The Maine Arts Commission, in partnership with the Maine Community Foundation's Belvedere Downeast Handcraft Fund offers a functional craft fellowship for artists living in either Hancock or Washington Counties. This allows craft artists Downeast, where the Belvedere Fund has interests, to compete for a fellowship upon the special merits of their own art form without trying to fit their work into the definition of visual arts or traditional craft.

Contemporary studio or functional craft artists, such as jewelers or ceramicists, often transform ideas about form, function and community into something personal and unique. Inspired to try new approaches and materials, many contemporary studio craft artists reach across the local and look at other cultures and places for inspiration, working in a range of materials from clay, fiber, glass, leather, metal, paper, stone or wood.

It is the contemporary studio or functional craft artists that this fellowship is designed to serve. All other Individual Artist Fellowship eligibility and application process requirements apply.

For questions about the best match among the various fellowship categories please contact Julie Horn, Visual Arts Director, at 207/287-2790 or  vog.eniam@nroh.eiluj