Getty Scholars Program

Since 1985, the Getty Scholars Program has hosted around 1,300 residential scholars from over fifty countries to conduct research on topics related to the annual theme while residing in Los Angeles. Selected projects have spanned geographical regions and time periods, from ancient to contemporary eras. Getty receives between 300 and 400 applications each year and awards fellowships to about twenty applicants annually.

A mix of senior scholars and junior fellows are selected for the Scholars Program cohort. The cohort's research projects are focused on an annual theme. The three main grant categories are:

1. Scholar Grants for established researchers and professionals who have held PhDs for at least 5 years and/or possess strong records of publication and professional activity, at the Getty Center or Getty Villa
2. Postdoctoral Fellowships for recently granted PhDs at the Getty Center or Getty Villa
3. Predoctoral Fellowships for PhD candidates at the Getty Center

Within the annual theme, Getty offers dedicated appointments through its African American Art History Initiative (AAAHI) for scholars who are expanding critical inquiry of African American art and its frameworks. See the sections below for more information about applying. Interested applicants should apply to the appropriate category above based on their degree status and in the application, check the box for “African American Art History Initiative.”

The Getty Scholars Program is committed to fostering collaborative research and invites expressions of interest from teams, although each team member must meet eligibility requirements and submit an application individually.

As a related offering at Getty, the Conservation Guest Scholars Program provides opportunities for established scholars and professionals who have attained distinction in the cultural heritage conservation field. Conservation Guest Scholars and Getty Scholars live in the same complex and participate in many shared activities and lectures while in residence. The two parallel programs provide ample opportunities for exchange and collaboration. Applications for the Conservation Guest Scholars Program are made separately and will become available in August.

This page provides information about Scholar Grants for established researchers and professionals residing at the Getty Center.

Applications for 2025–2026 year grants will open July 1, 2024. The deadline to apply is October 1, 2024 by 5:00 p.m. (PDT).

For 2025–2026, Getty invites scholars and arts professionals to apply for a residential fellowship on the topic of repair, a theme that bridges time periods, world geographies, and professional practices. Situated between the forces of creation and destruction, the act of repair can be deeply transformative, with the potential to heal, alter, and renew the material environment. Scholars are asked to think critically about repair, questioning interpretive assessments about the ideal state of any object or site, in addition to querying what constitutes damage or whether to repair the ruined or the broken. Beyond such physical interventions, art and sites of commemoration are often mobilized to heal a fractured social fabric. Indeed, art itself may be offered as reparation to address past wrongs or to recuperate loss. The issue of repair has deep bearing for the arts, conceived in the broadest sense, and especially for institutions that aim to preserve and share global cultural heritage.

Guiding Questions

• Although often considered an ameliorative process, what are the limitations of repair? Which questions or considerations emerge when efforts to repair fail or fall short?
• How might the notion of repair lend itself to transdisciplinary and/or collaborative methods that expand understudied or precarious practices in art history or open onto new forms of understanding between various arenas of knowledge and practice?
• Acts of repair—material, infrastructural, environmental, and social—require intensive efforts on the part of workers in many fields. How do we account for human labor and agency in the act of repair?
• Efforts to repair or rehabilitate art and cultural heritage have catalyzed debate and contention among scholars, conservators, archaeologists, and the public. What can we learn from these discussions?
• How can the concept of repair help us think in new ways about the networked relations between living things and their environments?
• How can the concept of repair be conceptualized in order to make way for new forms and the possibility of radical alteration?

Under the umbrella of the annual theme, dedicated grants are available via the African American Art History Initiative (AAAHI). This residential program, which welcomed its first cohort of scholars in fall 2021, provides financial support and housing to scholars who are expanding critical inquiry of African American art and its frameworks. AAAHI invites scholars working on topics that align with the annual theme. As part of the scholar year cohort, AAAHI scholars have opportunities to present their research and receive feedback from an interdisciplinary group of peers. AAAHI scholars can also expect additional programming with Getty staff supporting the study of African American art.

We invite applications from scholars who focus on African American art and visual culture in all time periods and media and in a broad range of theoretical and methodological traditions. Projects that propose engagement with Getty’s growing collections of archival and primary source material related to African American art history are welcome. However, relevance to Getty holdings is not a project requirement. Applicants should indicate in their project proposal how their project would align with AAAHI's aim to make African American art history more visible to the public and accessible to the scholarly community worldwide.

Scholar Grant applicants should have received a PhD more than 5 years ago (before September 1, 2021). Applicants from associated fields who do not hold a PhD but have commensurate professional experience will also be considered.

Applicants who received their degree within the past 5 years (after September 1, 2021) should apply for a Postdoctoral Fellowship.

After a waiting period of 6 years, previous Getty Residential Grant recipients in any category are eligible to reapply for another grant in whichever category they are eligible for and interested in. See FAQs for more information.

Scholar Grant recipients at the Getty Center may be in residence from three to nine months and receive varying stipends as detailed below:

• Three-month residency: September–December/January–March; $21,500 stipend
• Six-month residency: September–March/January–June; $43,000 stipend
• Nine-month residency: September–June; $65,000 stipend

The grant also includes a workstation at the Getty Research Institute or Getty Villa, research assistance, a travel stipend, an apartment in the Getty scholar housing complex, and an available healthcare option. These terms apply as of July 2024 and are subject to future changes.

See the overview of the Getty Residential Scholar and Fellow Program for further details about stipends, housing, healthcare, and more.

Applications are submitted through the Getty Foundation Grant Portal. You will need to create or update your account and password, log in, and begin a new application. We strongly recommend using Google Chrome, though you may also use Firefox or Safari. The Internet Explorer (IE) browser is not compatible with our portal.

You may return to your work at any time by visiting the portal at the link above and logging into your account.

Note: Once you have created and saved an application form, you may return to work on the same form by selecting the "Applications: In Progress" link. Otherwise, you may inadvertently create multiple versions of the same application.

The project proposal should not exceed 5 pages typed and double-spaced. The proposal should include:

1. Project description
2. How the project addresses the annual theme
3. How the project meaningfully contributes to the applicant’s field of scholarship
4. Proposed plan for study and research
5. Benefits to the project from the resources at the Getty (if applicable)
6. For AAAHI Grants: also include how the project will generate new knowledge in the field of African American art history

The curriculum vitae (CV) is a record of all your professional activities.

Applicants are welcome to submit a single writing sample in support of their proposal. It should not exceed 20 double-spaced pages in length.

Getty Scholar Grants are awarded on a competitive basis. Applications as a whole are evaluated based on the following criteria:

1. Overall quality of the application, including its adherence to the annual theme
2. How the project would contribute to the advancement of the applicant’s field of scholarship
3. Applicant's past achievements
4. Applicant's qualifications to undertake the project

Letters of reference are not required for the Scholar Grant application.

Applicants will be notified of their application outcome approximately 6 months after the deadline.