2026 Infinite Expansion Grants

In keeping with our mission, the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts (MKFA) supports arts organizations that foster critical thinking, risk-taking, and provocation in the arts through innovative programming and projects with artists. The grant program furthers Mike Kelley’s philanthropic work and honors his legacy by awarding funds to arts organizations that reflect the spirit of his practice.

For the 2026 grant cycle, MKFA will continue to offer the Infinite Expansion Grants (IEG). The grant takes its name from Mike Kelley’s Infinite Expansion (1983), a large drawing depicting a tiny landscape in the center of the work from which radiate larger and larger psychedelic wood grain patterns. With this in mind, the aim of these grants is to emphasize the expansive impact that arts organizations and artists make in the world and the communities they build.

The IEG centers on the experimental and thought-provoking work of artists presented by arts nonprofits and fiscally sponsored organizations in LA County. Grants of up to $50,000 will be awarded based on the submission of an upcoming project. Award size will depend on the project budget, operating budget, and how much MKFA can offer in awards. While the grants will primarily support the culmination of an artist project, a portion of the funds may be directed toward general operating support.

The Foundation is particularly interested in supporting work that has proven (or may prove) challenging to undertake or fund due to its content, experimental nature, complexity, or other factors. Grants may cover any or all project phases, from planning to implementation, but the project must culminate in a publicly presented work in Los Angeles County by December 2027.

To begin the application process for the 2026 Infinite Expansion Grants, a Letter of Inquiry (LOI) must be submitted by August 15, 2025, 11:59 PM PST through Submittable, our online grant application portal.

Prior to submitting an LOI, participating artists must be confirmed and aware that their materials will be used as part of an organization’s application. The focus of these grants is for an organization to present a project with artists outside of their organization. Due to this, projects by artists on staff are ineligible.

Please read the guidelines and FAQs to help complete your LOI. The LOI will go live on June 18, 2025.


Eligibility

  • Nonprofit arts institutions and organizations whose programming portfolio aligns with MKFA’s core values of critical thinking, risk taking, and provocation in the arts. Please look at past Artist Project Grants and Orga­ni­za­tion­al Support Grants awardees to see programs that exemplify these values.
  • Nonprofit arts institutions and organizations with an operating budget of $5 million or less, located in Los Angeles County, with an IRS Determination Letter reflecting their Los Angeles address. Organizations must have an updated Guidestar profile that verifies their current nonprofit status.
  • Organizations must have nonprofit status for at least two years by June of the application year.
  • Organizations must have at least two years of documented public programs by June of the application year. Additionally, organizations must be planning programming through 2027 as the application will ask for an upcoming artist(s) project that must culminate by December 2027. 
  • Organizations without nonprofit status can propose to use a fiscal sponsor, and these requests will be evaluated for eligibility on a case-by-case basis at the Foundation’s discretion. Both the organization and the fiscal sponsor need to have been in operation for at least two years, be based in Los Angeles County as described above, and the application must come from the fiscal sponsor. See FAQ for details and contact the Foundation early to discuss fiscal sponsor plans.
  • Each nonprofit is limited to one submission when applying for their organization. Fiscal Sponsors can apply multiple times as sponsors as long as the organizations they are sponsoring meet the eligibility criteria mentioned above. 
  • If you were awarded an Infinite Expansion Grant in 2025, your organization will not be eligible to apply again for one to two grant cycles, depending on when your project is presented.      
    • If the awarded project is presented in 2025, you are eligible to apply for the 2027 grant cycle. 
    • If the awarded  project takes place in 2026, you will be eligible to apply for the 2028 grant cycle. 
  • Projects may include col­lab­o­ra­tions with additional groups or organizations, including those without nonprofit status, as long as the lead applicant organization is a nonprofit in good standing..
  • There is no restriction on past APG or OSG awardees. Organizations that meet the eligibility criteria and have been awarded an Artist Project Grants or Orga­ni­za­tion­al Support Grant in the past are eligible to apply to the 2026 IEG.
  • Generally, MKFA grants are designed to support visual arts organizations that present contemporary art, and art historically important exhibitions. The Foundation recognizes, however, that disciplinary boundaries are often fluid. Other types of presenting organizations with a history of inter­dis­ci­pli­nary work, will be considered on a case-by-case basis, at the Foundation’s discretion. Examples of organizations that might be of interest to the Foundation are organizations that present experimental music, movement-based practices that have a relationship to performance art, or experimental theater. Please email the Foundation with any questions at grants@​mikekelleyfoundation.​org.


Ineligible to Apply

  • Arts organizations with an operating budget of more than $5 million.
  • Arts organizations whose main focus is arts education or youth programs.
  • Arts organizations that curate through open calls.
  • Arts organizations that primarily fundraise through programming.
  • Arts organizations that focus on an annual film festival program. 


Grant Cycle Timeline for 2026 Award Year

  • June 18, 2025 Letter of Inquiry made available through our online grant portal Submittable
  • July 9, 2025, 11:00 AM PST webinar to go over the Infinite Expansion Grants. 
  • August 15, 2025 Letter of Inquiry due through our online grant portal 
  • September 9, 2025 eligible Letter of Inquiry submissions will receive a link to fill out the full application 
  • October 31, 2025 deadline to submit the 2026 Infinite Expansion Grant application 


Budget Documents

You will be asked to provide two budget documents: 1. an operating budget for your orga­ni­za­tion’s current fiscal year, and 2. an itemized budget detailing project expenses and what the requested grant amount will cover. 

  1. Your operating budget for your organization’s current fiscal year should clearly itemize income and expenses for the entirety of your organization (not just for a project). MKFA has provided a template that you can download here. However, if you have a budget document that provides this information already, you can use your own format in an effort to streamline the application preparation time. Our template is meant to be a guide so that organizations can provide the same amount of detail in their operating budgets. All uploaded documents should be formatted as PDFs.
  2. Your project budget details what projects costs the requested grant amount will cover for the artist project your organization applies with. 70% of your requested grant amount must go towards project expenses including artist fees, while 30% of the requested grant amount can go towards operating expenses. A template for this budget is embedded in the application. All applicants should use this embedded template.

Projects should take place between June 2026 and December 2027 Please note that if a grant is awarded, any project related expenses incurred prior to the grant award date cannot be covered by MKFA funds. We therefore ask that you plan accordingly.

Grants will generally range from $10,000 to $50,000 depending on the nature of the project, number of participants, size of the host organization, and the grant applicant pool. Please consider your request amount in proportion to your organization’s overall annual operating budget.


Review Process and Criteria

  • MKFA audits each letter of inquiry to verify organizations meet all eligibility criteria and to verify the artist project aligns with MKFA’s core values. Ineligible letters of inquiry will not receive a link to submit an application. For this reason, we encourage any organizations that are unsure if they meet eligibility criteria to email the Foundation at grants@​mikekelleyfoundation.​org to see if they should apply.
  • MKFA grants are awarded on a competitive basis and evaluated by an independent review panel. Panels are comprised of artists, curators, art writers, and other arts professionals who are familiar with the Los Angeles arts community and various modes of artistic production. Panelists change year-to-year and are announced when the awardees are made public.
  • Panelists evaluate applications on the basis of: 

1) Significance of the project.  The project's significance may include how it will impact the community, the artist(s), the cultural or social relevance of a project, and/or how it furthers art discourse.  This can be demonstrated through various forms—a project that provides funding and support to an emerging artist to further their practice, a presentation of an underrecognized and/or late artist’s work, or a group exhibition with a relevant theme.  

2) Past work of the artist(s) The work of the artist(s) involved weighs heavily in the selection process. For this reason, the primary artists involved must be confirmed and agreed to be included in the MKFA application.

3) Past work of the host organization and its capacity to carry out the project. 

4) Appro­pri­ate­ness of the budget. Organizations must allocate a minimum of 70% of their requested grant amount towards direct project expenses, while a maximum of 30% of the requested grant amount can go towards operating expenses.

  • The programming portfolio should give the panel an idea of the strength of an organization’s past programming and an upcoming project that will take place by December 2027.

The Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts reserves the right to deny any submission at its discretion.


Notification

Receipt of your Letter of Inquiry will be acknowledged via an automated email sent by Submittable​.com. Please check your Spam folder for these notifications as they may unin­ten­tion­al­ly be sent there. All letter of inquiry submissions will receive eligibility deter­mi­na­tions by early September 2025.

MKFA appreciates your patience during the application review process, as our grants team is small. Please do not contact MKFA about the status of your application. All applicants will receive notification of the panel’s decision in Spring of 2026.


Questions?

Please refer to the FAQs for additional details, or contact the Foundation at grants@​mikekelleyfoundation.​org.