Nearly 2,000 nonprofits applied. Twelve got funded. On November 2, 2026, the Vilcek Foundation announced $212,000 in grants in its second open call cycle, to organizations whose work lifts up immigrants or builds new ground in the arts and sciences.
Applications rose 46 percent from the 2025 cycle and arrived from all 50 states, three U.S. territories, and Washington, D.C. The 2026 grants reach eight states the foundation had never funded before: Delaware, Idaho, Louisiana, Nebraska, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wyoming. Counting this cycle, the foundation has awarded more than $7 million in grants to nonprofits in 40 states, two territories, and Washington, D.C. since its founding a quarter century ago.
Where the Money Landed
Most grants are $20,000. The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha receives $20,000 for Indigenous Voices, a new performance series with site-specific work by Emily Johnson, Kite, Ya Tseen, and Nathan Young. “Support from the Vilcek Foundation will help us build on that work tremendously, connecting Indigenous artists with local audiences through free performance-based programs,” said Chris Cook, the Bemis Center’s executive director.
In Los Angeles, the Japanese American National Museum receives $20,000 to preserve and publish artworks made by Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II, a collection whose care is archival work and historical record at once. In Providence, Rhode Island Latino Arts receives $15,000 for Nuestras Raíces, its bilingual oral history archive. In Portland, The Immigrant Story receives $20,000 for its storytelling programs, exhibitions, podcasts, and oral history work.
The rest of the class spreads across the map: Radio Boise’s immigrant-focused music and storytelling initiative, a Hayal Pozanti solo exhibition at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, City of Asylum/Detroit’s visiting writer series at $5,000, installations for Counterpublic’s 2026 triennial in St. Louis, curatorial research at Del Vaz Projects in Santa Monica, Blažo Kovačević’s interactive exhibition at the Delaware Contemporary, the National Performance Network’s Artist Engagement Fund in New Orleans, and Voices Jackson Hole’s mentorship training for immigrant leaders at $12,000.
An Open Door, Deliberately Kept Open
The foundation, established in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, was built to raise awareness of immigrant contributions to the United States and to support the arts and sciences. It opened its grantmaking to public application only in 2024, for the 2025 cycle, which funded 14 organizations. The grant period for the 2026 class runs from September 1, 2026 through August 31, 2027.
“Immigrants are essential to the fabric of the United States, yet their contributions are often overlooked or undervalued,” said foundation president Rick Kinsel. “2026 expands our grantmaking’s geographic reach with recipients in eight new states, bringing us closer to supporting local, regional, and national nonprofits enacting meaningful change across the country.”
Applications for the 2027 cycle are open now through March 31, 2027, and organizations that applied before may apply again with a new proposal. For the small museums, radio stations, and oral history projects that make up this class, a $20,000 grant is rarely the largest line in a budget. It is, in several of these cases, the line that lets a specific exhibition, archive, or performance series happen at all.
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