TAFY - Teaching Artist Fellowship for Youth @ Springville Museum of Art

Overview

The Springville Museum of Art (SMA) invites artists or artist groups, especially those that identify as teaching artists, to apply for the 2025-2026 Teaching Artist Fellowship for Youth (the TAFY), a new artist-in-residence program at the Springville Museum of Art. This opportunity offers a $5,000 stipend and a $1,000 budget for supplies, framing, and exhibition preparation for a total of $6,000. 

The fellowship includes an exhibition co-curated by the artist with Museum staff, highlighting the artist’s work and process, and may also include work from the Museum’s Permanent Collection or other artists. This exhibition will be on display January – May 2026.The selected artist or artist group will have access to a studio space within the Museum. The artist will also be expected to engage with SMA’s community through open studio hours, school field trips, and other outreach and public program opportunities. 

The fellowship coincides with the Museum’s Annual Utah All-State High School Art Show and a main desired outcome of the fellowship is to give high school students access to engage with professional artists and their works and process. The selected artist or artist group will work with the Museum’s education team to design an engagement/programming plan to use during the All-State High School Art Show (Feb-Mar 2026). 

Fellowship Details

• Application Deadline: April 5, 2025

• Artist Selected: May 23, 2025 

• Fellowship Period: July 1, 2025 – June 14, 2026

• Studio Access: July 1, 2025 – June 14, 2026 in the Salisbury Gallery Studio

o The Salisbury Gallery Studio is approximately 20’ x 15’ with an East facing window. The gallery studio will be outfitted with temporary floor coverings and a room divider that can be locked. Museum staff will work with artist to determine what kinds of materials and processes will be appropriate for the studio space. 

o See a floor plan and images of the studio and gallery at this link. Note: the Salisbury gallery will be updated by July 1, 2025 with appropriate floor coverings and a dividing wall between the American and Salisbury Galleries. 

• Exhibition Period: January 2026 - May 2026 in the American Gallery

o Exhibition Installation: December 2025

o Exhibition Planning: 4 total meetings with Museum staff with one meeting held per month in August 2025, September 2025, October 2025, and November 2025.

o The American Gallery is approximately 20’ x 15’ with approximately 650 linear inches of 8’ tall wall space for hanging artwork. It is adjacent to the Salisbury Gallery Studio. See a floor plan and images at this link. 

• Onsite Commitment: 

o The artist must be onsite and engaging with the public during open studio hours or public programs or events for at least 120 hours during the fellowship. 

o 72 of those hours must take place February 7, 2026 - April 25, 2026 and the artist must be onsite at least 6 hours per week during Museum hours during those months to engage with the public. 

 Required Availability: At least 4 of those hours must be on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, or Fridays between 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM to engage with field trips and students. The other 2 hours can be during any Museum open hours (Mondays 6-8pm, Tuesdays-Saturdays, 10am-5pm, Wednesdays 10am-8pm). 

o The selected artist will make a plan with the Museum’s exhibition and program team to plan for the other 48 onsite hours during the Fellowship for a total of 120 hours of expected onsite public and program engagement

o The selected artist should also expect to spend 12-14 hours of time in planning and coordination (4-6 hours for exhibition planning, and 6-8 for program planning). 

o The total hourly commitment in programming and planning is 130-140 hours over the 11.5 month fellowship (6 hrs/week Feb 7 – Apr 25, 2026 and 2 hrs/week average the rest of the year). 

• Exhibition and Program Support:

o A $1,000 budget will be provided for materials, framing, exhibition preparation, travel, and any other costs. 

o The selected artist will not be expected to coordinate field trip, event, or outreach logistics, evaluations, or other administrative work, that will be conducted by our education, exhibition, and operations teams.

o The engagement/program and exhibition plan and proposals will be finalized in coordination with the Museum’s education and exhibition teams, and the selected artist will receive support and advisement from Museum staff in developing final programs, plans, and expectations. 

Eligibility:

This opportunity is open to emerging and established artists or artist groups working in all visual media. Artists must live in Utah. Artists do not need prior teaching experience, but an interest in community engagement and facilitating programs with Museum visitors and students is required. 

Application Requirements:

Interested artists should submit the following materials:

1. Statement of Intent or Interest: Explain why you are interested in the fellowship and how it aligns with your artistic practice and career goals.

2. Resume or CV (up to 3 pages): Include your exhibition and teaching or program history and any relevant experience.

3. Portfolio: A link to a website or a digital file of at least 10-12 artworks representative of your body of work. Optional to upload images directly to application in addition to website or digital portfolio. 

4. Exhibition Proposal: Provide a brief proposal (1-2 pages) for your exhibition in the American Gallery during the fellowship. This should include a title, thesis statement, and proposed object list or body of work. Artists may also propose including works from the Museum’s Permanent Collection in their exhibition or works by other Utah artists, but that is not required. The exhibition can include a combination of old and new work but must be ready to install December 2025. Please include photos or a link to a gallery of proposed works. Exhibitions should align with the Museum’s exhibition program goals and philosophy, which can be found at this link. 

This does not need to be a completely finalized or developed idea and can be honed and changed once on site. Prospective artists should expect to work with the Museum’s exhibition team to adapt the exhibition proposal for the Museum’s space and audience if selected. 

5. Engagement Proposal: In a 1–2-page proposal describe how you would engage Museum visitors, high school students, and the Springville community through your work and presence during the fellowship. The engagement proposal must include ideas for engaging the high school students Feb-Mar 2026 during the run of the All-State High School Art exhibition. It may also include ideas for other engagement with our various K-12, Community, and Public Art programs and events. You can see an overview of these programs at this link. 

Selection Criteria:

• Artistic excellence and originality

• Alignment of the artist’s practice with SMA’s mission to foster beauty and contemplation through life-affirming art and experience

• The artist’s commitment to and proposed strategies for engaging with the community, particularly with students and school groups

• Feasibility of the exhibition proposal and its connection to the artist’s work and the Museum’s mission and audiences

• Feasibility of engagement proposal 

Selection Committee:

• Allison Pinegar, SMA Head of Exhibitions and Programs

• Elena Free, SMA Education Supervisor

• Mirielle Sanford, SMA Community Programs Educator 

• Autumn Jensen, SMAA Board Member and Springville High School Art Teacher

Application Deadline

Applications must be received by April 5, 2025, 11:59pm.

How to Apply

Please submit all materials on Submittable. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Questions

For any questions about the Teaching Artist Fellowship for Youth, please contact Allison Pinegar at APinegar@springville.org 

Full information and FAQ can be found at https://www.smofa.org/tafy