Organizer Information
The Asian/Pacific/American Institute (A/P/A Institute) at New York University was founded in 1996 as a space for scholarship, art, activism, and cultural and political exchange about Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in New York City and beyond. The Institute's community of staff, affiliated faculty and students, artists-in-residence, visiting scholars, and invited guests cultivate dialogues about Asians and Pacific Islanders in the diaspora and across the world, with programming spanning collaborative research, exhibitions, publications, and archival projects. The Institute has a long history of building archival collections documenting Asian/Pacific/American histories, including past partnerships with NYU's Special Collections libraries. This fellowship is presented in collaboration with New York University Special Collections and Asia Art Archive, and is supported through funding from the Ming Fay Estate and the gallery kurimanzutto.
Title & Description
Inaugural Ming Fay Research Fellowship 2027
This fellowship supports the production of original, archives-based scholarship on Ming Fay (1943–2025), an artist whose multidisciplinary practice bridged sculpture, drawing, installation, ecology, and transnational cultural histories. Born in Shanghai and raised in Hong Kong, Fay settled in New York in the early 1970s and became part of the downtown art milieu, co-founding the Epoxy Art Group (1982–92), an Asian American artist collective that fostered alternative exhibition platforms and critical dialogue. Despite growing institutional interest in Fay's work in recent years, scholarship on his practice remains limited. The fellowship supports research conducted within the Ming Fay Papers held at NYU Special Collections, related holdings at Asia Art Archive, and materials housed at the Ming Fay Studio / Estate, to produce work that contributes to the study of Ming Fay's practice and its broader historical, cultural, and artistic contexts. Research must be conducted between January 4 and December 10, 2027.
Theme
Proposals may address, but are not limited to: ecology and environmental thought; transnational identity and migration; Asian diasporic histories; material experimentation and sculptural practice; intersections of art, science, and spirituality; nature as mythology and cultural symbolism in art; Downtown New York art networks and artist collectives; and public art and site-specific installations.
Categories
- Research
- Art History
- Art Critic
- Sculpture
- Installation
- Fellowship
- Culture
- Archeology
Eligibility
Senior Research Fellowship track:
- Professors
- Established independent scholars
- Curators
- Postdoctoral researchers
- Advanced PhD candidates
Exploratory Research Fellowship track:
- Master's students
- Early PhD students
- Emerging scholars
- Artists
- Curators
General:
- Non-US applicants are welcome to apply, but the University does not assist with housing or visas
- Applicants from graduate student status must include one letter of recommendation from a faculty advisor
Program Benefits & Awards
- Senior Research Fellowship: grant of up to $7,500, based on the proposed budget and demonstrated research needs
- Exploratory Research Fellowship: grant of up to $2,500, based on the proposed budget and demonstrated research needs
- On-site archival access at NYU Special Collections
- Research consultation with archival staff
- Digital access to relevant holdings at Asia Art Archive
- Research access at the Ming Fay Studio / Estate, as appropriate
- Eligibility for appointment as a Visiting Scholar or Research Affiliate at NYU, as appropriate and subject to university procedures
- Reading room access at Asia Art Archive in America
- Funding covers eligible expenses incurred between notification of award and December 10, 2027, including: travel to and from New York; temporary housing and local transportation during fellowship research travel; translation services; research materials, documentation, or technical support; and expenses associated with preparing research for publication, including permissions and image preparation
- Fellowship funds are distributed by NYU in one payment in February 2027
Application Fee
None
How to Apply?
Online Application
Key Dates
- Application Deadline: 15 November 2026
- Notification of Awards: 15 December 2026
- Fellowship Period / Research Period: Monday, January 4–Friday, December 10, 2027
- Final Deliverables Due: 31 January 2028
Location
New York, NY, United States
Additional Details
- Final projects for the Senior Research Fellowship should be developed to a stage suitable for publication, academic dissemination, exhibition development, or inclusion in a larger scholarly project, and may include a peer-reviewed journal article (approximately 6,000–10,000 words), a book or dissertation chapter, a critical essay for a museum, academic, or arts publication, or substantial research toward an exhibition
- Exploratory Research Fellowship projects may include a research paper, article, report, dissertation chapter, documentary film, essay, or exhibition proposal, and are not limited to these formats
- All fellows must submit, via email to apa.institute@nyu.edu, a final research project appropriate to their fellowship track, along with a brief report (2–3 pages) summarizing research activities, archival engagement, and outcomes, by January 31, 2028
- Applications will be evaluated on scholarly rigor and originality, planned engagement with the archival materials, feasibility within the proposed timeframe, and contribution to broader art historical, transnational, or Asian diasporic discourse
- Late and/or incomplete applications will not be considered
- Selected fellows will coordinate research visits with NYU Special Collections, the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU, and the Ming Fay Studio / Estate to ensure archival access and institutional support