hands placed on top of each other resting over her crossed leg. She’s wearing black pants, a blue and white striped button up shirt with a bright orange jacket over it, and silver rings on each ring finger, one with lapis lazuli and the other a stone that resembles sunstone or amber. Behind Baker her work “Twenty Minutes to Sunset” appears in close detail.
Teresa Baker
Helen Frankenthaler Award for Painting
Visual Arts
Portrait of Elle Perez. Perez is looking directly at the camera with their head tilted to the side. They are standing in front of what appears to be a wall of vibrant green plants with large leaves. To the left of the frame a silver car and a washed tan brick building are visible. Perez is dressed in a black t-shirt and raincoat and their curly hair is cropped short.
Elle Pérez
Grants to Artists
Visual Arts
Portrait of Jennifer Elise Foerster wearing a black long sleeve top and blue jeans. She is looking at the camera while sitting down with her right leg up, which she is resting her left hand on as well as her right elbow. Foerster's right hand is in the air just over her left shoulder. There is a grey backdrop behind her.
Jennifer Elise Foerster
Grants to Artists
Poetry
Portrait of Kearra Amaya Gopee. Gopee stands on a sidewalk, looking into the camera while resting their arms on a black iron gate. They are wearing a black leather jacket, sunglasses with a thick rectangular white frame, a silver chainmail necklace, a silver hoop earring, a silver curved barbell eyebrow ring, and black lipstick.
Kearra Amaya Gopee
Grants to Artists
Visual Arts
Portrait of Janet Olivia Henry looking at the camera and holding her arms across her chest, wearing a suede purple button down jacket over a white collard shirt, a white hat, as well as jewelry on her wrists, fingers and ear. Henry’s jacket is decorated with a pin of an animated black cat on its collar. Behind and to the left of Henry is a dangling sculpture composed of beads.
Janet Olivia Henry
Grants to Artists
Visual Arts
Headshot of Benjamin Akio Kimitch. Looking at the camera, he smiles to his right side. Kimitch is wearing a white shirt and is in front of a black backdrop.
Benjamin Akio Kimitch
Grants to Artists
Dance
Portrait of Nanette Carter in a pastel yellow room. Smiling at the camera, Carter is wearing a fuzzy orange sweater with black sleeves and a black and white striped head wrap. She is sitting on a section of a couch that is orange with a blue, pink, and yellow pattern throughout it. Behind Carter is another section of the couch, but this time it is in brown, with a small orange pillow with pink, blue, yellow, and red patterns on it. Three vibrant green plants are around Carter.
Nanette Carter
Grants to Artists
Visual Arts

Since 1963, FCA has awarded over $31.5 million to artists and arts organizations through more than 8,000 grants

Since 1963, FCA has awarded over $31.5 million to artists and arts organizations through more than 8,000 grants

Suneil Sanzigiri, installation view of An Impossible Address at The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 2025.

FCA: Artists for Artists
About FCA

FCA: Artists for Artists

In 1962 Jasper Johns, John Cage, Robert Rauschenberg, and other painters and sculptors came together to help Merce Cunningham and his dance company finance a proposed season on Broadway by arranging for a sale of their artworks. Their fund-raising efforts were so successful that there was money to spare, and when they asked Cunningham what he thought they should do with it, he replied, “We’re all in the same boat—why don’t you give it to other performing artists?” Thus in 1963 Jasper Johns and John Cage established the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts based on the belief that visual artists—painters and sculptors—were sufficiently concerned about the state of the performance arts—dance, theater, and music—enough so to donate artwork to benefit performing artists. 

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Grant Impact

"Beyond the financial support, the effect the award had on my confidence, reputation, and career cannot be overstated as I saw myself transition this year from 'struggling DIY artist' to an established composer/performer with ongoing opportunities."

— Sarah Hennies, Composer
2019 Grants to Artists | Music/Sound

Works for SaleView AllView All

Purchase a donated artwork to support FCA's programs

Reflection, Ivan Forde, 2017
Ivan Forde
Reflection
Youngerman, Jack Youngerman, 1973
Jack Youngerman
"Youngerman"
Lily Scent, Robert Rauschenberg, 1981
Robert Rauschenberg
"Lily Scent"
John Baldessari: Double Bill (Part 2), John Baldessari, 2012
John Baldessari
"John Baldessari: Double Bill (Part 2)"

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