Applying to programs

On Artsume, grants, residencies, exhibitions, open calls, fellowships, and jobs are all programs. Finding the right ones is the first half of the work. Moving through the application is the second.

Find programs on Explore

Explore has three tabs: Programs, Organizations, and People. Start on Programs. You can read the results as a List or on a Map, and the map narrows to the area you are looking at.

These controls sit above the Programs results:

• Filters opens the full Program filters dialog. Nothing you pick applies until you choose Apply filters.
• Pro matches narrows the list to the programs Artsume has matched to your practice. It appears only if you have the artist side turned on.
• Favorites shows the programs you have hearted. It replaces your other filters rather than narrowing them further, so they come back when you turn it off. See Favorites.
• Saved searches holds the filter sets you named and kept.
• Reset appears when there is something to undo, and clears the filters this tab can set. Each tab has its own.

The other two tabs carry their own row. Organizations offers Open programs, and People offers Artists and Arts professionals.

The search box reads a program's title, its description, its theme and its requirements, and the organizations behind the programs, so a word from any of those finds it. The site-wide search (Cmd+K or Ctrl+K) is a different tool: it looks up people and organizations, not programs.

What you can filter by

The Program filters dialog covers:

• Type: fourteen of them, from Exhibitions and Residencies through Grants, Fellowships, Prizes & Awards, Commissions, Public Art, Jobs, Internships, Workshops & Programs, Festivals & Fairs, Open Calls, General Submissions, and Other. Pick as many as you like.
• Status: Open or Past.
• Discipline: the media and practices a program is open to.
• Audience: Artists, Arts professionals, or Artists and arts professionals.
• Deadline: Next 7 Days, Next 30 Days, Next 3 Months, Next 6 Months, or No deadline.
• Location: Local, State or province, Country, or Worldwide, anchored to your own location.
• Career stage: Emerging artist, Mid-career, Established, or Open to all.
• Compensation: Paid or Unpaid.
• Application fee: Free or Has fee.

Save a search you keep repeating

When you have a filter set worth returning to, open Saved searches and choose Save this search…. Give it a name, such as "Ceramics residencies", and save. Artsume keeps the filters and your search words together, and emails you when a new program fits them. Saved searches are part of Artsume Pro.

Read the program before you apply

Open any program to see the full listing: what it offers, who it is open to, the deadline, and what you need to submit. The sidebar shows the fee, the places available, and how long you have left.

Read the eligibility section first. Applying where you do not meet the requirements wastes your time and the organization's.

Start your application

The apply button tells you where you stand:

• Apply now starts a new application.
• Continue application picks up a draft you already began.
• Applications closed means the deadline has passed.
• Opening soon means the program is not accepting applications yet.
• Not open to you means the program is running, but for a different audience. The button explains which. Signed out, you get no button at all: Artsume cannot tell yet whether the program is open to you, so it says who it is for and offers you a way to sign in.

You need an Artsume profile with your name and handle set. If yours is not ready, Artsume takes you to finish it and brings you back. See Creating your profile.

If you hold both the artist side and the arts-professional side, and the program accepts both, Artsume asks which one you are applying as before the form opens.

Move through the application

The application is a guided form. A stepper across the top shows where you are, and your answers save as you type. A save indicator next to Continue confirms it, reading Saved once your work is stored. You can leave and come back whenever you like.

The steps are built from what each program asks for, so no two applications are identical. A program that wants no portfolio has no Portfolio step at all. The common ones:

• Your Profile: your contact details, pre-filled. This is also where an artist statement field appears when the program asks for one, marked as pre-filled from your profile so you know to tailor it.
• Portfolio: pick works for this application. A counter tracks what you have chosen against the program's limit, and Add to portfolio lets you add a new piece without leaving the picker. Some programs accept extra works beyond the included limit for an added fee. See Building your portfolio.
• CV & Experience: choose which lines from your CV to include, grouped by section. You can add a CV line here too. See Creating your CV.
• Additional Questions: the program's own questions. An organization that splits its form into named sections gets those names here instead.

Use Back and Continue to move between steps.

Application fee

Many programs are free, and the review step confirms it. When a program charges, you pay on the review step before you can submit. Payment runs through Stripe's checkout, and you return to your application when it is done.

Two things can soften a fee:

• Pay what you can: a slider between the program's minimum and its full fee, with the suggested amount marked.
• Request a fee waiver: write a short explanation and send it. The organization reviews it, and Artsume emails you when someone does.

If you selected more portfolio works than the fee covers, the extra works are added to your total and itemized. Submit application stays disabled until payment clears or a waiver is approved.

Review and submit

The last step is Review. It lists each step with an Edit link so you can jump back and fix anything.

Before you send it, you check a box confirming the work is your own and agreeing to the organization's submission terms, which you can open and read from that step. A line underneath tells you exactly what travels with the application: your name, your email, and your phone number, which the organization uses to reach you about it.

Choose Submit application and it moves into your Applications, where you follow it from here.

Submitting also connects you to that organization, and this is one of the two connections that need no acceptance step, the other being a reply to a request. You asked them for something, so the relationship follows from the application itself. You and the organization start tracking each other, you appear in their artists, and the contact details on the application stay with their record of it. Your network covers what that shares.

Programs listed from the web

Some programs on Artsume were gathered from around the web rather than posted by the organization. The organization runs its own application on its own site, so Artsume cannot collect your submission.

Applying to one of these creates a tracked application in your account and opens a workspace for it. From there you can Open application portal to complete the real application on their site, gather your materials, keep a checklist, set deadline reminders, and record the outcome yourself. It keeps a program you found off Artsume in the same list as everything else.

Next steps

• Managing applications: track status and respond to organizations after you submit
• Favorites: save a program now and apply later
• Building your portfolio: strengthen what you draw from
• Creating your CV: keep your CV ready to pull from
• Best practices: advice for writing responses and choosing what to send