Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program
- Pair with an artist mentor for 1-on-1 Support
- Connect with immigrant artist communities
The only known program of its kind in the United States, NYFA’s Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program provides foreign-born emerging artists with 1-on-1 career support, community, and exposure for their work.
Named one of the “10 Best Mentorship Programs in the U.S. for Post Grads” by Time Out, this program has built a strong network of more than 525 immigrant artists from 76 countries and regions since it was founded in 2007.
Historically, NYFA has brought the program to Denver, CO; Detroit, MI; Newark, NJ; NYC; Oakland, CA; and San Antonio, TX; serving artists in Visual/Multidisciplinary Art, Performing and Literary Arts, and Social Practice disciplines.
This competitive program is provided free of charge to accepted applicants.
Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program NYC & San Antonio
In 2024-25, NYFA is running two Mentoring Programs in the NYC metro area and in San Antonio, Texas.
For notifications about the next program opportunity or access to other resources, subscribe to our Immigrant Artist Newsletter.
Any questions?
Cultural Partners
New York City:
New York Live Arts, Asian American Arts Alliance, Bronx Council on the Arts, EFA Project Space, Flushing Town Hall, Haiti Cultural Exchange, Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, ProjectArt, Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden, and Staten Island Arts.
San Antonio:
University of Texas, San Antonio (UTSA), Centro Cultural Aztlan, Contemporary at Blue Star, and Say Sí.
- Depending on program location, the mentoring program can be open to all disciplines (Visual, Multidisciplinary, Performing, Literary, Interdisciplinary, Social Practice, Folk and Traditional Art, Video/Film/New Media), or specific discipline areas.
- Able to attend mandatory meetings in person in the program location area.
- Artists born outside of the U.S. or in the U.S. territories (Puerto Rico or Guam, The U.S. Virgin Islands) may apply.*
- Have been pursuing a career as an artist within the range of 1-10 years in the United States.**
- Are NOT currently enrolled in an arts graduate or undergraduate degree program.***
*If you have a unique immigrant experience that doesn’t meet the stated eligibility and feel you would benefit from this program, please reach out to [email protected] with some information on your immigrant story.
**This program often benefits those who are at more emerging stages in their U.S. careers. If you’ve been pursuing a career as an artist in the U.S. for more than 10 years and feel you would benefit from this program, please reach out to [email protected] with some information on your immigrant experience.
***Students who will graduate before the program starts are welcome to apply.
For the application, we ask you to provide:
- Your short and long term goals and why you are interested in applying to this program
- Any challenges you are facing in your artistic practice, including your immigrant experience, and how you would like to work with a mentor to seek solutions
- A narrative bio of your professional career
- A link to your online presence (e.g. website or social media etc.)
- Work samples with work statement and description
Applications are currently closed.
Fill out the form below to get notifications for when the next cycle opens, or sign up for our Immigrant Artist newsletter for program news.
Notify me of program updatesThe selection process has several phases:
- With the support of local cultural partners, NYFA will identify established professional artists from a variety of disciplines—whose backgrounds reflect the applicant pool—to serve as mentors.
- Mentors will review mentee applications focusing on the applicants’ artistic vision, resources they are looking for, and career goals. The mentors’ ability to offer the necessary resources and information that the applicant is seeking is taken into consideration.
- NYFA will participate in the process of identifying the pool of mentees, considering the cohort makeup as a whole while aligning mutually beneficial pairings of mentors and mentees.
Attendance is mandatory to all sessions. The program is typically conducted with several meetings, in-person or virtual designed to foster community within the cohort and alumni community-at-large.
Program meetings include professional development focused topics, specific cohort building activities as Meet the Partner & Mentor, Alumni Mixer, and Final Celebration.
1-on-1 Mentoring Support
Dates arranged with individual mentors. Meetings can be in-person and/or online.
Immigrant Artist Newsletter
Stay in touch with what’s upcoming with the Immigrant Artist programs
NYFA’s Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program is made possible by the generous support of Deutsche Bank.
