If you’re an artist looking for a glimmer of good news in a bleak landscape, today’s your lucky day: the Museum of Arts and Design is now accepting applications for the 2021 Burke Prize.

What’s the prize, you ask? An unrestricted grant of $50,000 along with an exhibition at the museum (alongside a select group of finalists).

The Burke Prize is a contemporary art prize for a new generation of artists working in a world of expanded media with a foundation in glass, fiber, clay, metal, or wood. Applicants must be at or under 45 years of age and working in the United States to be eligible. 

What’s more, for 2021, one artist will additionally be selected for the biannual Burke Residency at the Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass, a one-month to five-week residency. 

Indira Allegra, Casting III, Lineage III, Lineage VI, and Lineage IV (from “BODYWARP”) 2017. Photo by Jenna Bascom, courtesy of the Museum of Arts and Design.

The museum says it is seeking to shine a light on artists working in these traditionally craft-based materials whose “highly accomplished work is conceptually rigorous, relevant, and pushes the boundaries of materials and creative processes.”

Recent winners of the prize include Cannupa Hanska Luger (2018) and Indira Allegra (2019). Allegra will join this year’s jury alongside a diverse and distinguished jury of curators, artists, and scholars, which this year include:  Elissa Auther (chief curator at the Museum of Art and Design), Andrew Gardner (curatorial assistant of architecture and design at MoMA), and Gabriel de Guzman (curator and director of exhibitions at Smack Mellon Gallery).

Cannupa Hanska Luger, Everyone (2018) Photo by Jenna Bascom, courtesy of the Museum of Arts and Design.

The prize takes inspiration from the disciplines that shaped the American studio craft movement and is named for Marian and Russell Burke, who endowed the award and are enthusiastic collectors of craft and longtime supporters of the Museum of Arts and Design.

The winner of the 2021 Burke Prize will be announced at the museum’s annual fundraising gala, the MAD Ball, in the fall of next year.

Burke Prize applications are accepted through May 31, 2020. Click here to apply.