NEW FELLOWSHIP AND GRANT DEADLINES

(PLAYWRIGHTS) LGBT Grants
The Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation awards yearly grants to playwrights who submit full-length plays, screenplays, musicals or operas. All works submitted must present the gay and lesbian lifestyle in a positive manner and be based on, or inspired by, a historic person, culture, event, or work of art. Writing contests close on November 30th of each year. Grants are $1,000 and are not limited to a single winner. For more information, visit the website: http://aabbfoundation.org.

(WRITERS) Wisconsin Institute Fellowship
Poets and fiction writers who have completed an MFA or a PhD in a creative writing program (other than the University of Wisconsin-Madison's MFA program) by the August 15th prior to the fellowship year are eligible to apply for a Wisconsin Institute poetry or fiction fellowship provided they have not had a book of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction or other creative work published or accepted for publication as of the postmark date of application. Fellowship recipients must spend the academic year (approximately August 15-May 15) in Madison at the University of Wisconsin, where they will write, teach one creative writing workshop each semester, and give one public reading from their work in progress. Poetry and fiction fellowships pay $27,000 for the academic year. Fellows also receive generous health benefits. Applications are due in February, 2010. Check website for details: http://creativewriting.wisc.edu/fellowships/poetryfiction.html.

(PLAYWRIGHTS) STAGE Script Prize
STAGE (Scientists, Technologists & Artists Generating Exploration) presents the STAGE International Script Competition. The winning script will receive $10,000 USD. The prize is given at a public awards event with distinguished professionals from the worlds of theatre, film, science and/or technology, to be held in conjunction with a staged reading/performance/demonstration with a cast of professional actors. In addition, the winning playwright will have access to advice and guidance from professional theatre and film artists as well as experts in the fields of science, engineering and technology. Deadline is December 15, 2009. For more info, go to: http://stage.cnsi.ucsb.edu/guidelines/guidelines.html

(PERF. ARTISTS) Travel Grants
Association of Performing Arts Presenters / The Cultural Exchange Fund is a travel subsidy program supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to assist US based presenters in building partnerships and collaborations with international touring artists, companies, and their collaborators in seeing the work of artists from around the world in its cultural context. Arts Presenters will award travel subsidies to individual presenters, presenting organizations and to groups of presenters traveling to see work of artists, companies and/or to develop and advance projects with international artists and their collaborators. All applicants must be active members of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters.

The maximum amount awarded per individual organization, inclusive of travel costs and per diem, is $2,000. Group travel subsidies will be awarded only to groups of three or more presenters from different member presenting organizations. The maximum award for a group is $10,000, with no more than $2,000 awarded per organization. For eligibility guidelines visit: http://www.apapconference.org/cultural-exchange-fund-application-guidelines-final.html
Deadline: July, 31, 2009.

(ALL DISCPLINES) Economic Relief Grants
The Mayer Foundation: The mission of the Foundation is to make economic relief grants to needy individuals who are distressed or suffering as a result of poverty, low income or lack of financial resources, including as a result of natural or civil disasters, or from temporary impoverishment, loss of employment, death or incapacity of a family wage earner or damage to home and property; to provide health care to those who cannot afford health care or whose health insurance or financial resources are insufficient to cover medical needs; and to award scholarship benefits and student aid to high school, college or graduate school students to enable the recipients to complete an undergraduate or graduate education in the field of their choice at the college or graduate school of their choice. Grant sizes vary but generally range from $2,500 to $5,000 per grant. For more information, go to: http://www.mayerfoundation.org/.

DEADLINES FOR EMERGING AND MID-CAREER WRITERS!

Here are some upcoming opportunities for both emerging and mid-career writers...and by the way, if you live in the U.S. you should check your home state arts council to see if there are any deadlines coming up for fellowships and grants. Lots of them have deadlines in July and early September so check my sidebar on the right for the correct link.

The Alice Hayes Fellowship for Social Justice
Ragdale Foundation, Lake Forest, Illinois. This Fellowship is awarded to a woman fiction or nonfiction writer who is working to bring awareness to social justice, environmental justice, or peace. The Alice Hayes Fellow will receive a four week residency at Ragdale and a $500 stipend. Deadline: September 15, 2009. Visit: www.ragdale.org/hayesfellowship for application details or call Regin Igloria, Director of Artists-in-Residence at 847.234.1063 x. 206. ***(BTW--I have stayed at this art colony, which is about an hour outside of Chicago, many times and love it! It is my home away from home.)

Lesbian Writers Fund
The application deadline for this grant was June 30th but was just EXTENDED to July 15th, 2009! The Lesbian Writers' Fund offers grants of $10,000 to U.S. emerging lesbian writers in fiction and poetry who have published at least once in a magazine, literary journal, or anthology. Write to Lesbian Writers' Fund Awards at above address or see the web site for guidelines and application. Applicants may submit in only one category each year. This fund does not include nonfiction, screenplays, or plays. For more information, email grants@astraeafoundation.org or go to: www.astraeafoundation.org.

Emerging Voices Rosenthal Fellowships
PEN Center USA West, Emerging Voices Rosenthal Fellowships, Antioch University, 400 Corporate Pointe, Culver City, CA 90230. Several Emerging Voices Rosenthal Fellowships, with cash prize of $1,000 each, are available to emerging writers from minority, immigrant, and underserved communities. The program includes a one-on-one mentoring relationship with an established writer, master classes with established novelists, classes in the Writers' Program at UCLA Extension, informal visits with writers, and literary readings. Write to Emerging Voices at above address or see website (www.penusa.org/go/voices/) for details. E-Mail: awards@penusa.org. Deadline: September 5, 2009.

Writers' Center Fellowship and Residency
Bronx Council on the Arts, 1738 Hone Avenue, Bronx, New York 10461
The Bronx Writers' Center Fellowship annually awards two nine-month literary fellowships to writers who reside in the Bronx, regardless of age but who are not enrolled as full-time students. An award of $5,000 is given to each winner and a community service project at the Bronx Writers' Center is required. All eligible applicants must submit four copies of a representative body of work of no more than ten pages of poetry or twenty pages of fiction. The work should display professional accomplishment and their commitment to a literary career. Apply to Bronx Writers' Center Fellowship at above address or see web site for more details: www.bronxarts.org/bwc_fellowships_guidelines.asp. E-Mail Address: lydia@bronxarts.org Application deadline: September 4, 2009.

GRANTS FOR LESBIAN WRITERS

(WRITERS) Astraea Lesbian Action Foundation: e-mail Address: info@astraea.org, website: www.astraea.org. The Lesbian Writers' Fund Awards offer grants of $10,000 each to emerging lesbian writers in fiction and poetry who have published at least once in a magazine, literary journal, or anthology. Write to Lesbian Writers' Fund Awards at above address or see the web site for guidelines and application. Application Deadline: June 30