American Academy in Rome
OVERVIEW: The American Academy in Rome awards the prestigious Rome Prize for humanities scholars and artists. It also runs other programs for the humanities and an internship for culinary arts.
IP TAKE: The American Academy in Rome is best known for awarding the prestigious Rome Prize to 30 humanities scholars and artists each year. The prize tends to go to individuals who are established in their fields and whose work might clearly benefit from a five- to ten-month residency at the academy’s historic villa in Rome. Lists of past fellows read like a who’s who of the arts and humanities. Prestige aside, the academy accepts applications for the prize from qualified individuals for a fee. It also runs other programs, mainly unpaid, for students, artists, teachers and culinary interns at its Villa Aurelia.
PROFILE: The American Academy in Rome is a “center for independent studies and advanced research in the fine arts and humanities.” Its mission is to support “innovative artists, writers, and scholars living and working together in a dynamic international community.”
The academy owns and maintains the Villa Aurelia and its surrounding “3.8 acres of magnificent gardens” in the Janiculum Hill area of Rome. Originally built in the 17th century, the villa boasts several illustrious owners and in 1849 was utilized as a military headquarters for the Roman Republic. The property eventually landed in the hands of the American Clara Jessup Heyland, a Dupont heiress. She bequeathed the property to the academy when she died in 1909.
The American Academy in Rome is best known for its Rome Prize and Italian Fellowships. It also hosts Affiliated Fellowships and runs the Rome Sustainable Food Project. Two other programs, the Visiting Artists and Scholars Program and the Classical Summer School, require tuition and room and board payment for participation.
Grants for Humanities Research, Arts and Culture
The American Academy in Rome’s two main fellowships are the Rome Prize and the Italian Fellowship.
For more than 100 years, the prestigious Rome Prize has supported “innovative and cross-disciplinary work in the arts and humanities.”
Among hundreds of past fellows are the artist Chuck Close, the architect Maya Lin, the playwright Wendy Wasserstein and the novelist Anthony Doerr, to name only a few.
The program awards about 30 fellowships each year to support individual and collaborative work in humanities disciplines including but not limited to history, architecture, design, preservation, literature, music, visual arts and modern Italian studies.
A subprogram, the Tsao Family Rome Prize, recognizes the work of a scholar whose work “explores the relationship between Chinese and Mediterranean philosophical traditions.”
Detailed guidelines about disciplines and subject matter are provided on the program’s guidelines page and profiles of past Rome Prize Fellows are also provided.
With only a few exceptions, this opportunity is open to U.S. citizens who “hold an accredited degree” in the relevant discipline. Exceptions include “foreign nationals who have lived in the United States for three years immediately preceding the application deadline” who “may apply for the NEH postdoctoral fellowships in ancient studies, medieval studies, Renaissance and early modern studies, and modern Italian studies.”
The academy often runs information sessions at locations in the U.S. in the fall of each year.
Applications are reviewed by juries “representing a broad cross-section of leaders in the various Rome Prize disciplines” and finalists are interviewed February and March each year. Recipients are selected for either full-term or half-term fellowships.
The Italian Fellowship is awarded annually to three “Italian artists and scholars” who “live and work in the Academy community, pursuing their own projects, participating in its collaborative, interdisciplinary environment and helping make connections between Rome Prize Fellows and their Italian peers.”
The program welcomes applications from Italian citizens who have completed doctoral degrees since 2017 in the fields of “Renaissance and early modern studies (including scholars in history, history of art and architecture, literature, religious studies, anthropology, and musicology).”
The program also awards fellowships to scholar artists in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture and music, although arts candidates must be nominated for the program.
Fellows are selected based on “originality of past work, the feasibility and importance of the proposed project, and the impact—current or future—on the field in question.”
A list of past fellows is provided on the website.
The Italian Fellowship consists of a two-month residency at the academy. Partners and families are not accommodated, and fellows receive a stipend of about $2,200 per month.
The academy also runs some lesser-known programs and fellowships.
Each year the academy hosts the recipients of several Affiliated Fellowships “awarded by educational and cultural organizations around the world” at the Villa Aurelia:
Through the Visiting Artists & Scholars program, artists and scholars from anywhere in the world can “experience the intellectual and artistic freedom, interdisciplinary exchange, and innovation that characterizes Academy life.”
For rates ranging from €2,000 to €3,200, guests can reside at the academy for 25 nights and “are granted access to the Academy’s noted resources, including the Library, the Photographic Archive, and the Norton–Van Buren Study Collection.”
Guests may also attend events at the academy “subject to space availability.” Applications are accepted for this program through the program’s application portal.
Classical Summer School is a five-week program for graduate students and secondary education teachers that provides participates with “a well-founded understanding of the growth and development of the city of Rome through a careful study of material remains and literary sources.”
Tuition of $5,000 includes “tuition, housing, some meals and the cost of trips to sites in and around Rome.”
Scholarships are available for this program, prioritizing high school teachers.
Application materials and guidelines are linked to the program page.
Grants for Food Systems
The Rome Sustainable Food Project hosts culinary interns for about five months in the Villa Aurelia’s professional kitchen.
Participants work “alongside an American and Italian kitchen staff to cook for the Academy community” thereby gaining “extensive knowledge in Roman and Italian culinary practices, as well as practical experience cooking for large groups in the style of a banquet.”
Interns “train” for about 40 hours each week and are “paid with a small benefit.” Some interns are provided with housing, while others are referred to nearby accommodations.
Spouses and families are not accommodated. A subprogram for visiting chefs is unpaid.
Apply for this program at the academy’s application portal.
Important Grant Details:
The Rome Prize consists of accommodations at the academy’s Villa Aurelia and grants of either $30,000 for a full year or $16,000 for a half year.
The Rome Prize is a highly prestigious award for American scholars and artists working in humanities disciplines and offers participants the opportunity to live and work in the academy’s “community” at the Villa Aurelia in Rome.
Other programs host scholars and others at the Villa, with some requiring payment for participation.
The academy accepts applications for all of its programs, but procedures and eligibility vary by program.
Submit general inquiries to the American Academy in Rome via telephone at either (212) 751-7200 in the U.S. or 39.06.58461 in Italy.
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