Opportunities · Artist opportunity
Willie Stoffer Visual Artist Grant
The IOS Willie Stoffer Visual Artist Grant honors Willie Stoffer by supporting Inglewood artists in their studio practice and helping them share their work with local youth.
About the grant
Why it exists
The grant is supported by an annual gift from the Stoffer family. Willie Stoffer loved the arts and benefited from access to art classes throughout school and into young adulthood. He lived with serious illness from childhood and died at age 27 from brain cancer. IOS created this grant in his memory to extend access to art and support working artists in Inglewood.
Each selected artist receives funding for their own creative practice and, in return, shares their work with young people through a related arts workshop at an Inglewood school or youth organization.
2026–27 grant
Current award and eligibility
Award
Up to 4 grants of $1,800
$900 is distributed when the grant is received. The remaining 50% is distributed after the youth workshop is completed and the final report is submitted. IOS also covers workshop art supplies up to $300.
Eligibility
Connected to Inglewood
Applicants must live or work in Inglewood, or demonstrate a significant tie to the city, and maintain a professional visual art practice. Current IOS membership is required. Current students and current or former IOS Board members are not eligible.
Community commitment
Artist talk + youth workshop
Recipients present their work and conduct a related workshop at an Inglewood school or youth organization. Workshops are expected during January–March 2027, generally during school-day hours.
Timeline
Key dates
- Deadline
- October 25, 2026 · 11:45pm
- Awards
- November 2026
- Workshops
- January–March 2027
Application
What to submit
- Statement of interest · 500 words maximum
- Artist statement · 250 words maximum
- Resume · PDF, 2 pages maximum
- 5 artwork image samples or 2 video links
- Contact information and explanation of your connection to Inglewood
Applications are reviewed by a three-person panel that includes an IOS Community Partner, at least one outside arts professional and an educator. Previous teaching experience is not required.
Archive
Past grant recipients
2024/2025
Rosalyn Myles
A multidisciplinary artist working across installation, photography and collage. Her work uses repurposed materials to examine contemporary life, women, communities of color and the experiences of people who are often overlooked.
Karen Sikie
An artist known for highly detailed Paper Mosaics built from patterned and printed papers. Her work draws on natural forms and the human figure, using individual fragments to reflect connection, difference and interdependence.
Hedy Torres
A mixed-media artist whose portraits and paintings focus on immigrants and street vendors in the United States, documenting moments of labor and daily life while challenging stereotypes and marginalization.
Naima White
An artist whose work draws from mixed cultural heritage, mythology, pop culture and Middle Eastern and Western aesthetics. Her practice often uses family archives and personal objects to explore memory, meaning and fractured viewpoints.
2023
Kiley Ames
A painter interested in fragments, personal history and the way individual perceptions shape a larger whole. Her work combines contrasting fields of color and light to explore connection and alienation.
Zeal Harris
An artist creating urban-vernacular visual stories influenced by Southern Black folk art, Asian scroll painting, Persian miniatures, Mexican ex-votos and Afrofuturist literature.
Applications open
Ready to apply?
Deadline: October 25, 2026 at 11:45pm.