The Spark Award for Oregon Artists

Eligible

CHECK BACK IN LATE APRIL 2025 FOR FULL ELIGIBILITY GUIDANCE

To be eligible for this grant program, applicants should be individual literary or media artists* who meet the following criteria:

• 30 years or older (as of 12/31/2025, no exceptions).
• have been a resident in the state of Oregon for the last five years (since at least 2020) and at the time of application and anticipate staying in residence for the next year. This includes enrolled members of tribal communities situated in the state. A “resident of Oregon” is a person who would be required to file a resident Oregon income tax return.
• 7+ years of active artistic practice in their primary artistic discipline or combination of disciplines (not including schooling). Miller Foundation defines an "active artistic practice "as presenting their work regularly to public audiences. This could be via readings, public screenings, exhibitions, residencies, talks, etc.
• at a midcareer stage of their professional practice (“midcareer” is defined here as an artist able to demonstrate a sustained artistic practice of 7+ years in their discipline, with likely substantial future contributions to the field). This program is not focused on supporting artists who are in an emerging stage nor those who are in an advanced stage of their careers.
• ongoing practice involves creating new original work (rather than interpreting, translating, arranging, or copying the work of others).
• have actively presented their work to audiences/the community on a regular basis.
• not currently enrolled in a creative degree program (Associate, low residency, undergraduate or graduate).
• not a former recipient of a Spark Award from the Miller Foundation.
• not be a family member of an employee or board member of the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, or the Foundation's namesakes (Family member is defined as a spouse, domestic partner, parent, child or sibling.)
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* additional discipline-specific eligibility requirements for the 2025 cycle will be available in late April 2025.

Not Eligible

1. Applicant cannot currently be enrolled in a creative degree program (associates, low residency, undergraduate, graduate). The award funds cannot support tuition toward a degree program.
2. Applicant cannot be an emerging artist (less than seven years of professional practice     outside of schooling) and cannot be an artist in the later stages of an artistic career. The Foundation defines ‘advanced’ as a well-established artist who has experienced significant regional and national recognition and achievements over an extended period.
3. Artists working in the performing and visual arts are not eligible to apply in 2025.‍
4. Applicants employed by an arts organization in an artistic or leadership capacity are only     eligible if they have an individual artistic practice independent from the work of that organization.*‍
5. This funding is to support individual artists rather than artistic teams. If you work within a collaborative, you must be able to represent your ongoing individual and original contributions in your application narrative and work samples.‍‍‍
6. Applicant cannot be a family member of an employee or board member of the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, or the Foundation's namesakes (Family member is defined  as a spouse, domestic partner, parent, child or sibling).

* These grant funds are intended to support the work of individual artists rather than the work of arts organizations. Arts organizations are eligible to receive operating support through other Miller grant programs. We would like to ensure that organizations who receive funding from the Miller Foundation to support their staff and operations are not receiving duplicate support through this program (i.e. supporting an artist through Miller organizational support AND a Spark Award).

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