Organizer Information
Princeton University was founded in 1746 and is one of the oldest universities in the United States. The Lewis Center for the Arts opened as the university's first purpose-built arts facility in 2017, realizing a vision first laid out in 2006 by then-president Shirley Tilghman to establish the arts as a core part of Princeton's educational mission. The center is named for Peter B. Lewis, a member of Princeton's Class of 1955 and former Charter Trustee, whose $101 million gift in 2006 was the largest single gift to the university at the time. The Lewis Center brings together Princeton's programs in Creative Writing, Dance, Music Theater, Theater, Visual Arts, and the interdisciplinary Princeton Atelier, and presents more than 100 public performances, exhibitions, readings, film screenings, and lectures each year, most of them free. Its stated mission treats rigorous artistic practice as a form of research, innovation, and discovery on par with scholarship in any other field.
Title & Description
Princeton Arts Fellowship
The Princeton Arts Fellowship is awarded to early-career artists whose work has been recognized as showing extraordinary promise, funded in part by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the David E. Kelley Society of Fellows in the Arts, and the Maurice R. Greenberg Scholarship Fund. Fellows spend two consecutive academic years living and working at Princeton, combining a light teaching load with sustained engagement in the university's artistic community. The program frames itself less as a residency for uninterrupted creative time and more as an early-career teaching appointment: fellows are expected to be active, visible members of the Lewis Center community, with frequent interaction with students both inside and outside the classroom.
For this application cycle, the fellowship is open only to applicants working in the Program in Dance, Program in Theater and Music Theater, and the Department of Music. The source notes this restriction applies to the current cycle specifically, implying it may vary in future years.
Categories
- Dance
- Theatre
- Composer
- Performance
- Fellowship
- Educations
- Interdisciplinary Arts
Eligibility
- Early-career artists whose achievements demonstrate extraordinary promise in artistic practice and teaching
- Applicants should work in areas such as visual arts, filmmaking, poetry, fiction, playwriting, design, directing, or performance art — described in the source as a non-exhaustive list
- For this specific cycle, only applicants in the Program in Dance, Program in Theater and Music Theater, or the Department of Music are being accepted
- One need not be a U.S. citizen to apply
- Holders of PhD degrees from Princeton are not eligible to apply
- Past recipients of the Hodder Fellowship are not eligible to apply
- Individuals who have had a sustained and continuous relationship with Princeton University are not eligible; those with an occasional or sporadic relationship with Princeton may apply
- Fellows may not hold concurrent teaching positions at other institutions during the fellowship
- Applicants may apply for the Princeton Arts Fellowship in each application cycle (no lifetime cap stated for this fellowship)
Program Benefits & Awards
- $93,000 stipend per year (two years total)
- Academic appointment status, with eligibility for benefits during the two fellowship years
- Light teaching load: one course per semester, subject to approval by the Dean of the Faculty (or an artistic assignment in lieu of a class, such as directing a play or creating a dance work with students)
- Full membership in the Lewis Center for the Arts community for two academic years
- In-person work location on the Princeton University campus
Application Fee
None
How to Apply?
Online Application
Key Dates
- Application Deadline: 8 September 2026
- Fellowship term: two consecutive academic years, September 1–July 1
Location
Princeton, New Jersey, United States
Additional Details
- Fellowships are not intended to fund work leading toward an advanced degree.
- The fellowship cannot be held concurrently with a teaching position at another institution.
- Applicants who have had a "sustained and continuous" relationship with Princeton are excluded, but an "occasional and sporadic" relationship does not disqualify an applicant — the source does not further define this distinction.
- Recent Princeton Arts Fellows include composer/sound artist Leo Chang and interdisciplinary artist Chang Yuchen (2026–28 cohort).