WHAT IS A CREATIVE WRITING FELLOWSHIP?
Creative Writing fellowships are awards of merit, based on a writer’s body of work, and honoring Wyoming’s literary artists whose work reflects serious and exceptional writing. One fellowship will be awarded in each category of Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, and Fiction, for a total of three fellowships. Applications are juried by noted authors, literary agents, or writing professionals from outside the state. Jurors may award honorable mentions. Recipients of the Creative Writing fellowships will share their work at one of Wyoming's three literary conferences. The deadline to apply is June 9, 2023.

ELIGIBILITY

• Must be at least 18 years of age at time of application.
• Must not be a full-time student pursuing high school, college, or university art-related degrees.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or have legal resident status (evidence of U.S. citizenship, resident status and state residency may be required).
• May not be affiliated with the Wyoming Arts Council either as a board member or staff member, including their families, whether full-time, part-time or contractual.
• May not be an employee of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.
• Must have been domiciled within the state borders for a total of 20 months in the previous two years.
• Must remain a Wyoming resident for at least one year after award, living in the state for at least 10 months of the year.
• Applicants must register or update their information in the Wyoming Arts Council’s Artists & Venues Directory.
• Must not have received a Creative Writing fellowship within the last four years.
• May receive a total of two fellowship awards in your lifetime.
• You may not receive a Blanchan or Doubleday writing award in the same year as this award, but you may enter this competition if you were a previous Blanchan or Doubleday winner.
• You may enter the competition only once by the deadline.
• You may only enter the competition in one category (Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, Fiction).

 

WHAT IF YOU WIN AN AWARD?

• You’ll receive $5,000 up front.
• You will receive an honorarium/travel stipend, if applicable, to present your work at a fellowship reading at your choice of literary conference: the Casper College Literary Conference (November, 2023), Wyoming Writers Conference (June, 2023), or the Jackson Hole Writer's Conference (June, 2023).  
• You’ll sign a contract that verifies you’re eligible to receive this award.
• You’ll need to supply a resume, bio, and a photograph for publicity.
• The Arts Council will retain your manuscript for possible use in excerpts for promotional purposes and Arts Council publications (print and electronic).
• You will retain all rights to this work and the work you produce during the grant period.
• You must create an impact statement, due August 31, 2023, sharing how this award helped you and what you accomplished during the year you received it.

 

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES (all categories)

• You may submit up to 25 pages of writing, typed, double-spaced using a 12-point standard font.
• If submitting poetry, only one poem is allowed per page and the double-spaced requirement is waived. We welcome longer poems of multiple pages, if applicable.
• For a book excerpt, you may provide a synopsis, but it will be included in the 25-page limit.
• You may submit more than one piece of writing, as long as you don’t exceed the 25-page limit.
• Writing may have been previously published, but don’t submit reprints.
• Work must have been created within the past 5 years.
• Pages must be numbered; include title of work and page number on each page.
• Your name must not appear anywhere on the manuscript.
• If you submit more than the allowable page limits, extra pages will be removed.
• Do not send supplementary materials (letters, resumes, etc.)
• All work must be combined into one document and uploaded.

 

JURORS
Poetry - Juan Morales is the son of an Ecuadorian mother and Puerto Rican father. He is the author of three poetry collections, including The Handyman’s Guide to End Times. His fourth collection is forthcoming from University of New Mexico Press. His poetry has recently appeared in Crazyhorse, The Laurel Review, Acentos Review, Copper Nickel, Pleiades, terrain.org, Poetry, the anthology Infinite Constellations, and elsewhere. Morales is a CantoMundo Fellow, a Macondo Fellow, the editor/publisher of Pilgrimage Press, and the Associate Dean of the College of Humanities Arts & Social Sciences at Colorado State University Pueblo.

Fiction - Ramona Ausubel grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is the author of three novels and two story collections. Her new novel, The Last Animal, came out in the spring of 2023. Winner of the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Fiction and the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, she has also been a finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, California and Colorado Book Awards and long-listed for the Story Prize, Frank O’Connor International Story Award and the International Impac Dublin Literary Award and New York Times Notable Book selections. She holds an MFA from the University of California, Irvine where she won the Glenn Schaeffer Award in Fiction. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Tin House, The New York Times, NPR’s Selected Shorts, One Story, Electric Literature, Ploughshares, The Oxford American, and collected in The Best American Fantasy and online in The Paris Review.   She has been a finalist for the Puschart Prize and a Fellow at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Ramona has taught at Tin House, The Community of Writers, Writing X Writers, the Low-Residency MFA programs at the Institute of American Indian Arts and Bennington. She is an assistant professor at Colorado State University.

Creative Nonfiction - Katherine E. Standefer

Katherine Standefer's debut book Lightning Flowers: My Journey to Uncover the Cost of Saving a Life was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize in Nonfiction and the Arizona/New Mexico Book Award in Memoir, selected as a New York Times Editor's Choice/Staff Pick, and shortlisted for the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Prize from Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. The book was named one of Oprah Magazine's "Best Books of Fall 2020," selected as the Common Read 2022-2023 at Colorado College, and featured on NPR's Fresh Air. Standefer's previous writing appeared in The Best American Essays 2016 and won the Iowa Review Award in Nonfiction. She earned her MFA in Creative Nonfiction at the University of Arizona and spent time as a Logan Nonfiction Fellow at the Carey Institute for Global Good.

WHAT IS A PERFORMING ARTS FELLOWSHIP?
Performing Arts Fellowships are awards of merit that are given in honor of excellence in the artists' field. They are juried by noted professionals in the field based on appropriate media samples and artist statements. A total of 4 fellowships are to be awarded. 2 fellowships will be given in the category of Music and 2 fellowships will be awarded in the category of Theatre and Dance. Please see below for more information about the categories and submission guidelines. Artists may only apply in one category (Music -or- Theatre and Dance). The deadline to apply is to June 9, 2023.

ELIGIBILITY (all categories)    

• Must be at least 18 years of age at time of application.
• Must not be a full-time student pursuing high school, college, or university art-related degrees.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or have legal resident status (evidence of U.S. citizenship, resident status and state residency may be required).
• May not be affiliated with the Wyoming Arts Council either as a board member or staff member, including their families, whether full-time, part-time or contractual.
• May not be an employee of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.
• Must have been domiciled within the state borders for a total of 20 months in the previous two years.
• Must remain a Wyoming resident for at least one year after award, living in the state for at least 10 months of the year.
• Must not have received a Performing Arts fellowship within the last four years.
• May receive a total of two fellowship awards in your lifetime.
• You may enter the competition only once by the deadline.
• You may only enter the competition in one category (Music -or- Theatre and Dance).

 

WHAT IF YOU WIN AN AWARD?

• You’ll receive $5,000 up front.
• You’ll sign a contract that verifies you’re eligible to receive this award.
• You’ll need to supply a bio and a photograph for publicity.
• The Arts Council will work with you to find an appropriate venue or showcase to publicly share your work. 
• You will retain all rights to this work and the work you produce during the grant period.
• You must create an impact statement, due August 31, 2023, sharing how this award helped you and what you accomplished during the year you received it.
  
  

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES (Theatre and Dance)
Applicants may apply as either a creator or a performer. Dance or choreography (any style or genre), theatre or musical theatre works, technical theatre (lighting, set, or costume design), storytelling, and directing will be considered.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES (Music) Applicants may apply as either a composer or a performer. Solo, chamber, or orchestra/large ensemble works for any combination of instruments and/or voice (including electronic and electro-acoustic works), and including independent musicians, singer-songwriters, Native American, folk, traditional, and world music will be considered.

 

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES (All)

• All applicants must register or update their information on the WY Arts Council’s Artists & Venues Directory.
• Jurying is done anonymously; application materials should not list your name.
• All applications must be submitted online through Submittable.
• All submissions must include:                   
  • If available, reviews of your work
  • A maximum of 5 work samples that best demonstrate the applicant’s work must submitted in the correct format. Documents, images, audio, and video files will be accepted, or a combination thereof.                                  
    • Each work sample must include a written statement explaining your concept/choices/process for the works submitted as examples; This statement must also include context (i.e. did you compose/choreograph/direct the piece or are you performing the work?).
    • Those applying as either a composer or creator must submit original work created within the past 5 years.
    • Performances may be original works or performances of other works (not original) that were performed within the past 5 years.
• If performing in the work of another artist, you must credit the artist and indicate that permission has been granted.
• Fellowships are awarded to an individual; however works samples of group performances will be accepted for demonstrative purposes as long as the individual applicant is clearly identified.

 
JURORS
Theatre and Dance - Matthew Roberts  

Matthew Roberts is an Ohioan who, at the age of 10, discovered he was bilingual and his real native language was dance. After studying at the University of Akron's Dance Institute, he moved to New York looking to become more fluent and graduated from Marymount Manhattan College in 2013 with a BFA in Dance and a concentration in Choreography. There he performed works by Lar Lubovitch, Robert Battle, Jessica Lang, and Shen Wei. He has Danced with Lustig Dance Theatre, Oakland Ballet Company, Awakening Movement, Molissa Fenley, Tami Stronach Dance, Neos Dance Theatre, Bruce Wood Dance, Zion Dance Project, Pegasus Contemporary, Osage Ballet, and Störling Dance Theater. Now freelancing while he founds Frtrss Dance Theatre, he enjoys teaching dance, discussing movement, and leading worship jams, but his love for storytelling, choreography, and sharing the human experience are what fuel his passion to create.
 

Music -  Mark Rabideau : 

Mark Rabideau organizes his life in fours:

He has a job. In his capacity as associate dean for faculty and student affairs and chief academic officer of the College of Arts & Media at the University of Colorado Denver, he strives to care for more than 130 faculty and 1,200 students. 

He hopes to be creative. Mark is executive producer of Awadagin Pratt’s forthcoming recording STILLPOINT (New Amsterdam Records, 2023) with Boston-based chamber orchestra A Far Cry and the Grammy-winning vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth, a project that explores the truth and beauty found within T. S. Eliot’s The Four Quartets through its sibling universe in music. 

He plays with words while serving as founding editor of Emerging Fields in Music, a partnership publication between the College Music Society and Routledge Publishing. He serves as president of the College Music Society, a collection of more than 5,000 music faculty committed to leading change within music in higher education so that our profession might be more equitable, inclusive, and creativity-focused. 

Mark is most inspired when helping artists make a difference in the world and when helping people who want to make a difference in the world become more creative. His only hobby is collecting curious, creative people. Among whom, some are presidents. Mark has three beautifully talented children, Mary Pauline, Luke, and Aidan and is married to the love-of-his-life, Laura.

Native Art Fellowships are unrestricted $5,000 awards of merit, based on the artist’s portfolio, honoring the work of contemporary Native American artists at any stage of their career who live in Wyoming. This fellowship supports diverse creative disciplines and artists working in any medium including, but not limited to, visual, performing, literature, multidisciplinary, film and video, or folk and traditional, may apply. Applications are juried by noted Native artists from outside the state. Two fellowships will be given this year and jurors may also select honorable mentions.
ELIGIBILITY

• Applicants must be an enrolled/citizen member or lineal descendant of a federally recognized tribe, a state recognized tribe, or be an Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian. If selected for the fellowship, you may be asked to provide a copy of a Tribal ID, letter of descendancy, or Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB). If your tribe is not federally or state recognized you will be asked to provide more detailed information.
• Must be at least 18 years of age at time of application.
• Must not be a full-time student pursuing high school, college, or university art-related degrees.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or have legal resident status (evidence of U.S. citizenship, resident status and state residency may be required).
• May not be affiliated with the Wyoming Arts Council either as a board member or staff member, including their families, whether full-time, part-time or contractual.
• May not be an employee of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.
• Must be a Wyoming resident, living in the state for at least 10 months of the year.
• May receive a total of two fellowship awards in your lifetime.
• You may choose to be automatically considered for the WAC fellowships in Creative Writing, Visual Arts, and Performing Arts, but you can only receive one Fellowship per year. 
• You may enter the competition only once by the deadline.

WHAT IF YOU WIN AN AWARD?

• You’ll receive $5,000 up front.
• You’ll sign a contract that verifies you’re eligible to receive this award.
• You’ll need to supply a bio and a photograph for publicity.
• The Arts Council will work with you to find an appropriate venue or showcase to publicly share your work.
• You will retain all rights to this work and the work you produce during the grant period.
• You must create an impact statement, due August 31, 2024, sharing how this award helped you and what you accomplished during the year you received it.
• You may be asked to provide a copy of a Tribal ID, letter of descendancy, or Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB). If your tribe is not federally or state recognized you will be asked to provide more detailed information.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

• Your name must not appear anywhere on your application. 
• Do not send supplementary materials (letters, resumes, etc.)
• You may submit up to 10 work samples. Samples can be a combination of multiple art forms. Image, video, audio, and document files will be accepted.
• If submitting a writing sample, you may only upload ONE manuscript, up to 25 pages in length, typed, double-spaced using a 12-point standard font. If submitting poetry, only one poem is allowed per page and the double-spaced requirement is waived. For a book excerpt, you may provide a synopsis, but it will be included in the 25-page limit. You may submit more than one piece of writing, as long as you don’t exceed the 25-page limit. Pages must be numbered; include title of work and page number on each page.
• If submitting performance-based work, you may submit original works or performances of other works (not original). Fellowships are awarded to an individual; however work samples of group performances will be accepted for demonstrative purposes as long as the individual applicant is clearly identified in the description.
• Other work samples can include: experimental (conceptual/new media), graphic (printmaking/book arts), painting, sculpture, installation, photography (includes experimental, color, black & white, photocopy and computer), clay, fiber, glass, leather, metal, paper, plastic, wood, mixed media, film or video, beadwork, quillwork, regalia, ledger art, other traditional forms. Up to two images may be detail images, if appropriate. Jurors will only be required to watch up to 10 minutes of a film/video submission.

JURORS  

Karen Ann Hoffman is a Haudenosaunee raised beadwork artist and citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. Hoffman lives, hunts, and gardens in a rural area of central Wisconsin sheltered by trees and grasslands and poised on the edge of a marsh.

Raised beadwork is a rare and elegant style whose forms and designs reach back over fourteen thousand years. It is a cultural hallmark for those of the Six Nations, linking the lessons of their past with the celebration of their today and the joyful anticipation of their future. It is this long and deep cultural connection that beckons and inspires her. “As a beader,” she says, “it is my privilege and responsibility to peer through that cultural lens, reflect on contemporary Indigenous experiences, and describe what I see on a field of velvet using glass beads and a steel needle.”

A slow and thoughtful beader, Hoffman often spends a year or more in the creation of one of her legacy pieces. crafted to be exquisitely culturally connected, these pieces are brought to life slowly and gently. They speak, she says, not for her as an individual, but for her People — past, present and future. They sing the lessons of their Ancestors in voices strong and clear.

Daniel McCoy

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and surrounded with the arts from an early age, Dan was welcomed into a household of Artisans, Farmers, Music and Subculture,

McCoy began entering Native Art Competitions at age fifteen under the direction of Cherokee Artist, Mary Adair while attending boarding school in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

He received his formal Art Training at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. At the Institute, Daniel McCoy jr. was able to study and work with some of the best Native Artists in the field.