ANNUAL PLANNING GUIDE
FOR HOUSTON ARTISTS
What are your artistic career goals for the next year? Participating in a festival? A residency? Applying for a big grant? Or simply making it through tax season? Use the guide below to help you plan ahead for whatever goals you aim to accomplish this year!
NEED HELP SETTING YOUR GOALS?
Watch this workshop video and download the accompanying free toolkit to follow along and start your goal-setting journey now! This will help you visualize and realize your own version of success. Use this as an interactive guide to help you track and pursue your goals!
Join TALA’s resident CPA, Lisa Sretenovic and Kathy Ploch for a 60-minute webinar structured with artists in mind, this seminar is designed to walk you through your tax return, addressing common artist concerns and important IRS regulations pertaining to creative practices.
Free to Attend | Livestreamed on YouTube
This event took place on February 10, 2026
ARTIST GRANTS
Dance Source Houston: Dancer Fund Application
Through the Dancer Fund, Dance Source Houston provides direct support to freelance dance artists who have received payment from choreographers and/or organizations for their project-based, performance-related work. The fund matches up to $500 per individual in payment(s) for performance project artist fees per annual cycle. Dancers may apply more than once to receive the $500 maximum award. A separate application must be submitted for each project.
The Dancer Fund is generously supported by Houston Endowment. During the 2024-2025 season cycle, DSH awarded a total of $30,000 to freelance dancers through the program. The application for the current cycle is now open and will remain open until the fund has depleted. The 2025-26 funding cycle will open for applications in December 2025 to support performances taking place July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026.
DEADLINE: June 1, 2026
Houston Arts Alliance: LET CREATIVITY HAPPEN!
The Let Creativity Happen! (LCH) grant category provides funds of up to $2,500 for specific programs that amplify artistic creativity and innovation taking place in the City of Houston. Let Creativity Happen grants are designed to encourage artists, creative individuals, and organizations to take creative risks that may not qualify for more traditional funding opportunities. Awards will support innovative ideas that redefine artistic boundaries, reshape the conversation about art and art experiences, and/or establish unique opportunities to experience art.
(APPROXIMATE) DEADLINES:
- Round 1: April
- Round 2: June
- Round 3: September
Houston Arts Alliance: City's Initiative
The City’s Initiative grant program provides funding to individual artists, creatives, and nonprofits for strategic and creative opportunities to engage visitors and residents while building upon Houston’s cultural identity and tourism. Proposed activities should not be a part of the applicant’s regular programming or annual schedule of activities or events.
Grant expenses are restricted to project related costs, which include artist fees, and marketing costs. Typical awards are between $5,000 and $10,000. A preliminary meeting with grants staff is encouraged to discuss the details of your proposed project and ensure a successful submission at least two weeks prior to the application deadline.
(APPROXIMATE) DEADLINES:
- Round 1: April
- Round 2: June
- Round 3: September
Houston Arts Alliance: Support for Artists and Creative Individuals
The Support for Artists and Creative Individuals (SACI) grant provides funds of up to $15,000 for specific projects that create and present new works of art or complete work already in progress throughout Houston. Applications are accepted from all artistic disciplines. SACI grants are funded by City of Houston via the Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) and awarded based on cash-in-hand.
DEADLINE: Typically between June and July
The Idea Fund
The Idea Fund is a re-granting program administered by DiverseWorks in partnership with Aurora Picture Show and Project Row Houses and funded by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Grants will support innovative, experimental, public-facing visual art projects that expand our understanding of how art exists in the world, address community needs, or exemplify new ways of working in, for, and with community. The Idea Fund will award a total of $60,000 in Round 19 to artists or collectives in the Greater Houston Area with grants up to $5,000.
DEADLINE: January 5, 2026
The Gottlieb Foundation Individual Support Grant
The Foundation wishes to encourage artists who have dedicated their lives to developing their art, regardless of their level of commercial success. Please note that these grants are available only to individual painters, sculptors, and printmakers who have worked in a mature phase of art for 20 years or more. The Gottlieb Foundation does not fund organizations, educational institutions, students, graphic artists, or those working in crafts. The disciplines of photography, film, video, or related forms are not eligible unless the work directly involves, or can be interpreted as, painting or sculpture. The Foundation does not fund exhibitions, installations, or projects of any kind.
DEADLINE: (Submissions are currently closed) The next call for application will open October 15, 2026 and close January 15, 2027
ARTIST RESIDENCIES
Fresh Arts Space Taking Artist Residency
The Space Taking Artist Residency welcomes emerging and mid-career artists from various disciplines, including visual, performing, media, literary arts, and curatorial practices. In alignment with Fresh Arts’ mission to support artists’ professional development, the residency will offer tailored mentorship and project support that addresses each artist’s unique vision. This includes assistance with key areas such as marketing, project budgeting, artist collaborations, and public presentation techniques. Two artists or artist teams will be selected. Each residency includes a 9-week mentor-guided development phase, followed by eight weeks of access to a 2,500 sq. ft. gallery at Winter Street Studios. Residents will use this time to activate the space through exhibitions, performances, community-based programs, or other engaging activations.
DEADLINE: December 5, 2025
Lawndale Artist Studio Program
Lawndale’s Artist Studio Program (ASP) provides artists with a monthly stipend and 24-hour access to a private studio. We are looking for Houston/Gulf Coast-based artists of diverse backgrounds and experiences whose artistic practice would benefit from the support we can offer. Ideal candidates are at a transitional moment in their career, whether shifting to a new body of work or a different discipline. We embrace a multidisciplinary platform and consider artists who are working with all visual arts media, performance, music, sound art, and written and literary arts as possible applicants for this program. Applicants must be 18 years or older and not enrolled in any degree program. Former ASP participants are not eligible. The nine-month program runs from September 1st to May 31st.
DEADLINE: Submissions are currently closed
Houston Center for Contemporary Craft Artist Residency
Houston Center for Contemporary Craft Artist Residency Program is designed to offer time and space for craft artists to focus on their creative work and interact with public. The program supports emerging, mid-career, and established artists working in all craft media, including but not limited to clay, fiber, glass, metal, wood and mixed media.
Benefits of the residency include 24/7 access to studio space, cultural and professional development opportunities, a monthly stipend that includes a small housing/materials allowance, and the opportunity to give an artist talk. Plus $1000 monthly stipend that includes a housing/materials allowance
DEADLINE: Applications for 2027 – 2028 cycle open December 1, 2026
Galveston Artist Residency
GAR awards three artist-in-residence fellowships a year. For ten months, from October through July, each artist receives 24/7 access to a studio, an apartment, a monthly stipend of $1,100 per month, and a $500 travel stipend to be granted upon arrival and departure. These ten months are viewed as a gift of time for artists to make their work and development of their practice.
DEADLINE: March 28, 2026
Museum of Fine Arts Houston: The Core Program Residency
The Core Program awards residencies to exceptional, highly motivated visual artists and critical writers who have completed their undergraduate or graduate training and are working to develop a sustainable practice. Residents engage with a wide range of leading artists, critics, curators, and art historians who are invited to meet individually with the residents, lead seminars, and deliver public lectures.
The residency term is a two year program, from September 2025 to July 2027.
DEADLINE: April (Submissions are currently closed) The next call for application will open January 2027 and close April 2027
MARKETS + FESTIVALS
First Saturdays Art Market
First Saturday Arts Market is a monthly outdoor fine arts event featuring the works of dozens of visual artists. Located in the Historic Houston Heights currently at 530 W. 19th St. at Lawrence St. The market showcases paintings, sculpture, photography, jewelry and handcrafted items.
DEADLINE: Ongoing applications
Art Colony Association: Bayou City Arts Festival
The annual Bayou City Art Festival (BCAF) presented by Art Colony Association for over 25 years is one of the nation’s premier outdoor fine art events. The festival takes place twice a year in March and October.
DEADLINE FOR FALL 2026: June 15, 2026
DEADLINE FOR SPRING 2027: TBA
Heartmade Art Market
Heartmade Art Market is a juried art market conceived and created by Tracy Manford Carlson of Tracy Carlson Photography and Sonja Fulbright of Crush Design Co. Our tag line, “design for happiness,” is exactly how we like to do things. We think small actions add up to big results, so we’re putting the hearts of Texas’ talented artists to work for the benefit of local non-profit organizations and the community at large.
DEADLINE: Submissions are currently closed
"CALL FOR ENTRIES" OPPORTUNITIES
Dance Source Houston: Barnstorm Dance Fest
The 4th Annual Barnstorm Dance Fest performance will be accepting applications for works 5-18 minutes in length from all genres of dance. Selected applicants will perform their work twice during the festival, which may include multiple weekends.
DEADLINE: August 21, 2026
DiverseWorks: Diverse Discourse Studio Visits
Diverse Discourse brings national curators, artistic directors, and critics to Houston to present a free public lecture and conduct studio visits with Houston-area artists, performers, and writers. Diverse Discourse provides a significant opportunity for area artists in all disciplines to have their work reviewed by a variety of distinguished arts professionals, fostering a cultural exchange across the nation between artists and cultural producers.
DEADLINE: The application portal generally opens 6-8 weeks prior to each program.
Houston Center for Photography: The Center Annual
The Center Annual is Houston Center for Photography’s yearly group exhibition that seeks to highlight and provide insight into current themes, technologies, and practices in photography. The show features a diverse array of works from members of our global photography community and is selected by a leading curator, editor, or artist. This annual exhibition opens our galleries to photographers from anywhere in the world, whether emerging, mid-career, or established, and as such, aims to provide viewers with critical insight into our current moment—both within the field of photography and within society at large. Of those selected, three artists are chosen to receive the Beth Block Juried Membership Honoraria of $1,000, generously supported by The Beth Block Foundation, and will also be featured in **spot magazine.
DEADLINE: April 19, 2026
Midtown Houston: Sign Wrap Design Competition
Several times per year, the Midtown Cultural Arts and Entertainment District opens a call for artists to create a design used to decorate the Midtown sign located in Bagby Park. Since 2022, Midtown has invited artists to participate in this creation of a large-scale temporary public art project based on different seasonal themes. Midtown is seeking artwork and designs that are thoughtful, creative and celebrate who we are as Houstonians. Jury panels are looking for exceptional quality, uniqueness and standout design elements.
PAST THEME EXAMPLES: Pride Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Juneteenth, and many more
THEMES FOR 2026: Houston Rodeo, 100 Years of Jazz, AAPI Heritage Month, and more
OTHER FRESH ARTS RESOURCES
Search our Artist Opportunity Board 24/7 for opportunities or sign up for our Artist Resource Newsletter to have the latest opportunities delivered straight to your inbox twice a month.
Looking for National Opportunities?
Check out The Art Blog from Artwork Archive for an extensive list of the opportunities that are happening nationally.