Anonymous Was A Woman is an unrestricted grant of $50,000 awarded each year to 15 woman artists over the age of 40 and at a critical junction in their career. The name of the grant program refers to a line in Virginia Woolf’s "A Room of One’s Own." The award was begun in 1996 in response to the decision of the National Endowment of the Arts to cease support of individual artists. To date, Anonymous was a Woman has awarded over $6.5 million to more than 300 artists.
Two of the 2024 awards were made possible by Fotene Demoulas, a Boston-based philanthropist who is a collector and patron of women artists, and who values AWAW’s work. Another anonymous donor also contributed funds toward an additional award. #awaw2024 #anonymouswasawomanaward
Above are images of the 2024 Recipients of the Award. More information here.
We are currently also running the Anonymous Was A Woman Artist Survey, a first-of-its-kind study that aims to gain a better understanding of women artists’ lives and careers, and the factors contributing to their successes and challenges. Women visual artists of all ages are invited to contribute responses. The survey and resulting report are produced in collaboration with journalists Charlotte Burns and Julia Halperin, arts leader Loring Randolph, and SMU Data Arts. The findings will be made publicly available on April 9, 2025 as part of the Artists Speak: The Anonymous Was A Woman Symposium, a free talks program at New York University organized by Burns, Halperin, Randolph and AWAW, coinciding with the exhibition Anonymous Was a Woman: The First 25 Years at the Grey Art Gallery at New York University.
Started in 2022, the Anonymous Was A Woman Environmental Art Grant provides up to $20,000 for projects led by women-identifying artists in the United States and U.S. Territories. In 2024, the Anonymous Was A Woman Environmental Art Grants (AWAW EAG) program, administered by NYFA, distributed over $300,000 in funding to support environmental art projects led by woman artists in the United States and U.S. Territories.
Please visit NYFA’s dedicated site for more information and application instructions. Any questions about the AWAW EAG should be sent directly to NYFA at: awaw@nyfa.org