The Pocantico Prize for Visual Artists pairs a $25,000 cash prize with a two-month artist residency at the David Rockefeller Creative Arts Center (DR Center) at Pocantico. In alternating years, the Prize will be awarded to a visual artist working in the Hudson Valley and one chosen from a national pool. Pocantico Prize awardees are nominated by select arts organizations and leaders in the field who will seek out artists who identify as black, indigenous, or people of color; disabled; women or gender non-binary; or other groups that have been denied opportunities or recognition and who demonstrate a trajectory of artistic excellence and show promise for further growth and societal impact. Past nominators include El Museo del Barrio, MoMA PS1, Studio Museum of Harlem, Wave Hill, the Katonah Museum, and Arts Westchester). Winners are chosen by a jury of RBF staff and outside experts.

The Pocantico Prize is funded by the RBF Culpeper Arts and Culture program, which supports the creative process through grants to arts organizations in the Fund’s home city of New York. Since 2012, the program has funded performing arts residencies for grantees at The Pocantico Center. The new artists’ studio in the DR Center at Pocantico will expand the residency program to directly support visual artists for the first time.

The DR Center will also provide increasing opportunities for engagement with neighbors in the Hudson Valley. In addition to the new prize for individual artists, the RBF will offer an annual grant to a local community-based arts group working with underserved communities. The grant allows the selected organization to use the DR Center artists' studio as a satellite location to conduct programs, workshops, exhibitions, performances, and other artistic initiatives for up to six months.

Artists-In-Residence