About

A Fellowship For Arts Management

The Gyo Obata Fellowship strives to create opportunities for more diverse, inclusive, and equitable access to the arts community as a whole, and specifically, in the fields of arts administration and management.

Fellows - a group diverse in both identity and areas of study - will receive an $8000 stipend and on-the-job training and meaningful exposure to local nonprofit arts organizations.

Fellowship Guidelines

Life and Legacy of Architect Gyo Obata

One of the world's most celebrated architects and cofounder of Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum (HOK) died March 8, 2022, in St. Louis. He was 99. In a career stretching more than seven decades, Obata designed scores of structures, ranging from the groundbreaking Priory Chapel at Saint Louis Abbey and the iconic James S. McDonnell Planetarium at the Saint Louis Science Center to the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., the Japanese American National Museum Pavilion in Los Angeles, and King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

In honor of his 20+ years as a board member, the Gateway Foundation has created a program to offer students direct experiences with local arts institutions. The Gyo Obata Fellowship immerses students in the work of arts administration, introducing this field to those who may never have considered it a career pathway. The Gateway Foundation believes that advancing opportunities in arts and arts management for underrepresented professionals has the potential to bring new and broader perspectives to both institutions and those working within them.

Student Applicants

Candidates are sought from all areas of undergraduate study at any institution of higher education – trade schools, community college, public or private university – and are not required to have demonstrated a previous commitment to the arts. Fellows will work full-time, for the entirety of the ten-week program, at their respective arts organizations.

While the Gyo Obata Fellowship is intended for students from backgrounds underrepresented in public arts administration and the arts community at large, the Gateway Foundation encourages eligible candidates from all backgrounds to apply for consideration. The Gateway Foundation is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of any protected trait under the law.

Applications for the Gyo Obata Fellowships open on January 8, 2025, and close on February 5, 2025. The 2025 program dates are Monday, June 2, 2025, through Friday, August 7, 2025.

Please contact Tara Morton with any questions regarding eligibility and for information about application procedure

Host Organizations

Local arts organizations may be eligible to take part in the program and host a Fellow in substantive, meaningful, paid, full-time work between June 2 and August 7, 2025. The goal of this work is to illuminate the range of activities and opportunities available, including arts administration and management, within each participating organization. 

We encourage all interested local arts institutions to contact Tara Morton with any questions regarding eligibility and for information about application procedure, timeline, and more broadly, the Gyo Obata Fellowship.

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Program Lead

Tara Morton

Logo Founded in 1986, the Gateway Foundation seeks to enrich life and culture in the St. Louis area by supporting efforts to acquire, create, or improve tangible and durable art and urban design. In 2009, the Foundation’s largest project, a two-block sculpture park called Citygarden, opened in downtown St. Louis in the Gateway Mall. From prominent public sites downtown to community college campuses in St. Louis County and a substantial installation site within the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Foundation has purchased and installed more than 70 sculptures in the area. Additionally, the Foundation has designed and funded the lighting of the Gateway Arch, City Hall, the Old Courthouse, the Civil Courts Building, the City’s three landmark Water Towers, and other historically and architecturally significant structures. The Gateway Foundation has also funded several City playgrounds and parks. More information is available at gateway-foundation.org and citygardenstl.org.