The College of Arts and Science is proud to host the Berg Global Artist-in-Residence Fellowship program. The program brings accomplished visual artists to Vanderbilt for a residential fellowship designed to support the dissemination of new perspectives on the visual arts throughout the Vanderbilt community.
The Berg Fellowship provides a generous $50,000 award stipend to cover both the expenses of residency (other than accommodation, which is provided) and the honorarium for the semester-long fellowship.
Nominations are currently open for the 2027-28 academic year.
Eligibility
The Berg Global Artist-in-Residence Fellowship is open to accomplished visual artists who:
- Have a demonstrated history of successful collaboration, co-creation, and public-facing work
- Are prepared for meaningful engagement with the Vanderbilt community (faculty, staff, and students) during a residential fellowship that requires their regular presence on campus during the fellowship term (specific plans for the residential aspect of the fellowship will be arranged with individual Berg fellows)
- Are open to exploring interdisciplinary connections between the visual arts and other academic disciplines
Program Details
Fellowship Goals
While fellows are invited to pursue their individual work throughout the fellowship, they are also expected to:
- Collaborate with instructors and students for a designated undergraduate art or arts-related course (studio art, film production, etc.) with which they will meet multiple times over the course of the semester
- Create a workshop or artist's talk about their work
- Work with faculty and students to conduct/create some combination of the following: workshops, lectures, exhibits, art projects, panel discussions, classes, and public-facing events
Faculty Host
Though the selected artist will have broad appeal and engage with various units on campus, they will be embedded in a specific academic unit, typically that of their faculty host. The faculty host will receive a $5,000 salary supplement to serve as the primary point of contact, coordinate the residency, and facilitate the artist's needs while on campus.
Nominations
Nominations are currently open for the 2027-28 academic year until September 30, 2026.
Nomination Process:
- Nominations must be submitted by a team composed of at least two faculty, preferably not from the same academic unit. The academic units represented on the team need not all be arts units. Staff members from arts-adjacent campus units (e.g., museum, library, Curb Center) may also be part of a nomination team.
- An initial letter of inquiry (LOI), no more than 2 pages, must be submitted on behalf of the nomination team by September 30, 2026. The letter should include:
- An introduction to the potential Berg Fellow and a brief rationale for their selection
- Information re: which course(s)/faculty/student(s) the Berg Fellow will work with, and in which capacities
- A tentative schedule of the artist’s time in residence in Nashville (please note that the artist’s local activities and visits should coincide with times during the semester that students are in session and avoid posted exam periods (the best times will be either late August – early November or January – early May)
- The expected artistic activity (broadly defined) and how it will be communicated to a wider audience
- A link to the artist’s portfolio or work
- Any relevant budget or space information—i.e., if the Berg Fellow would require a particular kind of space/equipment and if the nominating team anticipates materials expenses or programming expenses
- Evidence of prior communication with the artist that indicates interest in the fellowship
Please address your nomination LOI to Vice Dean Bonnie Dow and send it to Zoe Canales at zoe.canales@vanderbilt.edu.
Timeline
- September 30: Letter of Inquiry due
- October 15: Result of LOI review communicated
- November 15: For those whose LOI is approved, complete proposals due
- December 31: Successful nominating teams notified
- August 2026 or January 2027: Berg Fellows begin residency