Short Description

The Kindling Fund currently awards project grants ranging from $3,000 – $7,000 (with smaller Research and Development Grants) to Maine-based artists of all career levels, who organize projects that engage audiences and the visual arts in inventive and meaningful ways. With a focus on experimentation, successful applications value unconventional engagement, critical dialogue, collaboration, and create new models for presenting artists’ work.

Grants support a variety of publicly accessible projects with a strong interest in alternative spaces, pioneering practices, and site-specific presentations that do not fit in established institutions or conventional venues. Projects supported by The Kindling Fund have included: performative dinners, public art initiatives, site-responsive installations, the publication of writing directly related to the visual arts, the creation of artist-run spaces, visual art components of mutual aid initiatives, smartphone apps and web based projects, and so much more.

Eligibility

  • Artists living in Maine 
  • Curators living in Maine
  • Collectives living in Maine
  • Writers writing about the visual arts in Maine
  • Collaboratives or partnerships in Maine
  • Artist-run spaces located in Maine that are not a 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations, an LLC enterprise for commercial gain, or registered as a B Corps.
  • The lead applicant must have a social security number in order to receive payment of the award, and these funds are taxable. The lead applicant is financially responsible for the funds.

What kinds of projects does the Kindling Fund support?

The Kindling Fund supports a wide range of artist-initiated projects that engage the public, including but not limited to…

  • Group and solo exhibitions that are sited outside of traditional venues, curatorial projects focused on innovative research or exhibition design
  • Lecture, workshop, and conversation series
  • Micro-cinemas and film screenings
  • Public art projects such as murals, outdoor sculpture, temporary art in public places, or pop-ups
  • Performance projects that prioritize experimentation, multi-media approaches, duration, or projects with expansive definitions and approaches to performance
  • Interventions, site-specific installations, and digital-forward alternative virtual platforms
  • Writing about the visual arts, or printed and online publications (zines, local art discourse, curatorial print projects)
  • The creation of an alternative artist residency or other artist-centered programs
  • The founding or sustaining of a new artist-run arts venue or collective
  • Artist-led socially-responsive and social activist projects such as mutual-aid initiatives, artist gardens/farming/food projects, community storytelling and history keeping, and other grassroots initiatives
  • Experimental art projects that challenge established notions of artistic roles and forms
  • Other art projects that propose new models/forms of practice, presentation and organization

Submission Requirements

  • Brief project summary (100 words)
  • Minimum 5 visual image file work samples (additional 5 offered, 2 websites, 2 video links for max 5 minute juror media sample) and a list of work sample informational credits (name of artist, medium, year, location if necessary, photographer/videographer if necessary, etc).*
  • Full narrative description of the project (500 words max)
  • Project timeline with description of how and where the project will be realized
  • Explanation of the project’s audience, how the project will be made accessible to the public, and/or an outline of engagement strategies
  • Explanation of the project’s relationship to the applicant’s past work
  • Budget (no longer an attachment form)
  • Narrative Bio and CV (optional) for artist(s) involved

*For the “visual work samples,” we strongly recommend time time-based media artists consider film/media stills, screenshots, or other documentation images, even if it slightly duplicates a media work sample. The visual work sample uploads are easily viewable by the jury within Submittable as a thumbnail without navigating to a new page during the application review.

How to Apply

Online Application

Program Benefits & Awards

For the 2026 grant cycle, there is $65,000 in funds available which is distributed to approximately 8-12 projects with budgets ranging from $3,000 – $7,000. Artists may also receive discretionary research and development grants of less than $3000 by the jury to start their project, depending on how the jurying process takes place. Currently, an individual, ongoing project, collective, or initiative cannot be awarded more than $15,000 by the Kindling Fund over the course of a lifetime.

Entry Fee

None

Location

Portland, United States

Timeline

  • Application Deadline: 16 November 2025

Website Link: https://www.thekindlingfund.org/apply

Fund