Each May, over the course of one week, the Art Students League conducts a competition for grants and scholarships judged by invited professionals from New York City’s arts community—artists, gallerists, academics, and critics.
The Art Students League began awarding major grants to students in 1930. The Edward G. McDowell Travel Grant, earmarked for travel in Europe by unmarried students, was the first and continued to be the only cash award until 1995, when the Phyllis H. Mason Grant—for “traditional” painters—was established. In 1998, the Nessa Cohen Grants were…