The Mittal Institute’s Visiting Artist Fellowship (VAF) is an opportunity for mid-career visual artists from around South Asia to spend eight weeks on the Harvard University campus. The VAF is research-centred, providing artists with the vast resources of Harvard’s intellectual community to enhance their artistic practice.
Programme dates are 20 September to 15 November 2025 or 20 February to 15 April 2026.
Selected artists must conduct an artist’s talk/seminar on campus and in the region, as appropriate and hold a curated exhibition of their work at the Mittal Institute office.
Eligibility includes the following:
- Artists who are current residents of South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Maldives, or Sri Lanka).
- Mid-career artists with an established body of work, who are actively exhibiting current work in professional artistic venues, such as gallery and museum spaces.
- Demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship; special consideration will be given to artists whose research proposals are related to pertinent South Asian issues.
The Visiting Artist Fellowship provides:
- Each artist receives a stipend of 8,000 USD for the 8-week duration of the programme to cover all costs incurred during the fellowship at the Mittal Institute. These include but are not limited to accommodations, meals, health insurance, domestic travels, etc.
- One round-trip economy travel cost from South Asia to Cambridge, USA.
- An orientation to the campus in the first week of the artist’s fellowship that includes information and access to Harvard’s extensive physical and digital libraries and archives, and the Harvard Art Museums.
- A shared office space at the Institute.
- Opportunity to attend classes on campus pending individual faculty approval.
