the spillway fellowship program

The Spillway Fellowship Program seeks applicants cultivating a range of work across visual art disciplines and socially-engaged practice.

Through support for early career artists and culture bearers from Minnesota and the Native Nations in this geography, fellowships will be offered to artists and culture bearers whose practice is committed to considering the multilayered intersections of culture, land, and history. To advance this work and deepen these connections, fellows will build relationships with individuals and organizations across multiple local visits that culminate - through time and trust - in a public presentation, event, or exhibition in Winona, Minnesota, a town located along the Mississippi River in Dakota homelands.

With support from The Jerome Foundation, the Spillway Fellowship Program will connect the creativity and vision of fellows to the complex social, historical, land-based questions, legacies, and intercultural dynamics of this region. Drawing upon Art of the Rural’s long-term local and regional partnerships, this fellowship offers artists and culture bearers the time and relational space in which to engage and offer their creative practice towards meaningful social impacts.

The program offers a deep, intercultural, and career-expanding experience to early career artists and culture bearers while providing the region with opportunities for public dialogue, community creativity, and intercultural exchange. Art of the Rural will create specific, valuable media to document the fellows’ work, and activate our national network of artists, curators, thought leaders, and partners to engage with the artists and expand visibility and network connectivity for their work.

Fellowship at-a-glance

In 2025, two selected individuals will have the opportunity to move through the Spillway Fellowship Program.

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The fellowship will take place in the Winona region between Summer 2025 - Fall 2026. Fellows will visit Winona for two multi-day visits in Summer/Fall 2025 and Spring 2026. Between visits, Fellows will be digitally connected with individuals, organizations, and communities that further their creative and relational process.

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The majority of the fellowship is self-guided, social, and research-based, but studios/creative workspaces can be made available as needed during the multi-day visits, which are facilitated by Art of the Rural and our partners. Each fellow will receive $10,000 in support, with travel, food, and lodging costs covered by Art of the Rural. Through Art of the Rural’s partnership with Honoring Dakota Project, fellows will also have the opportunity to learn more about the dynamics of Dakota life and culture, while reflecting upon the futures of intercultural collaboration in this region.

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Fellows will also be supported to attend public presentations by the first year’s fellows in the Fall 2025, thus creating threads of conversation and relationships that will advance their creative practice. In the Fall 2026, this year’s selected fellows will exhibit work at the Winona County History Center or Engage Winona galleries, or offer a public presentation/event with partners cultivated through the Fellowship's relational process.

Timeline:

• Summer/Fall 2025 (July-October): First multi-day visit to Winona, MN
• September 18-20: Spillway Gathering in Winona, MN
• Winter 2025 (November-February): Incubation Phase 1: Proposal of fellows’ public presentation
• Spring 2026 (April-May): Second multi-day visit to Winona, MN
• Summer 2026 (June-August): Incubation Phase 2: Preparation of fellows’ public presentation
• Fall 2026 (September-October): Gathering & presentations in Winona, MN