MUUS Collection Research Fellowship 2026

The MUUS Collection is an American 20th-century photography collection based just outside Manhattan, holding nearly half a million images and supporting ephemera — contact sheets, personal papers, manuscripts, and publications. The current archives include the work of André de Dienes, Larry Fink, Fred W. McDarrah (the downtown New York scene, Dylan, Ginsberg, Warhol, and the Stonewall Uprising), Rosalind Fox Solomon, Deborah Turbeville, and Alfred Wertheimer.

The Research Fellowship is the Collection's inaugural grant program, launched in 2026. One $20,000 grant is awarded to a curator or academic for time in the physical archives and on the new MUUSEUM Research Portal, with the goal of producing an exhibition or publication concept drawn from the holdings. The grant covers travel to the archive in full, separately from the cash award.

The fellowship runs November 2026 through November 2027, with mentorship sessions across the year from the advisory board: Nathalie Herschdorfer (Director, Photo Elysée), Sarah Meister (Executive Director, Aperture), Paul Roth (Director, Image Centre), Mark Sealy OBE (Executive Director, Autograph ABP), and Sophie Wright (Executive Director, MUUS Collection).

Eligibility is restricted to curators and academics — this is a research grant, not an artist's fellowship. Applications open May 1 and close July 31, 2026. The winner is decided in October 2026 and announced publicly at Paris Photo in November.