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.
In 2025, two selected individuals will have the opportunity to move through the Spillway Fellowship Program.
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.
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.
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.
The Spillway Fellowship award of $10,000 covers these fellows’ time, reflection, and creative practice in engaging and learning from the land, cultures, and communities of the Winona region – and, from those relationships, creating work and presenting it publicly at the conclusion of the fellowship. Travel, food, and lodging costs are directly supported by Art of the Rural, as are costs associated with the form of public presentation chosen by the fellow.
Half of the stipend will be provided at the start of the fellowship, with the second half of the stipend provided after the first visit to Winona.
We welcome either video or written responses to each narrative application question. If you choose to provide written responses, please limit your answers to approximately 2,000 characters or 350 words per question. If you choose to make video submissions, please limit responses to approximately 2 minutes per question. Video submissions can be recorded directly in the application form.
We have also provided a text-based version of the application as PDF and DOCX above. If you need additional support or a different format, please contact our Programs Associate Hannah at hannah@artoftherural.org.
Fellows will be selected by a multidisciplinary panel comprised of Art of the Rural staff and community partners.
Art of the Rural is a nonprofit collaborative organization that works to resource artists and culture bearers to build the field, change narratives, and bridge divides. Our initiatives are long-term, trust-based efforts that co-create spaces for exchange and impact across the traditional dividing lines of place, practice, and lived experience.
Spillway is a long-term, collaborative initiative grounded in the cultures, communities, and histories of the Upper Mississippi River region. Through support for artists, culture bearers, artisans, and storytellers – alongside the local organizations that support them – Spillway works to create the conditions for engaged projects that honor diverse lived experience, deepen regional relationships, and build rural-urban networks of knowledge-sharing and exchange that will create opportunities for artists, culture bearers, and artisans to thrive, connect with new colleagues and audiences.
The Spillway Fellowship Program is supported by the Jerome Foundation, and offers early career artists and culture bearers the unique opportunity to advance their practice within this evolving environment that has been cultivated by the range of partners in this region. Our local Spillway partners include the Honoring Dakota Project, Engage Winona, the Winona County Historical Society, and The Cedar Tree Project. Explore our website to learn more Spillway and our work in the region here.
Winona-based artist & creative community maker Sharon Mansur will serve as a fellowship guide and community liaison to provide support, answer questions, make needed connections, and more.
Sharon Mansur is a Lebanese American dance and interdisciplinary artist, curator, educator, and community mover & shaker based in Winona, MN, Dakota land. Her performances, visual installations, and screendance projects have been shared nationally and internationally. She facilitates The Cedar Tree Project, creating, presenting, and sharing Arab/SWANA (Southwest Asian North African) centered contemporary art and artists, and SHIFT~ performance salons, supporting new experimental collaborations among Winona area creatives. Learn more about Sharon at mansurdance.com
The Jerome Foundation, founded in 1964 by artist and philanthropist Jerome Hill (1905-1972), honors his legacy through multi-year grants to support the creation, development, and presentation of new works by early-career artists. Learn more at jeromefdn.org
Engage Winona is a 501(c)3 nonprofit cultivating stronger communities in southeast Minnesota by reigniting community participation through dialogue, support, and training. Our programs bring people together, spark ideas, and cultivate the conditions for a community where we all belong, connect, and contribute. Learn more at engagewinona.org
Winona County Historical Society (WCHS) explores the storied past of the region with engaging exhibits, archives, an art gallery, tours, and activities in the heart of Winona's historic downtown, while providing a space where people of all backgrounds come together to celebrate the diverse tapestry of the human past. Learn more at winonahistory.org
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The Honoring Dakota Project (HDP) is an initiative that creates community engagements, projects, and events that provide education to uncover shared stories between Dakota and Non-Native communities, bridge cultures, and create a space for healing. Learn more at honoringdakota.org
The Cedar Tree Project is a creative platform that supports and amplifies Arab/SWANA contemporary art and artists, inviting deeper understanding, empathy, and engagement through creative exchange. Learn more at cedartreeproject.com
Winona, Minnesota, is a town located in Dakota homelands on the banks of the Mississippi River. The city and county derive their name from “Winuŋna” (wee-NEW-nuh), a Dakota descriptive word meaning “first-born who is a daughter.” The closest Native Nation to Winona County is Prairie Island Indian Community, located approximately 75 miles upriver.
Winona is part of what’s known as the Driftless region. Because it was never glaciated during the last ice age (and without the typical glacial deposits known as drift), its terrain features steep hills, forested ridges, deeply incised river valleys, and karst formations, including spring-fed waterfalls and cold-water trout streams.
Roughly 25,000 people live in Winona, and just under 50,000 live in Winona County. The City of Winona features three colleges and universities, numerous industries and entrepreneurial enterprises, rich outdoor recreation opportunities, and a longstanding community-minded arts and cultural sector.
Please find further demographic information on Winona here. To learn more about this region, please refer to Mni Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota by Gwen Westerman and Bruce White and see the sites for Visit Winona, the Winona County Historical Society, and the Honoring Dakota Project.
If you have any general or clarifying questions about the Spillway Fellowship Program or application process, please contact us at info@artoftherural.org.
During the on-site portions of the fellowship, Spillway Navigator Sharon Mansur will serve as a local guide and community liaison. Learn more about Sharon above!
If you have any questions concerning the accessibility of the application or the program, please contact our Programs Associate Hannah at hannah@artoftherural.org.
If you need translation assistance, we recommend reaching out to our friends at Project FINE by calling 507-452-4100 or outside of regular business hours at 507-459-1190, or visit assistance projectfine.org/interpreter-request
Art of the Rural defines an “early career” artist or culture bearer as an individual who is on their creative journey in their respective disciplines and has shown a focus on engaging with audiences through exhibitions, performances, social events, publications, partnerships, etc., but has not yet achieved sustained, wider recognition or support for their work. These artists and culture bearers have less than 10 years of experience and are in the midst of putting together the promising aspects of their career (critical reviews, regional grants, residencies, publications, fellowships), but all of those pieces are not yet present together.
While early career artists and culture bearers can be in any stage of their lives, this fellowship opportunity is not available to individuals currently enrolled in full-time degree programs.
According to our friends at A Blade of Grass, a socially-engaged artist or culture bearer:
We recognize you or your collaborator may not use these terms to describe your work or creative practice - we still encourage your application.
Yes! Please list them on the application form. Please note that the fellowship award will be split between you and your collaborator.
Yes! Please let us know on the application form so we can plan to accommodate you during the Winona visits. Please note that there are few accommodations in Winona that welcome pets.
Studio space will be available as needed by selected fellows. Please let us know in your application what kind of creative workspace you would need, if any. We can partner with spaces including the Winona County Historical Center, MN Conservatory for the Arts, Winona Arts Center, and Winona State University.
During the multi-day visits and community gatherings in Winona, options include Prairie Island Campground tiny houses and campers, excellent downtown Airbnb options, and hotel lodging on the Highway 61 corridor.
You can get to Winona by bus, train, or car. The nearest airport is Rochester International Airport (RST). A car is optional during the on-site portions of this fellowship in Winona. Art of the Rural staff can assist with transportation needs. Bicycles are also available - please bring your own helmet!
The final public presentation can take a variety of forms, depending on your creative practice and preferences. This could be an exhibition, talk, workshop, or other event developed throughout the fellowship, to take place during our gathering in Fall 2026 in Winona. You will complete this in conjunction with one of our community partners.
For some relevant examples from Art of the Rural’s programming, see the following:
In Fall 2025, fellows Autumn Cavender will present an exhibition of her work, including her installation House of the Skin Painters, and Cole Redhorse Taylor will share new ledger art works.
Yes. Fellows are responsible for paying taxes on their award. It is strongly encouraged that you check with a tax professional to learn more about this process.
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