The Craft Research Fund is designed to encourage, expand, and support craft research in the United States.
Donor Name: Center for Craft
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 10/17/2025
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 2 Years
Details:
As the Center’s first and longest-running grant program, the Craft Research Fund is dedicated to supporting new and interdisciplinary research about craft in the United States.
Examples of craft research MIGHT include:
- Research providing new insight into work by historical or contemporary craft artists, communities, or practices in the United States
- Research that places American craft in a global context
- Research presenting a new understanding of the relationship between handmade production and digital technologies
- Research supporting new cross-disciplinary approaches to scholarship in craft
- Other topics that offer fresh perspectives within craft.
Funding Information
Grants up to $15,000.
Grant Period
January 1, 2026 to August 30, 2027.
Uses of Funds
- Funding is intended to support craft research.
- At least 85% of funding must be used for expenses directly related to conducting research, such as travel and living expenses; attending relevant archives, workshops, conferences, or symposia; subcontracted research assistance; stipends for interviews; commissioning research in the form of essay contributions; other contracted research services (such as photography); cost for support documentation such as images, rights to use images or text, photocopies, transcriptions, or other reproductions; purchase of primary source materials; and other incidental research expenses.
- For museums, galleries, universities, and organizations, please limit staffing and overhead costs to 15% of your total budget request. For example, if you are applying for $15,000 in support, total personnel and overhead costs should be a maximum of $2,250.
- For individuals, please provide a rationale for your personal stipend or honorarium in the budget narrative.
- Fifteen percent (15%) of funding may be used for research dissemination. This may include publication printing costs, website and digital database development, exhibition production, workshop facilitation fees, and symposium and conference–related expenses for research dissemination.
- For travel purposes, the Center for Craft recommends applicants use the following resources to estimate expenses: U.S. General Services Administration and Budget Your Trip.
- Capital equipment purchases are NOT eligible for support. Examples of capital equipment may include laptops, recorders, printers, or other items not listed.
- The Center for Craft requires that all grant recipients provide financial remuneration to working artists for their time, labor, and services rendered toward the awarded project scope and goals.
- When working with community members, the Center for Craft requires that all grant recipients provide financial remuneration for their time, labor, and services rendered towards the awarded project scope and goals.
Eligibility Criteria
- Proposals are welcome from applicants with a range of affiliations, including but not limited to, independent and academic researchers, artist-researchers, curators, organizations and institutions, and scholars.
- This grant is intended to support research and is NOT for the creation of artwork.
- This grant does NOT provide funding for already completed research or the dissemination of already completed research.
- Applicants must be:
- Able to receive taxable income in the United States for the duration of the grant
- Able to report this grant as income
- 18 years of age or older.
Review Criteria
- Program Goals Alignment: The proposal addresses one or more goals of the Craft Research Fund, such as conducting innovative research on critical issues in craft theory and history, investigating neglected questions of craft history and criticism, or engaging in cross-disciplinary approaches to scholarship in craft.
- Impact: The research is timely and needed. The dissemination plan will make a significant impact on the collective understanding of how and why craft matters.
- Feasibility: The project is feasible based on the timeline, applicant expertise, and budget reflected in the application.
For more information, visit Center for Craft.
