Citizen AI Arts & Technology Fellowship 2026-2027 for Artists and Creatives ($3,000 Stipend)

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Applications are open for Citizen AI Arts & Technology Fellowship 2026-2027. The fellowship seeks to bring together multigenerational artists and creatives from diverse disciplines, backgrounds, and career stages to explore the relationship between art, AI and emerging technologies, democracy, community, and public life.

No prior expertise in artificial intelligence is required, and they welcome applicants who approach AI from a range of perspectives, including those who are curious, enthusiastic, skeptical, or critical.

The fellowship is designed as a space for creatives from different generations, disciplines and professional backgrounds to examine how artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies are shaping communities and public life.

Citizen AI Arts & Technology Fellowship Phases

Year 1: Collective Inquiry & Co-Design
- In Year 1, fellows will form a community of practice focused on shared inquiry, dialogue, experimentation, and community engagement. Rather than beginning with a predetermined project, fellows will work collaboratively to develop ideas and co-design a participatory public initiative. Together, they will explore questions such as: How can communities have a greater voice in shaping AI? What values, principles, and guardrails should guide emerging technologies? How can creative practice make questions about AI more accessible and open to public participation?
Year 2: Development & Public Engagement
- Building on the ideas and relationships developed during Year 1, Year 2 will focus on developing, prototyping, and implementing the public initiative. Fellows will work with community members and project partners to test ideas, gather feedback, refine approaches, and bring the work into public spaces.

Citizen AI Arts & Technology Fellowship Benefits

Year 1: Fellows will receive a $3,000 stipend for participation in the fellowship’s inquiry, co-design, community engagement, and collaborative development process. Participation in designated Citizen AI workshops or activities beyond the core fellowship commitment will be compensated separately.
Year 2: The fellowship is envisioned to move into a more intensive implementation phase. Selected participants may have opportunities for deeper involvement in production, fabrication, facilitation, public programming, and implementation of ideas developed through the Year 1 process. Compensation for Year 2 will reflect the increased scope and level of engagement.
Together, the two years create a progression from broad participation, inquiry, and co-design in Year 1 to deeper development and implementation in Year 2.

Areas of Interest

They encourage applications from creatives whose work, interests, or experience engage one or more of the following:

Community-engaged, socially engaged, participatory, or co-creative practice
Public art, placemaking, and creative work in public spaces
Arts-based research, storytelling, facilitation, or public dialogue
Democracy, civic participation, belonging, or community voice
Social, cultural, ethical, or political dimensions of technology
Critical, supportive, or questioning perspectives on AI and emerging technologies
Speculative, interdisciplinary, or experimental approaches to technology and society
Community organizing, education, advocacy, or other forms of public engagement

Eligibility Criteria

What They Are Looking For

They are particularly interested in creatives who bring a distinctive perspective, practice, experience, or way of thinking to the cohort. Fellows should value collaboration across disciplines, communities, and lived experiences and be open to listening, questioning, experimenting, and engaging with people who may hold different perspectives on AI.
The fellowship welcomes creatives who see their practice as a means of fostering dialogue, reflection, imagination, and participation in public life, and who are interested in exploring how communities can have a greater voice in shaping emerging technologies.
Conceptual thinking and creative practice are valued equally. Fellows may contribute through artistic making, research, storytelling, facilitation, community knowledge, critical perspectives, experimentation, or other forms of creative inquiry.

Qualifications

No academic degree or prior AI expertise is required. We welcome emerging, mid-career, and established creatives from diverse professional backgrounds and disciplines, with varying levels of familiarity with artificial intelligence. Applicants do not need to work directly with AI technologies.

Creative practices may include visual art, performance, socially engaged and public art, design, digital media, filmmaking, creative technology, music ,movement fiber and textile arts, writing, storytelling, interdisciplinary practice, and other creative forms.

Applicants should demonstrate:

An active creative practice or sustained engagement in a creative field.
Interest in the relationship between creativity, technology, community, democracy, and public life.
Experience with, or demonstrated interest in, collaborative, participatory, community-engaged, or public-facing work.
Curiosity about emerging technologies, including both their possibilities and challenges.
A commitment to respectful, inclusive, and ethical engagement.
The ability to participate consistently in fellowship bi-monthly meetings and collaborative activities.