Call For Application: ISLAA Fellowships For Latin Americans

If you are a graduate student or researcher working on Latin American art history, you probably already know how hard it can be to find dedicated funding for this kind of work. Most major fellowship programs are broad in scope, and specialized support for modern and contemporary art from Latin America, the Caribbean, and their diasporas is genuinely rare. That is what makes the ISLAA Fellowships 2026 worth paying close attention to right now.

The Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA) has officially opened its 2026 call for proposals, and this year the program has expanded significantly. Not only is the flagship ISLAA Research Fellowship back for another cycle, but ISLAA has also launched a brand new inaugural program called the ISLAA Latin American Fellowship, designed specifically for researchers based in Latin America. Together, these two fellowship tracks represent one of the most focused and accessible research funding opportunities currently available in this field.

In this article, we are going to walk through everything you need to know. We will cover what ISLAA is, what each fellowship offers, who can apply, what the selection process looks like, what the archival collections contain, and how you can put together a strong application before the May 15, 2026 deadline. Let us get into it.

What Is ISLAA? Understanding the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art

ISLAA stands for the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art. It was founded in 2011 by Ariel Aisiks to meet a clear and specific need: New York, one of the world’s great centers for contemporary art, did not have a dedicated institution focused on expanding narratives around Latin American art. ISLAA was created to fill that gap.

From the beginning, ISLAA built its work around partnerships with major research universities. Its founding collaborations with New York University and Columbia University were central to its early identity, and those relationships have remained core to what ISLAA does. Over the years, partnerships have expanded to include institutions such as the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, the Graduate Center at the City University of New York, and the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU.

Today, ISLAA is headquartered at 142 Franklin Street in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York City. The Franklin Street space, which opened in the fall of 2023, significantly expanded ISLAA’s capacity for public programming and scholarly engagement. It houses multiple gallery spaces for free public exhibitions, a Research Center with the ISLAA Library and Archives, and a bookshop offering publications from ISLAA’s own publishing imprint.

ISLAA’s mission goes beyond just collecting art. The organization recognizes Latin American artists and cultural movements as integral to the trajectory of twentieth and twenty-first century art globally, not as peripheral figures to be acknowledged once in a while, but as central contributors to the history of modern and contemporary art. Everything ISLAA does, from its exhibitions to its publications to its fellowship programs, is oriented around that belief.

To date, ISLAA has been involved in more than 470 lectures and conferences, has supported or produced around 30 books, and has organized more than 20 large-scale exhibitions. It has gifted or loaned more than five hundred works to museums and institutions across the country. And through its research funding programs, it has become an important source of support for scholars at all levels who are working to expand what we know about art from Latin America and the Caribbean.

ISLAA Fellowships 2026: The Overview

The 2026 call for fellowships was officially launched on April 15, 2026, and the submission deadline is May 15, 2026 at 11:59 PM EDT. That gives prospective applicants a relatively short window, which is why it is worth starting to prepare your materials as soon as possible if you are eligible.

This year, ISLAA is offering two distinct fellowship programs. The first is the ISLAA Research Fellowship, which is designed for MA and PhD students enrolled in graduate programs in the United States. The second is the brand new inaugural ISLAA Latin American Fellowship, which is open to researchers at various career stages who are currently living and working in Latin America. Together, these two programs will award a total of thirteen fellowships across the 2026 to 2027 academic year.

All fellowships will take place at ISLAA’s headquarters in New York City and will run during the academic year from September 2026 through June 2027. Fellows are required to be physically present at the Franklin Street location for two to four weeks during their fellowship period. This is not a remote program. The in-person residency requirement is central to how ISLAA fellowships work, because the whole point is to give scholars direct, hands-on access to primary source materials held in ISLAA’s archive that they genuinely cannot access from anywhere else.

The ISLAA Research Fellowship 2026

The ISLAA Research Fellowship is the program’s flagship offering and has been running since 2025, when ISLAA launched its inaugural research fellowship cycle. This year, five fellowships will be awarded across three periods: two in Fall 2026, two in Spring 2027, and one in Summer 2027.

Who Is This Fellowship For?

The ISLAA Research Fellowship is open to MA and PhD students currently enrolled in graduate university programs in the United States. If you are a doctoral candidate or a master’s student doing serious archival research on modern or contemporary Latin American art, and your work requires access to primary source materials, this fellowship is designed for you.

What Does It Offer?

Each selected fellow receives a $2,500 stipend to support their research. In addition to the financial support, fellows get direct, in-person access to ISLAA’s extensive archival collections and more than 1,000 artist files. This access to primary sources is, arguably, more valuable than the stipend itself for researchers at this stage of their careers. The archival materials held at ISLAA are not available anywhere else, and being able to work through them in person, with the support of ISLAA’s research staff and community, is a genuinely rare opportunity.

What Kind of Research Is Supported?

Research funded through the ISLAA Research Fellowship must be directed toward the completion of a master’s thesis, a doctoral dissertation, a peer-reviewed publication, or a conference presentation. The fellowship is explicitly designed to support projects that are already in progress or at a stage where archival research will make a meaningful difference to the final work. ISLAA wants to see that you have a concrete scholarly output in mind and that the archival materials you plan to use are genuinely relevant to that output.

What Are the Requirements?

Fellows must be physically present at ISLAA’s headquarters in New York City for two to four weeks during their fellowship period. This in-person requirement is firm. The fellowship is structured around the idea of a research residency, not a remote grant, and ISLAA’s archival collections are not fully available for remote consultation. Candidates should also have a working knowledge of the languages relevant to the archival collection they plan to use. If you are working with Argentine archives, for example, you will need to read Spanish competently.

The ISLAA Latin American Fellowship 2026: The Inaugural Edition

This is brand new. The ISLAA Latin American Fellowship is launching for the very first time in 2026, and it represents a significant expansion of ISLAA’s commitment to supporting scholarship from within Latin America itself, not just scholarship about Latin America produced in the United States.

The program is designed to bring researchers from Latin America to New York to conduct on-site research and engage directly with ISLAA’s collections, archives, and academic community. Eight fellowships will be awarded in this inaugural cycle, distributed across three different categories based on career stage.

Fellowship Categories and Stipends

The ISLAA Latin American Fellowship is structured in a tiered way that reflects different stages of an academic career, which is one of the things that makes it genuinely thoughtful as a program design.

Senior Scholar Fellowships are available for two recipients. These are awarded to established researchers with ten or more years of professional experience and a strong record of peer-reviewed publications. Each Senior Scholar Fellow receives a stipend of USD 10,000. This is a substantial award, particularly for researchers coming from institutions in Latin America where research funding of this kind is much harder to access than in the United States.

Postdoctoral Fellowships are available for two recipients. These are aimed at researchers who have received their PhD within the past two years. Each Postdoctoral Fellow receives a stipend of USD 7,500. This is a critical career stage for many scholars, and having dedicated funding to pursue archival research in New York can make a real difference to what a researcher is able to produce in the years right after their doctorate.

Doctoral Fellowships are available for four recipients. These are open to researchers currently enrolled in a doctoral program at a Latin American university. Each Doctoral Fellow receives a stipend of USD 5,000. Four awards at this level mean that ISLAA is making a real investment in the next generation of Latin American art historians working from within Latin America’s own academic institutions.

Who Is Eligible for the Latin American Fellowship?

The core eligibility requirement for the ISLAA Latin American Fellowship is straightforward: applicants must be currently living in Latin America. This is not a fellowship for Latin American scholars who are already based in the United States or Europe. It is specifically designed to support researchers who are working from within the region and who need support to travel to New York and conduct research at ISLAA in person.

Within that broad geographic eligibility, the specific requirements vary by fellowship category. Senior Scholar applicants need to demonstrate at least ten years of professional experience and a strong publication record in peer-reviewed venues. Postdoctoral applicants need to have received their PhD within the past two years. Doctoral applicants need to be currently enrolled in a doctoral program at a Latin American institution.

The Selection Committee

The ISLAA Latin American Fellowship has a distinguished selection committee drawn from leading art history institutions across Latin America and the United States. The committee includes Luis Vargas Santiago from the Instituto de Investigaciones Esteticas at UNAM in Mexico, Cintia Mezza from the Escuela de Arte y Patrimonio at UNSAM in Argentina, and Agustin Diez Fischer from ISLAA in the United States. This is a genuinely regional committee, which reflects the fellowship’s commitment to centering Latin American scholarly perspectives in how awards are made.

What Will Fellows Have Access To? Inside the ISLAA Archival Collections

One of the most compelling reasons to apply for an ISLAA fellowship, beyond the stipend, is what you actually get to work with when you are in residence. The ISLAA Library and Archives is one of the most significant specialized collections of primary source materials on Latin American art in existence, and fellows get direct, in-person access to it during their residency.

The collections are particularly rich in materials related to mid-twentieth century transformations in the arts across Latin America. The archives include materials from individual artists as well as records of cultural institutions and movements that have been understudied or difficult to access until now.

Among the individual artist archives held at ISLAA are materials from Argentine artists including Jose Antonio Fernandez-Muro, Sarah Grilo, Kazuya Sakai, Norah Borges, Nelia Licenziato, and Cesar Paternosto. The collections also include extensive artist files documenting figures such as Helio Oiticica and Carlos Cruz-Diez, two of the most significant artists in the history of Latin American abstraction and kinetic art.

Beyond individual artist archives, fellows can explore the histories of influential cultural institutions such as the Galeria Bonino, the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella, and the Centro de Arte y Comunicacion. They can dig into the records of avant-garde movements and publications including Mexico-published magazines Plural and Artes Visuales. The collections are genuinely extensive, and for researchers in this field they represent a unique resource that simply is not available elsewhere.

In addition to the archival collections, ISLAA holds more than 1,000 artist files that provide a broad documentary foundation for research on a wide range of Latin American artists across different periods, regions, and media. Fellows also have access to the ISLAA Library, which holds rare books and newly processed primary sources that complement the archival materials.

ISLAA’s Broader Research Ecosystem

The fellowships sit within a broader research ecosystem at ISLAA that is worth understanding, because it gives you a sense of the scholarly community you would be joining as a fellow.

ISLAA runs a Writer in Residence program that offers scholars four to five weeks of research at the Library and Archives and is open to students, faculty, and independent scholars through open calls for proposals. There is also the ISLAA Research Grant, which supports emerging MA and PhD students worldwide in conducting novel investigations into themes, geographies, and chronologies of modern and contemporary art from Latin America, the Caribbean, and the diaspora.

ISLAA has offered Curatorial Fellowships at the New Museum since 2021, partnering since 2023 with the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College to identify candidates. There is also a Graphic Design Residency that brings one practitioner to engage with the Library and Archives over the course of a full year. The Annual Symposium, established in 2016, brings together graduate students, scholars, and artists to present original research on Latin American and Latinx art and visual culture.

Through its Artist Seminar Initiative, ISLAA supports graduate seminars on key figures and periods of Latin American art, often involving conversations between living artists and students. The ISLAA Forum sponsors annual events for graduate students at US universities studying Latin American art, facilitating networking and professional development across institutions.

All of this means that as an ISLAA fellow, you are not just coming in to sit alone in an archive for a few weeks. You are entering a functioning scholarly community with ongoing programs, active researchers, and genuine intellectual exchange.

What Has the Previous Fellowship Cycle Produced?

The 2025 cycle, which was the inaugural year of the ISLAA Research Fellowship, gives a useful preview of what kind of research the program supports. ISLAA received a large number of outstanding applications from doctoral candidates across the United States, reflecting the depth and diversity of current research in the field.

One of the selected fellows from the 2025 cycle was Bruno Franco, a PhD candidate at Johns Hopkins University, whose research focused on the Movimiento Arte Porno and the artist Feliciano Centurion. Another was Oriele Benavides, a doctoral candidate selected through Princeton University’s Spanish and Portuguese program. The range of scholarly approaches and the range of artists and movements under study in that inaugural cohort gives you a sense of how broad the fellowship’s scope actually is, even though it is focused on a specific geographic and disciplinary area.

How to Apply for ISLAA Fellowships 2026

Applications for both the ISLAA Research Fellowship and the ISLAA Latin American Fellowship must be submitted before the deadline of May 15, 2026 at 11:59 PM EDT. This is a firm deadline. Applications submitted after this point will not be considered.

What to Include in Your Application

Based on the guidelines from the previous cycle and the current call for proposals, a complete application for the ISLAA Research Fellowship includes the following materials, each submitted as a separate PDF.

You will need a cover letter that includes your full name, contact information, institutional affiliation, and your preferred fellowship period if you have one. Indicating whether you prefer Fall, Spring, or Summer can help with scheduling, though ISLAA makes the final determination on timing. You will also need a research proposal abstract written in English that demonstrates your interest in and experience with the specific archival collection you plan to use, and that explains how this research fits into your broader scholarly goals. The proposal should clearly connect to a specific output, whether a thesis chapter, a dissertation section, a journal article, or a conference paper.

You will need to include a CV that speaks to your interests and expertise in art history and Latin American studies. Candidates should demonstrate knowledge of the context and background of the archival collection they intend to research. Language competency is also important. If you are working with materials in Spanish, Portuguese, or another language, your application should make clear that you can read those materials competently.

For the ISLAA Latin American Fellowship, you should check the specific conditions document for each fellowship category, as the requirements may vary slightly based on career stage. The call for proposals page on the ISLAA website links directly to the bases and conditions documents for both the Research Fellowship and the Latin American Fellowship.

Selection Criteria

The selection committee reviews proposals based on originality, the strength and clarity of the proposed project, the candidate’s relevant experience and expertise, and calendar availability. Only complete applications will be considered. ISLAA does not provide individual feedback on unsuccessful applications, so it is worth investing the time upfront to make sure your application is as strong as it can be before you submit.

One important administrative detail: once a candidate is selected, the decision is final. There is no appeals process, and any changes to the fellowship arrangement go through ISLAA’s formal procedures. The fellowship also only comes into effect once the selected candidate has completed all required legal forms, so be prepared to handle that paperwork promptly if you are selected.

All work that results from research conducted in ISLAA’s collections must acknowledge ISLAA. This is a standard condition of the fellowship and applies to publications, conference presentations, theses, and any other scholarly outputs that draw on materials from the ISLAA Library and Archives.

Where to Send Your Application

Applications and any questions about the fellowship programs should be directed to ISLAA’s fellowship application email. For the most current submission instructions and to download the official bases and conditions documents for each fellowship track, use the official link below to visit the 2026 call for proposals page directly.

Apply Now: Visit the Official ISLAA Fellowships 2026 Call for Proposals Page

Tips for Writing a Strong ISLAA Fellowship Application

Because the application window is relatively short, it helps to go in with a clear sense of what a competitive application looks like. Here are some practical things to keep in mind as you prepare your materials.

Be specific about which archival collections you plan to use. ISLAA is not looking for applications that mention the archives in a general way. Reviewers want to see that you have done your homework, that you know what materials are held in the archive, and that you can make a clear connection between those specific materials and your research questions. Browse the ISLAA Library and Archives finding aids online before you write your proposal. The finding aids describe the content and arrangement of the processed archival collections and will give you the detail you need to write a focused and credible proposal.

Make the scholarly output concrete. Whether it is a chapter of your dissertation, a peer-reviewed article submission, or a conference paper, name it specifically. Explain what stage that project is at and how the archival research you plan to do at ISLAA will move it forward. This kind of specificity signals that you are a serious researcher with a realistic plan, not someone who is simply looking for an interesting summer experience in New York.

Demonstrate language competency clearly. If the materials you plan to use are in Spanish or Portuguese, mention your proficiency in those languages directly. This does not need to be a formal language certification, but it should be evident from your CV and your proposal that you are equipped to actually read and analyze the primary sources you are proposing to use.

For Latin American Fellowship applicants, make sure your career stage documentation is in order. Senior Scholar applicants will need to demonstrate ten or more years of experience and a clear publication record. Postdoctoral applicants should be prepared to provide documentation of their PhD conferral date. Doctoral applicants will need confirmation of their current enrollment in a Latin American doctoral program.

Keep your cover letter focused and professional. ISLAA is a relatively small and specialized institution, and the people reviewing your application are deeply embedded in the field. Write to the specific fellowship you are applying for, reference ISLAA’s mission and collections in a way that shows you understand what the institution does, and make clear why this particular archive matters for your particular research.

Why These Fellowships Matter for the Field

It is worth taking a moment to think about why programs like the ISLAA Fellowships matter beyond the individual benefit to each selected fellow. Latin American art history is a field that has been systematically underresourced relative to its importance. Major collections of modern and contemporary art from Latin America have often been held in private hands or in institutions that are difficult to access. Primary source materials have been scattered across archives in multiple countries with varying degrees of accessibility. And English-language academic publishing has historically been slow to integrate scholarship on Latin American artists and movements into the mainstream narrative of twentieth-century art.

ISLAA was built in direct response to those conditions. The archival collections, the research programs, and now the fellowship programs are all designed to make it genuinely easier for scholars to do the work that needs to be done to expand and correct the historical record.

The addition of the Latin American Fellowship in 2026 is particularly significant. By creating a dedicated pathway for researchers based in Latin America to come to New York and work with these materials, ISLAA is making a statement about whose voices and perspectives should be shaping the scholarship on Latin American art. It is one thing to fund US-based graduate students to study these archives. It is another thing entirely to also fund the scholars who are working from within the region, from within its universities and research institutions, to engage with materials that document their own artistic and cultural histories. That is a meaningful commitment, and it is worth recognizing as such.

Final Thoughts: Should You Apply?

If you are an MA or PhD student in the United States working on modern or contemporary Latin American art, and you have a research project that depends on archival primary sources, the ISLAA Research Fellowship should be near the top of your list of funding opportunities to pursue right now. The combination of a financial stipend and direct access to one of the most significant specialized archives in this field is genuinely hard to find anywhere else.

If you are a doctoral student or established researcher based in Latin America, the inaugural ISLAA Latin American Fellowship is an opportunity that is unlikely to be replicated elsewhere. The program is new, which means the competition in this first cycle may be somewhat less established than in older fellowship programs, even as the opportunity itself is significant. The tiered structure of the awards, with different categories for Senior Scholars, Postdoctoral researchers, and Doctoral students, means there is a pathway into this fellowship for researchers at multiple stages of their careers.

In both cases, the May 15, 2026 deadline does not leave a lot of time. Start preparing your materials now, review the archival finding aids on the ISLAA website, and make sure your application clearly connects your research questions to the specific collections ISLAA holds.

To access the official call for proposals, download the bases and conditions documents for each fellowship track, and submit your application, visit the link below.

Apply for ISLAA Fellowships 2026 on the Official ISLAA Website

For more scholarship and fellowship opportunities for researchers, graduate students, and academics around the world, browse through the rest of our blog. We regularly share updated information on funding programs across all disciplines and regions.