Applications will open August 2025 with an October 2025 deadline. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated.
Supporting the Advancement of Design & Building Professionals
Since 2001, AFO has partnered with The Van Evera and Janet M. Bailey Fund of Oregon Community Foundation in awarding the $50,000 annual Van Evera Bailey Fellowship to advance the professional development of design and building professionals and encourage greater contributions to their profession and community.
This Fellowship is an opportunity for professionals in the field to examine not only what they think, but how they think. The intention is to provide time for creativity, reflection, and a pursuit of deeper understanding of ideas that will result in lasting value to the applicant, the profession, and/or the greater community. The Fellowship honors the original benefactor’s dedication of a grant “for the preservation and betterment of the art and science of architecture.”
Fellowship projects follow a variety of paths. The most compelling projects propose work that can have an impact on communities as well as individual professionals. Examples of eligible activities include, but are not limited to:
- Sabbaticals for study of innovative architectural design to be applied in Oregon
- Teaching engagements that promise enhancement of the applicant’s and students’ creativity in architectural design
- Collaborations between architects and others to implement new projects
- Preparation of public education projects
- Research and writing on a specific design-related topic
The VEB Fellowship was doubled to $50,000 per award starting in 2025. Learn more about the increase in funding.
Eligibility & Requirements
Eligibility
Eligibility for the Fellowship is flexible. Favorable emphasis will be given to applicants who are based in Oregon who are looking to deepen and expand their impact in the built environment. Fellows build on their experiences, inquisitions, and observations in their professional and personal lives to explore new ways of thinking. Often, Fellows take the opportunity to explore a passion that has developed through their years in the community that they have not had the time or resources to pursue.
The Fellowship is intended to promote dissemination and application of ideas. Support may be requested for stipends, travel, lodging, materials, and other relevant needs. Projects must include follow-up activities that share the results of the Fellowship with the professional community and general public. Fellows will be asked to provide information to document their experience. At the end of the Fellowship, AFO and the Fellow will collaborate on a short presentation highlighting their work and findings at the annual Fellowship Reception in the year following the Fellowship completion.
Applicants may apply jointly for a Van Evera Bailey Fellowship. For example, if an architect and an urban planner see potential for an innovative project that requires unusual research, they might apply jointly for stipends or support of travel and other expenses in order to examine relevant work in other communities, states, or countries; consult with professional peers and leading thinkers; formulate detailed plans; and produce articles or public education programs.
Current members of the board of AFO are not eligible to apply or to receive Fellowship funds indirectly as a partner in a proposed project.
Application Requirements
Applicants submit proposals electronically through the online platform Submittable. You will be asked to make a free account, which will allow you to save drafts as you work through the application and allow you to access your submitted application at any time.
(1) Greatest scoring weight will be given to the application essay prompts outlined below:
- Describe your proposed project and a clearly articulated thesis statement that will guide and frame your work. (500 word limit)
- Describe the impact of the project, including the documented need to be addressed by the Fellowship. Explain who the project is designed to impact: the applicant, the building profession, and/or a specified community. (250 word limit)
- Describe any challenges you feel you might face. (250 word limit)
- Explain your experience and qualifications to address the topic at hand – including but not limited to your academic, civic, professional, and lived experience. (250 word limit)
- Describe how you will make your project results available to the public for the benefit of the professional community. Examples: Posting your results on your personal or professional website, creating a public exhibition, including your fellowship story in a public-facing final project. Note that your AFO Fellowship Reception presentation can fulfill this requirement. (250 word limit)
- Explain or list your schedule/timeline/work plan for the completion of the project. See examples here.
(2) Additional Attachments:
- Resume of the applicant(s)
- Itemized budget for the entire Fellowship. If other sources of support will be used to complement Fellowship support, please identify them and whether they have been secured. IMPORTANT NOTE: The award of a VEB Fellowship is taxable income. Applicants must plan and budget accordingly.
- Two to three letters of support from a variety of perspectives indicating why the proposed Fellowship is important to the professional community. Examples: Other design professionals, architectural organizations, or representatives of other fields, References should address personal capabilities of the applicant and value of the project.
- Brief design portfolio of materials that illuminate the applicant’s work and its relevance to the proposed project.
Process and Timeline
Applications will be reviewed by a committee of design and building professionals in collaboration with OCF and AFO. Applicants may be asked to submit further information or to speak with representatives of OCF and AFO to clarify their proposals. The review committee will make recommendations to the board of Oregon Community Foundation. OCF reserves the right to approve Fellowships at its sole discretion.
Invitation for Proposals will be announced in August with an October deadline. The VEB Fellowship will be awarded by OCF through the Architecture Foundation of Oregon and will be announced publicly by December with a Fellowship Reception hosted by AFO early the following year. The year-long Fellowship period begins January 1 of the following year.
Fellowship applications are closed. The next cycle will open August 2025 with an October 2025 deadline. Subscribe to our newsletter to get notified when applications open.
Questions?
Contact:
Erica Rife
Executive Director
erica@af-oregon.org
971-357-3168
Information Session & Resources
2025 Information Session will be announced in August.
Our virtual information session is a chance to learn more about this fantastic opportunity for career development and how to prepare your proposal for submission.
The panel discussion of past Fellows include:
- An overview of the VEB Award
- Changes we’ve made to the application this year and why
- What makes a strong application
- Advice and inspiration from past VEB Fellows
- Transparency on the selection process from members of the Selection Committee
- Q&A with past Fellows and AFO Staff – bring your questions!
2024 Info Session Recording
Advice from Former Van Evera Bailey Fellows
Fellow Spotlight
A member of the Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes, Todd used the fellowship to deepen his research on contemporary and traditional west coast Native American structures, art, and the building traditions that inspired them. This research will guide the design of a new cultural center, museum, and traditional longhouse on the Clatsop-Nehalem’s reacquainted land. Learn more about our past Fellows.
2024 VEB Fellow, Marta Petteni
In partnership with Oregon Community Foundation, we are excited to announce our 2024 Van Evera Bailey Fellow, Marta Petteni!
Marta is an Italian licensed Architect, freelancer designer, and the Co-Director & Program Manager at AfroVillage PDX. Building on her expertise at the intersection of design justice, research, and transportation, Marta will conduct research and produce a comprehensive How-to Guide to advance train repurposing as a scalable model for social justice and sustainable development throughout the region.
“This proposal is grounded in the reality that TriMet will retire 26 MAX Trains in 2024, and more than 100 in the next decade. While trains offer an incredible placemaking opportunity and communicate publicness in a unique way, there is currently no local precedent or guidelines for implementing train repurposing as a model, with 24 trains heading to the landfill just this year.”
In 2020, the AfroVillage team won the People’s Choice Award at TriMet’s MAX Reuse Design Challenge. The design envisioned converting three retiring trains into the “AfroFuturism Oasis” – a sanctuary space for Black and Brown communities to rest, collaborate, and access critical services. With a site in Portland’s historic Black community, the team is now partnering with TriMet, PBOT, BPS, PSU, and many others to make this vision a reality.
The Fellowship will support Marta in investigating local and international case studies, while advancing and documenting the AfroFuturism Oasis project into a comprehensive How-to Guide. This will serve as a valuable roadmap for local stakeholders interested in repurposing trains for the common good, while advancing this model across the region to promote more just and sustainable futures.
