January 2026 Grants To Fund Your Big Ideas: For Artists, Filmmakers, Nonprofits and More!
🎉 Start the New Year with these grants!
Happy New Year, creators! 🥳🎉🎊
We wish you success, happiness, fulfillment, and lots of funding in 2026!
Now, let’s get into this newsletter with (76) grants so far for creatives totaling approximately $864,399 in potential funding. Plus, there are still more grants with December deadlines, too.
➡️ Click here for our updated December 2025 Grants List — we notify you of new additions every week.
Remember: Always do your own research and carefully read guidelines before applying.
How To Find Grants via Our Newsletter
Our grants list is chronologically ordered from January 1st to January 31st.
To help you save time, we also indicate who the grants are for in award titles, and we’ve included a numbered summary below.
We will continuously share more January grants as we find them.
Agriculture: #54
Artists: #6 (Featured), 2 (Buffalo), 3 (Delaware), 4 (New York City), 5 (The Bronx), 6 (Southern California), 7 (New York State), 10 (North Carolina), 12 (Houston), 15, 19 (Cuyahoga County), 20 (New York City), 22 (New York City), 24, 28, 29 (Kansas City), 31 (Oklahoma), 33, 34, 35 (New York State), 37 (Native), 40 (Detroit), 41 (Native), 43 (Chicago), 46 (Oklahoma), 47 (Oklahoma), 48 (A.I.), 56 (Boulder, CO), 58 (New York State), 59 (Tennessee)
Authors/Writers: #2 (Featured), 5 (Featured; High School Seniors), 7 (New York State), 9 (Emerging), 13 (Television), 25, #63 (Texas; College Students)
Choral Arts: #36 (New Hampshire & Vermont)
Curators: #2 (Buffalo)
Digital Creators: #66
Entrepreneurs/Small Business: #7 (Featured), 2 (Women), 62, 65 (Women; Philadelphia)
Filmmakers: #8 (Washington State), 38 (Sacramento), 39 (Bay Area), 49 (New England)
Human-Centered Design: #27
Illustrators: #17
Journalists: #18, 32, 68, 69
Nonprofits: #11 (Connecticut), 33, 39 (Bay Area), 44, 45 (Fulton County, GA), 60 (Theater), 61 (New York City), 64
Performing Arts: #16
Photographers: #3 (Featured), 26, 30, 51, 55
Podcasters: #50 (College)
Poets: #21 (Tucson), 42
Poster Contest: #14
Researchers: #4 (Featured)
Science & Engineering: #1
Scholarships: #67 (College)
Startups: #57
Theaters: #1 (Featured; Education), 53 (New York State), 60 (Nonprofits)
Youth Leadership: #23 (Jewish Teens)
[FEATURED]
1. The Excellence in Theatre Education Award
This Award, presented by the Tony Awards and Carnegie Mellon University, is for outstanding K-12 theatre educators in the United States who have significantly impacted their students’ lives and embody the highest standards of the profession. The program offers a $10,000 grant to the winning teacher’s theatre program and tickets to the Tony Awards ceremony.
Deadline: January 5, 2026
2. The 2026 Bechtel Prize for Innovation in Creative Writing Instruction
Teachers & Writers Magazine is now accepting submissions of essays that describe a creative writing teaching experience, project, or activity that demonstrates innovative creative writing instruction. They are seeking essays describing a project or activity that engaged students in writing and fostered a vibrant, dynamic culture of literacy in the classroom. They welcome essays on projects that create space for students to reflect on current events and social justice. The essay selected will be published in Teachers & Writers Magazine, and the author will receive a $1,000 award.
Deadline: January 11, 2026
3. Sony World Photography Awards
This opportunity rewards the best photo series worldwide. Entry is free, and you could win $25,000, a solo show, a range of Sony Digital Imaging equipment, a professional career-development day - plus more!
Deadline: January 13, 2026
4. Folger Institute Artistic Research Fellowship
This opportunity is open to all artists whose work would benefit from significant primary research related to the histories, concepts, art, and objects of the early modern world (ca. 1400-1800) and its legacies. Artistic applicants are not required to hold a formal degree, but should describe their training and level of industry-specific experience in their CV.
Applicants may apply for one, two, or three months of research support and may take their fellowships entirely on-site, fully virtual, or a combination of the two. Fellowship awards are $4,000 per virtual month and $5,000 per onsite month.
Deadline: January 15, 2026
5. Penguin Random House Creative Writing Awards - For High School Seniors
Penguin Random House has established a scholarship program for high school seniors with outstanding creative writing skills who plan to pursue college. Through this program, six public U.S. high school seniors, nationwide, will be awarded college scholarships of up to $10,000 each.
Deadline: January 15, 2026, or once 1,000 applications are received
6. [NEW] The 2026 – 2027 Roman Witt Residency for Artists
This program seeks to support an artist in the production of new work in association with the University of Michigan’s Stamps School of Art & Design. The program awards one residency per academic year to a visiting artist/designer to create new work at the school while engaging the university community. The residency is expected to culminate in the completion of the proposed work and its presentation. The Witt Residency is open to both established and emerging artists/designers.
The selected applicant will receive an honorarium of $20,000 for up to 12 weeks of residence over an academic year. In addition to the honorarium, residents will be provided with housing, studio space, and up to $10,000 materials, research, and development funding to support the creative process.
Deadline: January 15, 2026
7. Amex Shop Small Grants Program - For Small Businesses
To help small businesses grow, innovate, and support their local communities, American Express is teaming up with Main Street America this Small Business Saturday® to launch the Amex Shop Small Grants Program. The Program will provide $20,000 grants to 250 eligible small business owners across the U.S. Applicants must have a physical location.
Deadline: January 16, 2026