2025 Counter Histories Magnum Foundation Fellowship

Magnum Foundation's Counter Histories is an initiative supporting projects that creatively reframe the past to engage with urgent questions of the present and future.

Overview

Magnum Foundation is calling for proposals from photographers who would like to expand and complete an existing project that responds to this theme and who are excited to contribute to a creative community of fellows. Up to ten selected participants will receive a grant of $10,000, take part in virtual project development workshops, and connect with collaborative partners and networks.

Practical Info

Applicants must submit an existing body of work and projects should be related to the theme of Counter Histories, and have a vision for expanding and completing their projects during the fellowship period. The submission must include a current and past work sample, short bio, and short project description. Plus, photographers will also be asked to list their creative inspirations, reasons for wanting to participate in a fellowship community, and a description of what they feel their project needs in order to expand and complete it.

This program supports creative production rooted in photography. While written research and archival preservation might be part of your project, they will only consider projects where that research is integrated into a primarily visual project. Applicants should be committed to participating in all aspects of the fellowship program and contributing to its creative community of mutual support. There is no required training, educational degree, or level of experience to apply, and we encourage applications from self-taught photographers and artists who have not had access to formal training. Current students are welcome to apply. They especially encourage applications from communities facing systemic oppression and those whose authorship has historically been under supported or underrepresented within the field of photography.

The program is an eight-month virtual fellowship. The content of the virtual fellowship programming will be coordinated in response to the interests and needs of participants. This includes guest presentations, working groups, community building sessions, curatorial advising, and project feedback from mentors and peers. Fellows will attend 25-30 hours of virtual fellowship programming between April and November 2025. There will be no more than 4 hours of required online participation in a given month. In addition to the project development grants, each grantee will receive discretionary funds up to $1,000 that can be used for individual sessions with mentors and creative collaborations among fellows. All gatherings will be held online via Zoom in English. Online written communications will be in English.

About Magnum Foundation

Magnum Foundation is a nonprofit organization that expands creativity and diversity in documentary photography, activating new audiences and ideas through the innovative use of images. Through grant making and mentorship, Magnum Foundation supports a global network of social justice and human rights-focused photographers and experiments with new models for storytelling.

Founded in 2007 by members of the Magnum Photos cooperative, Magnum Foundation was created to sustain independent visual storytelling on social issues. Since then, Magnum Foundation has made more than 250 direct grants to visual storytellers. Through production funds and project development assistance, we support both emerging and recognized artists at various stages of their processes.