Camille J. Gage Fellowship Award

Camille J. Gage Fellowship: Empowering Artists Who Demonstrate a Legacy of Service

YWCA Minneapolis is proud to serve as the host organization for the Camille J. Gage Fellowship. The Fellowship honors Minnesota-based artists who have demonstrated a legacy of service at the intersections of art and activism. This prestigious award celebrates their contributions and provides financial resources to amplify their impact.

Applications for the Fellowship closed March 4, we will announce the Fellow in the coming weeks.

About Camille

Camille Joy Gage’s legacy is multi-faceted. It is one of being a kind-hearted friend who had a knack for bringing the community together. She was a multi-talented, creative and fierce activist who protested, volunteered, advocated and worked hard with a focus on climate change, women’s reproductive rights, racial justice, and homelessness.

She found herself in the service of others; at Minneapolis homeless encampments, at the Native American Community Development Institute and on the Indigenous-led Nibi walks. She touched the lives of countless relatives, friends, neighbors and community members. She often said her daily goal was “to make someone else smile and make their world better for a day.” 

Camille helped start several art galleries and organizations, including Form + Content Gallery and WARM (Women's Art Registry of Minnesota), now known as the Women's Art Resources of Minnesota. She also produced and edited poetry and essay books, including Fierce Lament and One Minneapolis: A City in Verse, at the request of former Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges, which featured poets from across Minneapolis neighborhoods.

As an artist, her work hangs in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and includes a permanent installation at the Weisman Art Museum called Untitled (Robe for Judith), and “Made Here,” — an initiative to bring art and activation to downtown storefronts, plus many other community and public art projects.

Photo taken by: Patrick Mulligan

About the Fellowship

The Camille J. Gage Artist Fellowship provides a platform to honor Minnesota-based artists who have demonstrated a legacy of service with their creative gifts at the intersections of art and activism to be recognized for their contributions, as well as financial resources to more deeply impact their communities.

YWCA Minneapolis, with its bold mission of eliminating racism and empowering women, was selected as the host organization of the Fellowship as it most aligned with how Camille engaged with the community and for people with marginalized identities. 

The 2025-2026 Camille J. Gage Fellowship is for a one-year term, and the Camille J. Gage Fellow will receive a $45,000 Fellowship award and a yearlong opportunity to promote their work in partnership with YWCA Minneapolis.

The Fellow will be announced publicly via news release and other YWCA Minneapolis internal and external communications, and publicly recognized in person at its annual Empower Possible event on Sept. 10, 2025.    

Artists can apply directly or be nominated for the Fellowship. For nominations, collaboration with the prospective nominee to complete the application is strongly encouraged. A group of YWCA Minneapolis leaders, family and close collaborators of Camille J. Gage will select the awardee.

About the Arts and Heritage Fund

The Legacy Amendment is a constitutional amendment adopted by Minnesota voters in November 2008. It raised the state sales tax by 3/8 of 1% for a period of 25 years and dedicated the earned revenue to clean water, parks, outdoor habitat, and arts and cultural heritage.

The Minnesota Legislature created a website to help citizens monitor how funds from the Legacy Amendment are being used. See how funds are invested on Minnesota’s Legacy: watch the progress website.

YWCA Minneapolis is grateful for support from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund of the Minnesota Legacy Amendment.

Fellowship Criteria and Information

    • Resides and works in Minnesota

    • Possesses a body of work that gathers and amplifies the unique artistic voices of others

    • Establishes practice of weaving diverse artistic voices into a force for transformational community building

    • Demonstrates a concern for others' art comparable to or in excess of the concern they show for their own work

    • Shows deep concern for their community as a welcoming and just place that leverages art to achieve this goal

    • Maximizes artistic opportunities for others, especially those whose voices have traditionally been marginalized

    • Brings art outside of more formal art spaces into the streets and other common spaces of their community

    • January 2025: Fellowship application and nomination process opens

    • March 4, 2025: Fellowship application and nomination process closes

    • March  2025: Fellow notified and confirmed

    • April 2025: Fellow publicly announced

    • April 2, 2026: 2025-2026 Fellowship term closes

  • The Camille J. Gage Fellowship is funded by the State of Minnesota Art and Culture Legacy, and provides a $45,000.00 Fellowship stipend. The Fellowship includes the following deliverables:

    • At the start of the fellowship term the Fellow will be allocated $2,500 to develop a fellowship-term project proposal. The final project proposal will need to include:

      • Proposed activities that will be supported by fellowship funding during the fellowship term, including a timeline of the activities.

      • Measurable outcomes of the proposed activities. 

      • Methods of evaluation for the desired outcomes.

      • A detailed budget and funding distribution plan based on the needs of the project.

    • The Fellow will be encouraged to include a professional development opportunity as part of their project proposal and may utilize up to 10% of the total award ($4,500) 

    • The Fellow will be expected to attend and publicly accept the Fellowship award at the YWCA Minneapolis Empower Possible event on September 20, 2025, as well as attend its Community Day in the summer of 2025.

    • The Fellow will be asked to be part of the creation of YWCA Minneapolis marketing materials that highlight the Fellow and project work over the course of the fellowship term as led by YWCA Minneapolis marketing staff. 

    • The Fellow will be required to work with the Camille J. Gage Fellowship Committee and YWCA Minneapolis staff to provide evaluation data for reporting purposes at the end of the fellowship term.

  • Allowable expenses must conform to Sec. 129D.17 of 2023 MN Statutes for the Minnesota Arts and Culture Heritage Fund.

    The funds may be spent only for arts, arts education, and arts access, and to preserve Minnesota's history and cultural heritage. Examples of allowable expenses to support project proposals include but are not limited to:

    • Project materials and supply expenses

    • Studio and event space rental fees

    • Staffing, labor, and artist costs

    • Permits and licenses

    • Professional development opportunities

    • Consultation fees

    • Marketing and promotional fees

    • Capital purchases for necessary equipment

  • Ineligible expenses include but are not limited to:

    • Taxes, except sales tax on goods and services and payroll taxes

    • Lobbyists, political contributions

    • Alcohol

    • Bad debts, late payment fees, finance charges, or contingency funds

    • Parking or traffic violations

    • Out of state transportation and travel expenses without prior approval from the Department of Administration

FAQ

  • A: Yes, however you would still be required to develop a project proposal to include the activities the fellowship funding would support, the desired outcomes of the activities, and how you would measure and evaluate these outcomes.

    You would also be required to meet with YWCA leadership and the Camille J. Gage Fellowship Committee to consider how your project could be meaningfully aligned with the organization as well as how the organization could best support your project for the fellowship term.

  • A: Yes, you may so long as you can commit to navigating the project proposal development requirements outlined in the application.

  • Questions can be submitted to gagefellowship@ywcampls.org on or before (date) We will continue to update the FAQs to include questions that are submitted during this process.

  • Yes, but we strongly advise you to consult with that person to be sure they understand the opportunity and wish to commit to the terms for the followship should they win.

  • Yes, you may still be a strong candidate even if you feel you aren’t meeting all the criteria!

  • The fellowship is not limited to visual artists. Artists practicing in any medium who fit the criteria are encouraged to apply.

Past Fellows