Call for applications 2020–21: The Starr Fellowship

The Royal Academy Schools is seeking applications for The Starr Fellowship, a year-long fellowship for a visual artist who is a US national for 2021–22. The Fellowship provides a studio at the RA Schools and a bursary of GBP 26,000.  

The ideal candidate will have an independently established contemporary studio practice and will have taken part in exhibitions and/or other projects. Teaching experience and an MFA or similar is desirable. 

The artist will have access to the resources at the RA Schools to further their practice. The postgraduate programme of academic lectures and talks, technical facilities and expertise are all available to the Starr Fellow including the RA’s extensive Collection, Library and Archive.  The fellow is invited to present their work at the RA Schools at the end of the Fellowship in the form of a studio show or a panel discussion. For more information about the Royal Academy Schools and our facilities please see our Prospectus.

There are opportunities for the Starr Fellow to extend their teaching experience contributing to the RA Schools programme which supports a cohort of postgraduate students. The Starr Fellow delivers an artist’s talk at the beginning of the year and in addition, they contribute to the critique of work of year one students through attendance at group crits. 

For further details and to get started on your application visit our application portal.

The RA Schools is an independent school of contemporary fine art, proud to offer free tuition. The Starr Fellow works alongside the school’s faculty on its three-year postgraduate programme which is designed to respond to the individual needs of each participant and offers the opportunity to be part of a unique and close-knit community of artists. Part of the Royal Academy of Arts, it is Britain’s longest established art school, located beneath the main galleries in Burlington House on Piccadilly in central London.

The Starr Fellowship is made possible through the support of the Starr Foundation, which was established in 1955 by Cornelius Vander Starr, an insurance entrepreneur who founded C.V. Starr & Co. and other companies. Later these companies were merged by Starr’s successor Maurice R. Greenberg into what became the American International Group Inc. Mr Starr, a pioneer of globalisation, set up his first insurance venture in Shanghai in 1919. He died in 1968 at the age of 76, leaving his estate to The Starr Foundation. 

Key dates
Application deadline: May 31, 11:59pm GMT
Shortlisting: June 1–11
Video interviews: June 22–25

Please note that the timing of The Starr Fellowship 2020-21 may change due to COVID-19. This will be discussed with shortlisted candidates at interview.