Media Arts Residency Program
Media Arts Fellowship
Kala’s Media Arts Fellowship supports artists working on innovative projects in and across film and video, sound, animation, performance cinema, and media arts installation. This opportunity is open to local, national, and international artists. Media Arts Fellowships will be selected by a jury based on conceptual creativity, originality and artistic excellence, and project-specific technical knowledge.
Kala’s Media Fellowship started in 2017 and like the Fellowship program supports artists with a $3,000 stipend, unlimited access to Kala’s facilities for up to 9 months, one free class/workshop at Kala, and a culminating group exhibition with the Fellowship cohort in the Kala Gallery. The Media Arts Fellowship is geared towards supporting artists in completing specific projects or bodies of work that would benefit from Kala’s equipment and resources in the print studio, darkroom, digital lab, small project spaces, and gallery.
Going forward, Media artists should apply through the fellowship application. The last Media Arts Residency panel was chaired by Kala’s Artist Residency Manager Leyla Rzayeva. The jury included Kala’s Artistic Director and Co-Director, Mayumi Hamanaka; Diego Villalobos Assistant Curator, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts; and Media Fellowship alum, Esy Casey.
HOW TO APPLY
Media-based artists are encouraged to apply through the fellowship application.
Find out more information and application details on the Fellowship page here.
Visit kala.slideroom.com here to begin your application (portal is open Dec 15, 2025 – March 1, 2026)!
A full application will include:
– Completed application questions in SlideRoom
– Artist resumé or CV
– Work samples, up to 10 images and/or 5 minutes of video
– Include title, year, medium, size/duration for each work sample
– Two references (for Fellowship consideration, include contact information only, no letters)
– No application fee from Dec 15, 2025 – Jan 15, 2026; $25 application fee from Jan 16 – March 1, 2026
ELIGIBILITY
Artists enrolled in a degree-granting program during the fellowship program period are not eligible for the Fellowship, but are eligible for the Artist-in-Residence program. Artists are encouraged to apply to the Fellowship and Artist Residency – a single application (March 1st, 2026 deadline).
The 2026-2027 Fellowship program period is from July 2026 through June 2027.
Questions: Contact Artist Residency Manager Leyla Rzayeva at leyla@kala.org or kalaair@kala.org with questions regarding this opportunity.
MEDIA ARTS ALUMNI
2025-2026 Media Arts Fellows:
Ainslee Alem Robson (Los Angeles, California)
2024-2025 Media Arts Fellows:
Mahwish Chishty (Springfield, Massachusetts)
2023-2024 Media Arts Fellows:
Chia Amisola ( Las Pinas, Philippines / SF, CA )
Charles Lee (El Cerrito, CA)
Amy Elkins (Berkeley, CA)
Shantré Pinkney (Berkeley, CA / Los Angeles, CA)
2022-2023 Media Arts Fellows:
Meghana Bisineer (Oakland, CA)
Nasim Moghadam (Palo Alto, CA)
Rosa Park (San Francisco, CA)
Trina Robinson (San Francisco, CA)
2021-2022 Media Arts Fellows:
Esy Casey (Diemen, Netherlands/Beacon, NY)
Cherrie Yu (Chicago, IL)
Ai Iwane (Tokyo, Japan)
Jamal Ademola (Los Angeles, CA)
Honorary AIR Awardees:
Rosa Park (San Francisco, CA)
Miguel Aragon (Staten Island, NY)
2020-2021 Media Arts Fellows:
Pegah Pasalar (Chicago, IL)
Alexa Burrell (Oakland, CA)
Naomi van Niekerk (Johannesburg, South Africa)
Honorary AIR Awardees:
Richard-Jonathan Nelson (San Francisco, CA)
Cuyler Ballenger (Houston, TX)
Annie Albagli (San Francisco, CA)
2019-2020 Media Arts Fellows:
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (San Francisco, CA)
Nkiruka Oparah (Oakland, CA)
Azin Seraj (Alameda, CA)
Naomi van Niekerk (Johannesburg, South Africa)
Honorary AIR Awardees:
Lacey Johnson (Oakland, CA)
Haejin Kim (Bloomfield Hills, MI)
2018-2019 Media Arts Fellows:
Kevin Brophy (Tampa, FL)
Veronica Graham (Alameda, CA)
Tess Martin (Rotterdam, The Netherlands)
Nicky Tavares (Alameda, CA)
Minoosh Zomorodinia (Albany, CA)
2017-2018 Media Arts Fellows:
Zhiwan Cheung (Pittsburgh, PA)
Lydia Greer (Alameda, CA)
Sarah Klein and David Kwan (San Francisco, CA)
Christoph Steger (Oakland, CA)
Honorary AIR Awardees:
Shaghayegh Cyrous (Walnut Creek, CA)
Motoko Honda (Oakland, CA)
Wioleta Kaminska (San Francisco, CA)
Kate Rhoades (Oakland, CA)