By: Taylor Christensen | Royal Oak Review | Published November 12, 2025
ROYAL OAK — One lucky artist between the ages of 16 and 25 will receive a $4,000 grant to create and display artwork in the city of Royal Oak for one year through the Emerging Artist Laureate program.
Artists interested in the program are being asked to submit an application and a piece of artwork by midnight Nov. 13 at romi.gov.
The grant is a part of the Royal Oak Artist Laureate Program, which is designed to recognize and acknowledge the artistic contributions of experienced individual artists, to provide a year’s exposure for the selected artist, and to encourage and nurture the arts and creative culture in the city, according to romi.gov.
This is the first year the city of Royal Oak will be having a program such as this, according to Susan Barkman, the staff liaison for the Royal Oak Commission for the Arts. The commissioners will be responsible for picking the winner.
“This is a new program for us. It comes through a combination of funding from the Commission for the Arts as well as the Royal Oak Civic Foundation,” Barkman said.
Applicants for the program must be experienced artists living or working in the city of Royal Oak, according to the city’s website. Any art is accepted, including visual arts, music, dance, poetry, performance art, photography and more.
“The mission of our board and commission is to try to do things to encourage the whole community to be engaged in making it more vibrant and artistic,” said Jason Gittinger, a founder of the Detroit School of Rock and Pop music in Royal Oak, and a member of the Royal Oak Commission for the Arts. “It’s sort of a partnership to give artists that are emerging, somebody at the beginning of their career, a little foothold and access to the community to present something wonderful.”
The selected artist’s work will be displayed somewhere within the city of Royal Oak for a full year.
“What it is would decide where we could place it. But we don’t have to find a location or anything like that yet, but it would be placed on public property for at least one year,” Barkman said. “It has to be all original art, and they may have a piece that they want to submit, but they also may want to create a piece. It’s up to the artist on what they want to submit.”
Gittinger said that a program such as this could change the trajectory of an artist’s career and be the beginning of something great.
“It can be a foothold for a young artist to prove their ability and to bring a community together with their work as they move on to future projects and endeavours,” he said. “I think this program is a good way to show that people in our community want to help encourage the entire community to make it a better place.”
Gittinger said that he hopes this program can continue for years to come.
“As an entity of government, our role is to leave a framework for people that are coming after us. It’s not about any one project or any one activity, it’s about creating a structure that exists long beyond our lifetimes,” he said. “I’m truly excited that this emerging artist program could establish a foothold for this to exist for 50, 100, 200 years, where there’s a lineage of people that are encouraged and supported in a way that encourages them to build a community through the arts.”
The selected artist will be announced sometime in December, according to Barkman.
For more information on the Emerging Artist Laureate program and to apply, visit romi.gov.