Concluded in 2020, the Houston Artadia Fellowship program launched in 2018 and was designed to connect Houston’s diverse immigrant and refugee artists with local and national arts communities. Artadia fostered these connections through close collaborations with local partners, critical discourse, exhibition opportunities, and studio visits with renowned curators and artists to support and cultivate artistic excellence. Individual artists who identified as immigrants or refugees, working in any visual medium, at any stage in their career, living in Houston and its Contiguous Counties were encouraged to apply. Fellows each received a $2,500 honorarium, an introduction to an artist advisor chosen by Artadia from its pool of Houston-based Artadia Awardees, and the facilitation of a series of meetings catered to the specific needs of each fellow. In addition, the program offered the opportunity to present their work publicly to the Houston art community, including artists, collectors, dealers, critics, curators, and other arts professionals.
During the pilot application process in 2018, every artist who applied was from a different country, representing nearly every region in the world. Over 50% of the applicants were female and the same number of applicants identified as painters. Geographically, 66% of the applicants reside in different zipcodes, spanning as far as Sugar Land, TX, and Katy, TX, right into Gulfton and Third Ward neighborhoods.