Organizer Information
The Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung is a major German charitable foundation based in Essen, established through the will of industrialist Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach and active since 1 January 1968. It is a nonprofit foundation with an endowment of roughly €0.8 billion as of 2023, and it uses income from its position as the largest shareholder in thyssenkrupp AG exclusively and directly to support people and projects in science, education, healthcare, sport, literature, music, and the fine arts. Photography has long been a core focus area: the Foundation has supported artists and curators with photography scholarships for decades and helped build up the Historisches Archiv Krupp, which holds over 2.5 million photographs related to industrial history.
This particular scholarship programme is run in partnership with the Photographic Collection of the Museum Folkwang in Essen. The Photographic Collection was established as an independent department of the Museum Folkwang in 1978 and today holds more than 50,000 photographs along with a number of artists' estates; the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation has been granting fellowships for contemporary German photography since 1982 in cooperation with this department. The collection's holdings, including the private picture collection, library, and photographic estate of Otto Steinert, were secured with the Foundation's help, alongside major acquisitions on the work of August Sander and László Moholy-Nagy.
Title & Description
Scholarship Programme "Contemporary German Photography" (Zeitgenössische deutsche Fotografie)
The Krupp Foundation has been awarding scholarships for contemporary German photography in cooperation with the Photographic Collection at the Folkwang Museum since 1982. The programme funds photographers, with no age limit, who wish to develop a photographic project over a longer period of time independently of a commissioned work. The call for applications is not restricted to a particular theme or assigned to any specific area of photographic practice. Through this open funding programme, the Foundation aims to promote a contemporary artistic exploration of photographic perspectives and modes of representation.
Categories
- Photography
- Visual Arts
- Scholarship
- Media Arts
Eligibility
- Open to photographers from all areas of artistic practice
- Applicants must have been living in Germany for at least the last three years
- Applicants must not hold German citizenship
- No age restrictions
- No educational restrictions
- Application must be made in conjunction with a planned photographic project (a project already underway is also eligible)
Program Benefits & Awards
- Scholarship endowment: EUR 13,000
- Duration: one year
- Award winners present their developed projects at a public event at the end of the funding period
Application Fee
None
Application Requirements
- Completely filled out online application
- Artistic background, submitted in German and English
- Exposé of the planned project, in German and English, each with a maximum of 2,000 characters
- Image examples and installation views of earlier works as a PDF (max. 8 MB)
- References to videos and online content included via hyperlink within the document
How to Apply?
Online Application
Key Dates
- Application period opens: 1 July 2026
- Application Deadline: 31 August 2026
Location
Essen, Germany
Additional Details
- Two scholarships are awarded per cycle; since 1994 the programme has run every two years (from 1982–1992 it ran annually with three scholarships awarded each year)
- Upon completion, documentation and/or examples from the project must be submitted to the Museum Folkwang, becoming part of the Photographic Collection and kept available for exhibitions and study purposes; copyright remains with the authors
- Selection is made by a committee consisting of a representative of the Krupp Foundation, a representative of the Museum Folkwang, and three independent experts of international renown selected by the two institutions
- Jury members' names are not disclosed in advance and the selection procedure is confidential
- Reasons for selection decisions are not provided, and legal claims to being awarded the scholarship are excluded
- Contact for programme questions: Thomas Seelig, Museum Folkwang, Photography Collection, Museumsplatz 1, 45128 Essen — photography@museum-folkwang.essen.de
- Contact for the application portal and preparing documents: Angelika Hardetzki, Krupp-Stiftung, Hügel 15, 45133 Essen — foerderung@krupp-stiftung.de