The Emerging Artist Award is a competitive $1,000 award given to working, professional Kentucky artists who are in the early years of their career (typically within the first 10 years of their professional artistic life) and who have achieved a level of excellence and creativity in their work. Emerging Artist Awards are unrestricted and may be used in any way to enhance the artist's career. No matching funds are required, and no specific project has to be carried out with the funds.
The FY2027 Emerging Artist Award program is open for applications in the following Literary Arts subdisciplines fiction, creative nonfiction, play/screenwriting, and poetry.

The Individual Artist Fellowship is a highly competitive $7,500 award given to working, professional Kentucky artists who have achieved a high level of excellence and creativity in their work. Fellowships are based upon the quality of the work samples submitted by the artist. Fellowship awards are unrestricted and may be used in any way to enhance the artist's career.

The FY2027 Individual Artist Fellowship is open in Literary Arts (fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and play/screenwriting).

The Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship grant provides up to $4,000 for a Kentucky mentor traditional artist to teach skills, practices and culture to a less experienced artist from the same community during the course of a year.