21c Museum Hotels, a multi-venue contemporary art museum and award-winning hospitality company, and Artadia, a non-profit grantmaker and nationwide community of visual artists, curators, and patrons, are thrilled to announce their collaboration on the fifth annual 21c Artadia Award, this year in St. Louis, MO.
Launched in Louisville, KY in 2021, the 21c Artadia Award is a long-term partnership that annually provides $15,000 in unrestricted funds to one artist living and working in the unique creative communities where 21c Museum Hotels are located. Previous 21c Artadia Award cycles have granted four artists with unrestricted awards – Kiah Celeste (2021 Louisville), Kathy Liao (2022 Kansas City), André Leon Gray (2023 Research Triangle), and Erika NJ Allen (2024 Cincinnati).
The 21c Artadia Award is designed to provide essential funding and recognition to artists at pivotal points in their careers, strengthen arts communities, and spur new levels of career achievement. In addition to the grant itself, the Award includes lifelong access to the Artadia Network, a support program nurturing strategic relationships and connecting Awardees with a community of fellow artists and a diverse cohort of professionals.
Open June 15–July 15, 2025, the 21c St. Louis Award application is an open call, free to apply,
and available to visual artists currently living and working within St. Louis City, MO, St. Louis County, MO, St. Charles County, MO, St. Clair County, IL and Madison County, IL for at least two years. To apply and learn more, visit artadia.org/awards. The 21c St. Louis Artadia Awardee will be announced in August 2025.
“We are excited to mark the fifth year of the 21c Artadia Award, which remains a vital resource for artists across the country. On top of the unrestricted funding, this initiative allows us to connect artists outside of our program cities to a broader network of 400+ artists and numerous arts professionals. Our ongoing partnership with 21c is a testament to our shared commitment to nurturing and elevating the careers of artists,” shared Artadia’s Executive Director, Patton Hindle.
21c Chief Curator and Museum Director, Alice Gray Stites remarked: “A shared commitment to supporting the most dynamic artists working today continues to drive 21c’s ongoing collaboration with Artadia. This award has proven to be valuable in many ways to the applicants, finalists, and the communities that 21c calls home. We are especially excited that the fifth 21c Artadia Award will be given to an artist in St Louis, a city with an exceptionally vibrant arts ecology.”
About 21c Museum Hotel St. Louis
Located in the heart of downtown St. Louis, this 173-room boutique hotel houses a contemporary art museum, Idol Wolf restaurant, Good Press café, and Locust Street Athletic and Swim Club, a full-service wellness center. Infusing the extraordinary into daily life, radical access to contemporary art is the modus operandi of 21c St. Louis with over 14,000 square feet of exhibition space, where visitors and locals alike are invited to enjoy rotating, curated exhibitions free of charge, seven days a week.
For more information, visit here.
Image: Brian Paumier, “Act Of Faith,” 2014, pigmented paper prints on painted wood with glitter and adhesives. Courtesy of 21c Museum Hotel Lexington. Included in “Pop Stars! Popular Culture and Contemporary Art” on view at 21c St. Louis through June 2025.
About Artadia
Artadia is a non-profit grantmaking organization and a nationwide community of visual artists, curators, and patrons. Over two decades, Artadia has worked collaboratively to foster a more just arts economy and improve the conditions necessary for artists of all backgrounds to thrive. We elevate the careers of artists at critical moments in their practice through a proven combination of recognition, grantmaking, community support, and advocacy. Since its founding in 1999, Artadia has awarded over $6 million in unrestricted funds to over 400 artists nationally. Celebrating visual artists and their foundational role in shaping society, the Artadia Award benefits three artists annually in seven major US cities with high concentrations of creative workers—Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
For more information, visit artadia.org.