MAKING THE WORK POSSIBLE: FUNDING STRATEGIES

Making long-term photographic work is expensive, and for most of us, funding comes together through a patchwork of strategies rather than one big opportunity. This webinar is geared toward photographers looking for practical ways to support their work, from grants and fellowships to residencies, awards, editorial assignments, teaching, partnerships, and other less traditional ways of creating access and momentum.

We will talk honestly about the realities of funding as working artists: understanding where you are in a project, what kinds of opportunities make sense at different stages of development, and how to prioritize what is actually worth your time. We will look at opportunities across the U.S. and Europe and discuss how to build a sustainable approach to support over time rather than chasing every application deadline.

Most importantly, we will spend time on proposal writing. How do you write clearly and persuasively about work that may still be evolving? How do you translate complex ideas into language that selection panels understand without flattening what makes the work meaningful? We will discuss strategies for writing stronger project descriptions, artist statements, and applications, as well as common mistakes photographers make when applying.

This is not a webinar from a professional grant writer. It is a conversation from one working artist to another, built from years of applying, failing, revising, receiving support, and continuing to figure it out in real time.

About the Instructor

Kristine Potter is an artist whose work explores the psychological weight of the American landscape and the enduring influence of myth in shaping cultural identity. Her photographs engage with themes of power, masculinity, and history, often revealing the tension between lived experience and the idealized past. Her first monograph, Manifest, was published by TBW Books in 2018, and her second, Dark Waters, was published by Aperture in 2023. She has received numerous national and international awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship (2018), the Grand Prix Images Vevey (2019–2020), and the Hariban Prize (2023).

Potter’s work is held in public and private collections, including the High Museum of Art, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Georgia Museum of Art, Light Work, the Swiss Camera Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London among others. She is represented by Sasha Wolf Projects in New York and MiCamera in Milan. She is an Assistant Professor of Photography at Middle Tennessee State University.