Exploratory Travel Award
Exploratory Travel Award supports early-career PhD students with travel to Latin American archives, museums, and collections to develop viable dissertation research on the Art of the Spanish Americas.
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Funder: Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation
Due Dates: January 15, 2027 (Application) | March 15, 2027 (Status notification)
Funding Amounts: Up to $5,000 for 1–2 months of exploratory travel in Latin America
Summary: Supports early-career PhD students exploring archives, museums, and collections to develop research on the Art of the Spanish Americas.
Key Information: Students whose institutions offer similar preliminary travel funding are not eligible.
Description
The Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation’s Exploratory Travel Award supports preliminary travel in Latin America to visit archives, museums, and art collections and connect with local scholars. It helps early-career PhD students develop viable, innovative research projects before undertaking more extensive archival and collections-based research. These exploratory stays can provide a foundation for future applications to pre-doctoral fellowships, including the Marilynn Thoma Pre-doctoral Fellowship in Art of the Spanish Americas.
Projects must contribute to the study of the Art of the Spanish Americas, roughly from the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries. The Foundation considers projects across Latin America and the Caribbean, with preference for contributions to the history of painting and sculpture in viceregal South America. Travel should help students focus prospective dissertation proposals, test feasibility, and identify relevant institutions and scholarly contacts.
