Volt-Age launches $50K research-creation fellowship for Concordia Fine Arts graduates
On May 5, Concordia’s Volt-Age electrification research program officially launched its Spark Fellowship. The new funding opportunity is designed for Fine Arts graduates from the MFA Studio Arts, MFA Cinematic Arts, MDes and PhD programs whose research-creation practices engage with electrification, climate transition and broader questions of socio-environmental change.
Launched during the Electrify Society Summit, the Fellowship provides approximately $50,000 per recipient over one academic year and a summer term. The total funding package includes a cash stipend, as well as support for public presentation, exhibition and publication.
Up to two Fellows will be selected through a jury process involving Volt-Age governance members, Fine Arts faculty and administration and an external arts expert.
Lina Forero with her photo series Inukjuak: A Community in Transition.
Creative approaches to the energy transition
Funded through the Canada First Research Excellence Fund, Volt-Age is a national research initiative focused on accelerating Canada’s transition toward decarbonized and energy-resilient communities.
The Spark Fellowship extends that mandate into contemporary art and research-creation by inviting emerging artists to engage critically with questions surrounding electrification and climate futures. The Fellowship is not about illustrating scientific research; instead, artists are invited to explore the energy transition through their own evolving practices. Recipients will be registered as postdoctoral fellows at Concordia and supported in developing both new research-creation work and professional pathways beyond graduation.
The initiative has no specific medium requirements. Graduates with a practice-based visual arts component in art, installation, sculpture, drawing, fibres, painting, photography, print media, ceramics, design and interdisciplinary approaches are all welcome to apply — provided their work explores topics related to electrification and the energy transition.
Alongside their studio practice, fellows will have the opportunity to collaborate with researchers, students and community partners across the Volt-Age network, contributing to Volt Age’s Impact Projects and Living Labs.
A critical role for art
The Spark Fellowship marks a broader shift at Concordia toward interdisciplinary research models that bring together art, science and technology in addressing climate challenges, says Annie Gérin, dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts.
“Art has a critical role to play in how we understand and imagine major societal transitions like electrification,” she says.
“The Spark Fellowship recognizes that artistic research is not secondary to scientific inquiry — it actively shapes how questions are asked, how systems are seen and how futures are envisioned.”
Applications for the 2026–2027 cohort are open until June 15, 2026.
Discover the Volt-Age Spark Fellowship.