Guggenheim Fellowship 2026
Application deadline: 11:59 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, 16 September 2025
Now open to applicants in the United States and Canada
A Fellowship for Exceptional Individuals
The Guggenheim Fellowship supports individuals of outstanding talent who pursue scholarship in any field of knowledge or creative work in any art form, under the freest possible conditions.
For over a century, the Fellowship has enabled artists, writers, scholars, and scientists at the highest levels of achievement to pursue the work they are most compelled to do. Since its founding, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has awarded Fellowships to more than 19,000 individuals.
Disciplines
The Fellowship’s scope is uniquely broad, encompassing over 50 fields across four major categories:
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Creative Arts
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Social Sciences
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Natural Sciences
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Humanities
Celebrating Potential and Promise
Guggenheim Fellowships are not lifetime achievement awards. They are granted to individuals who have demonstrated exceptional ability in their field and show great promise for future accomplishments. The Fellowship recognises potential as much as it does past achievement, offering recipients an opportunity—and a challenge—to advance their work to new heights.
Freedom to Pursue Meaningful Work
The Foundation offers Fellows complete freedom to pursue their intellectual and creative work, without constraint or prescriptive outcomes. As one Fellow expressed in 1941:
“More than money goes with a Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Unmistakably it carries, as an added gift, freedom of the spirit.”
At the core of the Fellowship is a commitment to free inquiry, original thought, and individual vision. Fellows are encouraged to take risks, pivot, and explore new directions in their practice. The Foundation trusts that in doing so, Fellows will produce work that has a lasting impact.
Application Process
Fellowships are awarded through an annual open competition. Eligible individuals are encouraged to apply.
Comprehensive information on eligibility, the application process, and selection criteria is available on the Foundation’s website.
Apply Now
The 2026 competition for United States and Canada-based applicants is currently open.
Deadline: 11:59 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, 16 September 2025
Image credits: Alvin Ailey Dancing, 1960. Photograph by John Lindquist. © John Lindquist. Courtesy of the Harvard Theater Collection, Houghton Library.
