ABOUT CHARLOTTE STREET
Charlotte Street centers Kansas City’s most forward-thinking visual artists, writers, and performers—acting as the primary incubator, provocateur, and connector for the region’s contemporary arts community, and its leading advocate on the national stage. Since 1997, Charlotte Street has distributed over $2.5 million in awards and grants to artists and their innovative projects, and connected individual artists to each other and to the greater Kansas City community. For more information about Charlotte Street, its awards, programs, and initiatives, visit www.charlottestreet.org.
STATEMENT ON OPPORTUNITY EQUITY
Charlotte Street values an equitable, diverse, and inclusive art community, which we interpret as all artists having fair access to the tools and resources they need to realize their artistic endeavors. We acknowledge structural inequities that have excluded individuals and communities from opportunities based on race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, class, age, and geography, and strive to counter those inequities in our work. We encourage panelists and selection committees to actively consider and seek to recommend a diverse pool of applicants as finalists and recipients of these awards and all Charlotte Street programs.
The Charlotte Street Generative Performing Artist Awards seek to recognize, encourage, and significantly support Kansas City-based artists creating original, exceptional new work in all genres of performance. Providing artists with financial support, critical recognition, and public exposure, these Awards aim to reward artistic accomplishment to date and to support the continued development of artists' work and careers. Artists must be generative artists—that is, the creators of original new work.
Awarded artists will be those who:
- Create new, contemporary work
- Produce work that is innovative and/or experimental in terms of form, content, process, and/or presentation
- Demonstrate sustained commitment to deepening/expanding their work and generative practices
Through recognizing and supporting exceptional artists living and working in Kansas City, Charlotte Street seeks to empower and propel individual artists, enhance the artistic culture of our region, and increase Kansas City’s desirability as a place for artists to live and work.
Two recipients of the 2026 Charlotte Street Generative Performing Artist Fellow will receive:
- An unrestricted cash grant of $10,000
- Recognition by Charlotte Street at the time of the Award announcement and throughout the year 2026 as a Charlotte Street Generative Performing Artist Fellow—including announcements to media, online promotion, special event features, and more
- A professional video production piece filmed in the Charlotte Street Stern Theater
Criteria for selection:
- Strength of artistic work to date
- Promise for future artistic achievement
- Commitment to & demonstration of innovation/experimentation in terms of form, content, process, and/or presentation
- Potential impact of Award on continued artistic development
Selection process:
The 2025 Generative Performing Artist Fellows will be selected through an open call for applicants followed by a competitive selection process. A selection panel of regional and national performing arts professionals with expertise in a range of performing arts fields will be solely responsible for selecting the 2025 Awards Fellows. Neither staff nor Charlotte Street board members have any input in the final decisions. Jurors featured on the panel will be announced along with award winners when the judgement process is finalized.
THE SELECTION PROCESS WILL BE CONDUCTED AS FOLLOWS:
September 23–November 25, 2025 at 11:59 PM (Central Time Zone): Submission period for applications on Submittable
November 25, 2025 at 11:59 PM (Central Time Zone): Application deadline
No late applications will be considered, so please make sure you give yourself enough time to turn in your application before the deadline.
November 2025–January 2026: Panel review of applications; selection of 10 semi-finalists for in-person visits.
Late January/Early February 2025: In-person visits & final selection by panel will take place over the course of two days.
10 semi-finalists will have 20 minute in-person visits with the selection panel, providing opportunity for semi-finalist artists to make short presentations about their work and respond to questions from the panel. Following presentations and final panel deliberations, the 2026 Generative Performing Artist Fellows will be notified.
February 2025: Award recipients will also be publicly announced via press release, social media and e-mail newsletter.
Other active Charlotte Street calls, including the Charlotte Street Visual Artist Awards, can be found on Submittable: Charlotte Street Calls to Artists; information on all of Charlotte Street's calls to artists can be found on Charlotte Street's website: charlottestreet.org.
ABOUT CHARLOTTE STREET
Charlotte Street centers Kansas City’s most forward-thinking visual artists, writers, and performers—acting as the primary incubator, provocateur, and connector for the region’s contemporary arts community, and its leading advocate on the national stage. Since 1997, Charlotte Street has distributed over $2.5 million in awards and grants to artists and their innovative projects, and connected individual artists to each other and to the greater Kansas City community. For more information about Charlotte Street, its awards, programs, and initiatives, visit www.charlottestreet.org.
The Charlotte Street Visual Artist Awards recognize and significantly support Kansas City-based visual artists of all media who are creating exceptional contemporary work. Providing artists with financial support, critical recognition, and public exposure, these awards reward artistic accomplishments to date and support the continued development of artists’ work and careers.
Awarded artists will be those who:
- Generate exceptional new work as visual artists
- Create work that is accomplished, imaginative, and authentic
- Demonstrate sustained commitment to their work artistic practices
Through recognizing and supporting exceptional artists living and working in the Kansas City metro area, Charlotte Street seeks to empower and propel individual artists, enhance the artistic culture of our region, and increase Kansas City’s desirability as a place for artists to live and work.
Three recipients of the 2025 Charlotte Street Visual Artist Award Fellow receive:
- An unrestricted cash grant of $10,000
- Recognition by Charlotte Street at the time of the Award announcement and throughout the year 2026—including announcements to media, online promotion, special event features and more
- Inclusion in the 2026 Charlotte Street Visual Artist Award exhibition, accompanied by a printed brochure with images and commissioned writing about their work
Criteria for selection:
- Strength of submitted artistic portfolio to date
- Promise and desire for future artistic achievement
- Commitment to and demonstration of innovation and experimentation in terms of form, content, process, and/or presentation
- Potential impact of Award on continued artistic development
Selection process:
The 2026 Charlotte Street Visual Artist Award Fellows will be selected through an open call for applicants followed by a competitive selection process. A selection panel of regional and national visual arts professionals will be solely responsible for selecting the 2026 Award Fellows. Neither staff nor Charlotte Street board members have any input in the final decisions. Jurors featured on the panel will be announced along with award winners when the judgement process is finalized.
The selection process will be conducted as follows:
September 23–November 25, 2025 at 11:59 PM (Central Time Zone): Application period
November 25, 2025 at 11:59 PM (Central Time Zone): Application deadline
November 2025–January 2026: Panel review of applications; selection of 10 semi-finalists for studio visits.
Late January/Early February 2025: In-person visits & final selection by panel will take place over the course of two days.
10 finalists will receive 30 minute in-person studio visits with the selection panel, providing opportunity for artists to share their work and respond to questions from the panel.
Note: if a space to show work is needed, Charlotte Street staff will work with the finalist to identify a space for the presentation. Following studio visits and final panel deliberations, the 2025 Charlotte Street Visual Artist Fellows will be notified in a timely manner:
February 2025: Award recipients will be publicly announced via press release, social media and e-mail newsletter.
Other active Charlotte Street calls, including the Charlotte Street Generative Performing Artist Awards, can be found on Submittable: Charlotte Street Calls to Artists; information on all of Charlotte Street's calls to artists can be found on Charlotte Street's website: charlottestreet.org.
ABOUT CHARLOTTE STREET
Charlotte Street centers Kansas City’s most forward-thinking visual artists, writers, and performers—acting as the primary incubator, provocateur, and connector for the region’s contemporary arts community, and its leading advocate on the national stage. Since 1997, Charlotte Street has distributed over $2.5 million in awards and grants to artists and their innovative projects, and connected individual artists to each other and to the greater Kansas City community. For more information about Charlotte Street, its awards, programs, and initiatives, visit www.charlottestreet.org.