The Asian Cultural Council established the Philippines Fellowship Program in 2000 in order to offer more opportunities for artists, scholars, and cultural institutions in the Philippines to participate in its grants program. The Philippines Fellowship Program has been created in partnership with the Asian Cultural Council Philippines Foundation in Manila, which collaborates with the ACC in raising funds and making grants in support of the dedicated arts community in the Philippines. Since the 1960s, the ACC has provided grants to more than 100 particularly talented artists and scholars in the Philippines, most of whom have gone on to achieve prominent leadership positions in their respective fields.

Fields of Awards

Through the Philippines Fellowship Program, the ACC awards grants to individuals and cultural institutions in the Philippines for international exchange activities. Fields of award include archaeology, architecture (design, history, and theory), arts administration, art criticism, art history, conservation, crafts, dance, design, film and video, museology, music, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and theater. Applications are not accepted for studies in arts education, commercial design, mass communications, landscape architecture, or urban planning. In addition, the ACC does not provide support for film or video production.

Types of Awards

Individual Fellowships

The main focus of the ACC's Philippines Fellowship Program is to award grants to artists, scholars and art specialists from the Philippines to study, research, observation, creative exploration, participation in conferences and seminars, and related activities in the United States. Fellowships are awarded for periods ranging from one to twelve months and may provide for round-trip international transportation, travel and living expenses, medical insurance, and miscellaneous research costs. Some fellowships are also made to individuals from the Philippines pursuing similar activities in other Asian countries.

Priority consideration is generally given to applicants with little or no previous opportunity for research and study in the United States. Because the purpose of fellowship grants made by the Asian Cultural Council is to provide training or experience which will be of value in fulfilling professional responsibilities in the grantee's home country, grant recipients are expected to return to the Philippines at the conclusion of the fellowship program.

Project Grants

A limited number of grants may be awarded for institutionally sponsored projects in the Philippines involving international exchanges in the arts. Because the ACC's program resources are focused on fellowship awards to individuals, the Council's grants for projects are usually modest in size. Institutional grants are generally warded to support the participation of individual artists, scholars and specialists from the United States or from Asia in project activities in the Philippines.

Application Procedure

Individuals and institutions wishing to apply for grant support should send a brief description of their plans to the Asian Cultural Council's office in New York by October 15, 2008.

Asian Cultural Council
6 West 48th Street, Floor 12

New York, NY 10036-1802

Email:

If the proposed activity falls within the Council's guidelines, application materials requesting more detailed information will be provided.

The deadline for receipt of completed applications is November 15 (postmarked) for proposals to be considered at the spring meeting. Applications are reviewed each year in May by the Board of Trustees of the Asian Cultural Council in New York and by the Board of Trustees of the ACC Philippines Foundation in Manila. Applicants are then notified by the ACC whether their proposals have been approved or declined.