Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship
Guidelines
Are you seeking advanced study in architecture, art, dance, landscape architecture, music, theatre, or urban and regional planning? We invite you to apply for the Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship.
Three major fellowships are awarded:
- One of $20,000 in art and design, dance, instrumental or vocal music, or theatre
- One of less than $20,000 in any field of music
- One of less than $20,000 in any field of study within the College of Fine and Applied Arts
- Up to three additional fellowships of lesser amounts may also be granted upon committee recommendations for any field of study within the College of Fine and Applied Arts
Up to three additional fellowships of lesser amounts may also be granted upon committee recommendations.
The fellowships are to be used by the recipients toward defraying the expenses of advanced study in the United States or abroad. The fellowships are open to graduates of the College of Fine and Applied Arts of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and to graduates of similar institutions of equal educational standing whose principal or major studies have been in the fields of architecture, art, dance, landscape architecture, music, theatre, and urban and regional planning. For University of Illinois applicants: This fellowship is not a tuition waiver granting award. Funds are only to support travel/research expenses in their field of study.
Although there is no age limitation for applicants, other factors being equal, preference will be given to applicants who have not reached their 25th birthday.
How to Apply
The application period for the 2024–25 fellowship cycle has ended.
Qualifications
Fellowships will be awarded on the basis of unusual promise in the fine arts as attested by
- high attainment in the applicant’s major field of study as evidenced by academic marks and quality of work submitted or performed
- high attainment in related cultural fields as evidenced by academic marks
- the character, merit, and suitability of the program proposed by the applicant
- excellence of personality, seriousness of purpose, and good moral character
While receiving a stipend from the Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship, recipients are precluded from holding appointments as instructors, lecturers, or faculty members but may hold other remunerative employment with advance approval of the fellowship committee.
Questions about the fellowship may be directed to faa@illinois.edu.
About Kate Neal Kinley
Kate Neal Kinley possessed a keen interest in music and performance throughout her life. As a young woman growing up in Ohio, she studied music, and at the U of I she helped to found the Alpha Chi Omega sorority in 1899 and served as an honorary member of the Champaign Art Club.
Upon her death in 1931, David Kinley created the Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship to promote advanced study in the fine arts. This fellowship not only reflected President Kinley’s earlier appointment as dean of the College of Literature and Arts but, more importantly, acknowledged Kate Neal Kinley’s persistent dedication to the arts on the Urbana-Champaign campus. The first award was made in 1932.
Its continuance today is due to Kinley’s original gift and to the dedication of family members. The Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship is also partially funded by the John Robert Gregg Fund at Community Funds, Inc., and The New York Community Trust.