Applications for the 2026 Samstag Scholarships are now open.

To learn more and submit your application, click here.

The annual Samstag Scholarships enable Australian artists to develop their artistic capacities and skills through a dedicated period of practice-based learning in an international learning institution.

The scholarship provides each artist with institutional fees for one academic year of study and a $75,000 tax free allowance and covers travel expenses to a leading international art school of their choice. The competitive national scholarship program, established in 1991, is open to current visual arts students and artists who are graduates from a tertiary institution.

Listen to Samstag Museum of Art Director Erica Green discuss the Scholarship application process, what distinguishes strong applications and why support material matters.

Read the media release about the 2025 Scholars here.

Read an interview with Ash Tower, Class of 2024, about his experience studying at the British School at Rome.

Listen to Sam Mountford, Class of 2023, discuss the unique experiences he's gained while studying with the Dutch Art Institute Roaming Academy.For further video resources, visit the Samstag Vimeo account here.

History

The Samstag Scholarships were established in 1991 through the generous bequest of the late Gordon Samstag, an American artist who taught from 1961 to 1970 at the South Australian School of Art, a part of the University of South Australia.

Gordon Samstag's will provided funds for awarding annual scholarships enabling Australian visual artists to study and develop their artistic capacities, skills and talents outside Australia. This remarkable gift ranks as one of the very great bequests to visual arts education in Australia.

Samstag Scholarships are administered by the University of South Australia through the Samstag Museum of Art, on behalf of Gordon Samstag's United States trustee, the Bank of America.

148 scholarships have been awarded to date. See what our scholars are up to @samstagscholarships.

Samstag Legacy Archive

The Samstag Legacy Archive reveals biographical research into Gordon and Anne Samstag, their family, art practice, publications and philanthropy; the Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarships and the South Australian School of Art during the 1960s to 1990s through the establishment of the University of South Australia in 1991 and Samstag Museum of Art in 2007.  The Collection is housed in the Sir Eric Neal Library at the University of South Australia Mawson Lakes Campus.

Learn how to access and explore the archive here.

The Samstag Legacy: An Artist's Bequest

Authored by Lea Rosson DeLong and Ross Wolfe, The Samstag Legacy: An Artist’s Bequest was published by the University of South Australia in 2016 to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Anne and Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarships, and the Samstag Museum exhibitions Meet the Samstags: Artists and Benefactors and Quicksilver: 25 Years of Samstag Scholarships. 

Read a PDF version of the book here.