Kala Art Institute Announces California Arts Council Individual Artists Fellowship Awards for Region 3: The Bay Area

Contact: Mayumi Hamanaka, Co-Executive Director, mayumi@kala.org, (510) 841-7000 ex 201 and visit our website at: www.kala.org

Berkeley, CA – September 10, 2026

Kala Art Institute Announces California Arts Council Individual Artists Fellowship Awards for Region 3: The Bay Area

Unrestricted Fellowships Totaling $560,000 Support Artists Across 8 Bay Area Counties

Kala Art Institute (Kala) is excited to announce the recipients of the 2026 California Arts Council Individual Artists Fellowship program (CAC IAF) for the Bay Area.

Funded by a grant from the California Arts Council (CAC), Kala is administering  unrestricted fellowships totaling $560,000 to individual artists and culture bearers living and working in California’s Bay Area region.

The fellowship empowers artists at pivotal moments in their careers with unrestricted funding to support their art practice and offers opportunities throughout the year to network and share work through exhibitions, performances, and public programs.

California Arts Council (CAC)  selected Kala Art Institute to design and implement a fellowship program that supports individual artists  across creative disciplines. Kala is one of eight regionally based Administering Organizations (AOs) that together are supporting and celebrating artists in all 58 counties in California.

The Bay Area region was a highly competitive field. Kala received 694 applicants for the CAC Individual Artists Fellowship program. Out of 694 applicants, that includes 266 for the emerging artist tier, 306 for the established artist tier, and 122 for the legacy artist tier. Overall, 4.3 % of the applicants were funded.

32 panelists from diverse artistic disciplines and across eight Bay Area  counties reviewed, scored, and ranked the applications based on published criteria focusing on artistic excellence, creative vision, and community impact.  Each submission reflected the rich creativity and dedication present throughout the region. Kala remains committed to advocating for increased  funding allocations that will expand future opportunities to support even more artists over the long arc of their careers,

Kala is funding 8 artists in the legacy tier, 10 artists in the established tier, and 12 artists in the emerging tier.  “These fellows represent the extraordinary range, talent, and resilience of artists working in different  creative disciplines throughout the Bay Area from dance to documentary film, poetry and performance to visual arts and social practice.” said Ellen Lake, Kala Co-Executive Director. “We are honored to celebrate the Bay Area’s creative community, embrace the spirit of possibility,  and invest in artists in the area.”

2026-2027 BAY AREA CAC Individual Artist Fellows

  • Legacy Artist Fellows (8 awards of $50,000 each)
  • Established Artist Fellows (10 awards of $10,000 each)
  • Emerging Artist Fellows (12 awards of $5,000 each)

All awards are unrestricted. The Fellowship activity period runs from September  1, 2026 – August 31, 2027. Fellows may use their awards to enhance their creative practice and will have opportunities to convene both virtually and at Kala with opportunities to share work through Kala’s exhibitions and public programs  throughout the one-year fellowship period.

Legacy Artist Tier

 

Established Artist Tier

 

Emerging Artist Tier

Fellows were notified of their awards on August 31, 2026.

Follow the announcement and future updates on Instagram – @kalaartinstitute and @kalagallery_berkeley

Full program details and the complete list of Bay Area Fellows are available at https://www.kala.org/community-projects/cac-individual-artist-fellowships/

About Kala: Kala is a non-profit arts organization and a vital community center for artistic experimentation. Located in West Berkeley, Kala annually serves 175 artist-in-residence and offers exhibitions and public programs, art sales and arts education. For adults, Kala offers over 100 workshops to the public in techniques ranging from etching to letterpress, textiles to hand-building with clay. Kala’s youth art programs reach 2,500 students in Alameda County public schools and through on-site programs including Camp Kala – a summer art camp, after school studio art, teen workshops, field trips, and more. With access to a wide array of traditional and digital equipment in the print studio, digital lab, darkroom, and sculpture lab, Kala fosters a fresh approach to artistic experimentation, as Kala artists investigate the interface of digital work, work made by hand, and everything in between.

Now in its 52nd year, Kala has grown from its early days in a garage studio with a single etching press and a hot plate to its current 15,200 square foot  facility with studios, gallery, and community classroom space in the historic Heinz building and with artist housing across the street. Kala’s  mission remains the same: to be a thriving, creative hub for artists and to provide engaging, artistic public programming now and into the future. Learn more at kala.org. Tours of the Kala studio, gallery and print-and-media study center are also available by appointment. For more information, contact Mayumi Hamanaka, Kala Co-Executive Director, mayumi@kala.org or (510) 841-7000 ex 201.