United States Artists

What United States Artists does

United States Artists (USA) is a Chicago-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2005 by leaders of the Ford, Rockefeller, Rasmuson, and Prudential Foundations in response to NEA budget cuts and a 2003 Urban Institute study finding that Americans valued art but not artists. The organization awards $50,000 unrestricted cash fellowships to individual artists and cultural practitioners across ten disciplines — Architecture & Design, Craft, Dance, Film, Media, Music, Theater & Performance, Traditional Arts, Visual Art, and Writing — with 50 fellows selected annually through a nomination-based process and over 1,000 artists awarded more than $50 million cumulatively as of 2026. Its portfolio includes the USA Fellowship, the Berresford Prize (for cultural organizers), the Initiatives Awards program operating specialized fellowships in partnership with external funders (Knight Arts + Tech, Maxwell | Hanrahan in Craft, Rainin Arts, Disability Futures, Creative Impact Awards, Seed and Bloom: Detroit, Wagner Arts Fellowship), and Artist Services that provide financial planning, career consulting, and legal advice to fellows.

USA's revenue is derived from philanthropic contributions — primarily major foundation grants (Ford, Mellon, Knight, Rockefeller, Joyce, Barr, Poetry, Rockefeller Brothers, Windgate, Rasmuson), individual donors (Sarah Arison, Todd and Betiana Simon, Barbara and Amos Hostetter), and donor-advised funds — rather than product sales. Distribution runs through three channels: the open nomination cycle for the USA Fellowship, philanthropic partnerships that co-fund targeted Initiatives, and direct professional services to the alumni network. Marketing and outreach rely on the unitedstatesartists.org website (built by AREA 17), an email newsletter, Instagram and Bluesky presence, and earned media coverage in arts publications such as Artsy and Hyperallergic. There is no proprietary technology platform; the website uses standard web tools and Google Analytics.

Two emerging program areas — the Artists Capital Fund (designed to expand artist access to non-extractive capital) and the National Arts Policy Alliance or NAPA (focused on systemic policy reform for creative workers) — represent a deliberate pivot from purely direct grantmaking toward financial infrastructure and sector-wide advocacy. USA is governed by a Board of Trustees chaired by Ed Henry (President and CEO of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation), with operational leadership recently transitioned to Interim President and CEO Jamie Bennett and COO Brian Edwards. Headcount is approximately 20 staff.

Name

United States Artists

Legal name

United States Artists

Website

https://unitedstatesartists.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

United States Artists is a Chicago-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that awards $50,000 unrestricted fellowships to artists across 10 disciplines, has supported more than 1,000 artists with $50 million cumulatively, and operates specialized funder partnerships plus an emerging national arts policy alliance.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Arts Grantmaking

NAICS

Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Other Grantmaking and Giving Services (813219)

SIC

Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Arts, Culture & Humanities Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAJ)

Keywords

• Arts grantmaking
• Artist fellowships
• Unrestricted cash awards
• Nonprofit arts funding
• Arts philanthropy

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Foundation and Corporate Grants: Funding from major foundations including Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Knight Foundation, Joyce Foundation, Rasmuson Foundation, and others who provide grant support for fellowships and initiatives.
2. Individual Donations: Donations from individual philanthropists and supporters who contribute to the organization's ability to award unrestricted fellowships to artists.
3. Donor-Advised Fund Support: Funding from donor-advised funds and named charitable vehicles for specific fellowship programs (e.g., fellowships with named donors such as Todd and Betiana Simon, Ford Foundation).

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

United States Artists is a nonprofit grantmaking organization that awards $50,000 unrestricted cash fellowships to individual living American artists across 10 disciplines (Architecture & Design, Craft, Dance, Film, Media, Music, Theater & Performance, Traditional Arts, Visual Art, and Writing). Its portfolio includes the annual USA Fellowship (50 awardees), the Berresford Prize (one cultural organizer per year), Initiatives Awards operated in partnership with major foundations, and Artist Services providing financial planning, career consulting, and legal support to fellows.

Product overview

United States Artists is a nonprofit grantmaking organization that operates as a portfolio of artist support programs rather than a single product. The core offerings include USA Fellowship Awards ($50,000 unrestricted grants to artists across 10 disciplines), the Berresford Prize ($50,000 for cultural organizers), and the Initiatives Awards partnerships (including Knight Arts + Tech Fellowship, Maxwell | Hanrahan Awards, Rainin Arts Fellowship, Disability Futures, and others). Supporting services include Artist Services providing Fellows with financial planning, career consulting, and legal advice. Emerging programs include the Artists Capital Fund and National Arts Policy Alliance (NAPA) focused on structural policy reform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• USA Fellowship Awards
• Berresford Prize
• Initiatives Awards
• Artist Services
• Knight Arts + Tech Fellowship
• Maxwell | Hanrahan Awards in Craft
• Rainin Arts Fellowship
• Disability Futures
• Artists Capital Fund
• National Arts Policy Alliance (NAPA)

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 1,000 artists and cultural practitioners awarded more than $50 million in direct support since founding in 2005.
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers25 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• National Arts Policy Alliance (NAPA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNAPA is a national effort launched by USA and core partners to move toward systemic reform, bringing together artists, funders, and cultural workers to advocate for policies recognizing creative labor as labor deserving of protections, benefits, and economic rights.
• First Peoples FundminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFirst Peoples Fund is led by 2026 Berresford Prize recipient Lori Lea Pourier. USA recognized Pourier's work supporting Indigenous artists through the Berresford Prize.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Creative Capital: Provides project-based grants and professional development to individual artists across visual arts, film/ video, performing arts, and literature. Closely comparable unrestricted-style support and nominating peer review process.
• Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA): Provides emergency and project grants to individual performing and visual artists, often based on peer nomination. Operates a similar small-staff, artist-centered grantmaking model.
• Joan Mitchell Foundation: Awards grants, fellowships, and residencies to individual visual artists and painters, with strong emphasis on artist support services. Directly comparable individual-artist grantmaking mission.
• The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts: Awards grants to visual arts organizations and curatorial programs. Similar arts-focused foundation grantmaking with comparable funder networks.
• MAP Fund: Supports live performance and experimental theater through project-based grants to individual artists. Comparable peer-reviewed grantmaking for performing artists.

Regional players

• New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA): Regional arts funder providing grants and support to artists and cultural organizations in New England. Operates as a comparable regional grantmaking intermediary, though regionally focused.
• Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation: Regional arts grantmaker serving artists and organizations across the Mid-Atlantic states. Comparable grantmaking intermediary role, though geographically bounded.

Broad incumbents

• Mellon Foundation: One of the largest arts funders in the U.S., supporting a wide portfolio of artists and arts institutions. Operates at much larger scale than USA but shares funder relationships and overlapping grantmaking priorities.
• National Endowment for the Arts (NEA): Federal arts funder and the historic catalyst for USA's founding. Provides grants to organizations and (historically) individuals; much larger scale and broader mandate than USA.
• Doris Duke Charitable Foundation: Major national arts funder whose CEO (Ed Henry) also chairs USA's board. Operates arts grantmaking at materially larger scale across multiple disciplines.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/usaforart
• Instagraminstagram.com/unitedstatesartists
• Facebookfacebook.com/unitedstatesartists

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors4 records

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about United States Artists