Contemporary Austin to Grant $100K Biennial Award

The Contemporary—Austin’s ambitious exhibitor of new and cutting edge art at its two galleries and other places in the city—recently announced a new grant opportunity for artists.

The museum has instituted the Suzanne Deal Booth Art Prize—”a biennial, unrestricted award of $100,000 to be given to an artist selected every two years, which will also include a solo exhibition and scholarly publication,” according to its website.

The site adds that the prize is funded by a gift to the museum by Booth, a museum trustee and art professional who has worked with such projects as Friends of Heritage Preservation (which she co-founded) and with artists including James Turrell, whose Skyspace: The Color Inside a permanent installation at the University of Texas.

Rather than having a formal application process, the Booth prize will be nominated and selected by an independent advisory committee of curators and art historians and administered by The Contemporary Austin.

Winners will receive the unrestricted monetary award, along with a solo exhibition, accompanying publication, and related public programming at The Contemporary Austin. The exhibition will be at the museum’s downtown Jones Center; there will also be an option of a showing at the museum’s outdoor site, the Betty and Edward Marcus Sculpture Park at Laguna Gloria.

The first Booth prize winner will be announced in fall 2016, with the exhibition to take place in early 2018.