#MacArthur Foundation’s 20 Newest Fellows, 2026: #Artists, #Musicians, & #Performers; #Writers & #Poets; #Scientists & #Engineers; and, #Humanities & #Social Scientists

September 30, 2026 by Sally Ember, EdD

#MacArthur Foundation’s 20 Newest Fellows, 2026:
#Artists, #Musicians, & #Performers; #Writers & #Poets; #Scientists & #Engineers; and, #Humanities & #Social Scientists

“For 45 years, MacArthur Fellows have defied boundaries, by questioning conventions, crossing disciplines, and driving collective progress….The 2026 fellows continue that creative tradition — they explore the depths of our humanity; they reveal untold origins to modern challenges; they expand the edge of scientific inquiry and life-saving research. They show us new ways to understand the world.”
Kristen Mack
Vice-President, Communications, MacArthur Fellows, and Partnerships

“The MacArthur Fellowship is a $800,000, no-strings-attached award to extraordinarily talented and creative individuals as an investment in their potential….Since 1981, 1197 people have been named MacArthur Fellows….

“Nominees are brought to the Program’s attention through a constantly changing pool of invited external nominators chosen from as broad a range of fields and areas of interest as possible. They are encouraged to draw on their expertise, accomplishments, and breadth of experience to nominate the most creative people they know within their field and beyond….

“There are three criteria for selection of Fellows:

Exceptional creativity
Promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishments which could be enabled by our support
Potential for the Fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work.”

“The MacArthur Fellows Program is intended to encourage people of outstanding talent to pursue their own creative, intellectual, and professional inclinations. In keeping with this purpose, the Foundation awards fellowships directly to individuals rather than through institutions. Recipients may be writers, scientists, artists, social scientists, humanists, teachers, entrepreneurs, or those in other fields, with or without institutional affiliations. They may use their fellowship to advance their expertise, engage in bold new work, or, if they wish, to change fields or alter the direction of their careers.”

“By providing these individuals with unfettered support in pursuit of creative activities and knowledge, the Fellows Program seeks to:

Highlight the importance of imaginative thinking in creating new works of art that inspire;
Spotlight the value of risk-taking in addressing deep-rooted societal problems;
Expand our understanding of creativity; and
Cultivate the next generation of innovators.”

“Although nominees are reviewed for their achievements, the fellowship is not a lifetime achievement award, but rather an investment in a person’s originality, insight, and potential. Indeed, the purpose of the MacArthur Fellows Program is to enable recipients to exercise their own creative instincts for the benefit of human society.

“The Foundation does not require or expect specific products or reports from MacArthur Fellows and does not evaluate recipients’ creativity during the term of the fellowship. The MacArthur Fellowship is a “no strings attached” award in support of people, not projects. Each fellowship comes with a stipend of $800,000 to the recipient, paid out in equal quarterly installments over five years….”

Meet the newest crop of very fortunate creative sorts, this year’s MacArthur Fellows, who will each receive $800,000/year spread over 5 years, to do WHATEVER THEY WANT!

For bios, specific info on each Fellow (photos, videos, websites, more), and plenty about the Program and the Foundation, check out their website: https://www.macfound.org/programs/awards/

Imagine: There are no outside or public applications or nominations. The process for selection is so secretive and unknown that very few people (no one outside the Foundation, supposedly) even knows who the nominating and selection committees’ members ARE each year!

In the Foundation’s favor, the Fellows process has been great on “diversity” and varying geographic locations for quite a while (still heavier on both coasts than within the USA, though). They also seem to make a great effort to vary the balance of seeming gender identities, professions, and types of creativity.

Again, LOVE this!

Here are the award rationales/categories for each Fellow for 2026, many of whom are celebrated across more than two disciplines/areas of study and expertise:

Artists, Musicians, & Performers

Christine Sun Kim – Sound and visual performance artist investigating spatial dynamics of Deaf culture and systemic sound hierarchies, Deaf culture and communication.

Immanuel Wilkins – (New York University): Jazz saxophonist and composer expanding contemporary jazz through culturally synthesized compositions. Celebrated for his acclaimed debut album, Omega.

Rodney McMillian – (University of California, Los Angeles): Sculpture professor and Multimedia artist creating texturally complex art interrogating lives outside traditional American dream myths.

Trajal Harrell – Choreographer and contemporary dancer bridging voguing, postmodern dance, and Butoh traditions.

Chip Thomas – Practicing physician and documentary photographer utilizing public art installations on the Navajo Nation.

Vincent Valdez – Contemporary artist and master printmaker creating large-scale socio-political figurative works exposing institutional racism, focusing on political and social commentary.

Writers & Poets

Maaza Mengiste – (Wesleyan University) A widely published fiction writer and English professor. Capturing deeply human dimensions of Ethiopian history, gender dynamics and conflict through transformative historical fiction. Novelist and essayist, best known for her 2020 Booker Prize-shortlisted book, The Shadow King.

Bryan Washington – Fiction writer and essayist exploring community, identity, and queer life. Portraying nuanced, intersectional stories of queer identity, community, and domestic life in urban centers with sharp emotional resonance.

Layli Long Soldier – Award-winning poet, writer and citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation. Using innovative poetic structures and language to confront historical injustices, indigenous sovereignty, and the complexities of tribal treaties.

Scientists & Engineers

Song Lin – (Stanford University): Chemist using electrochemistry to construct durable, complex organic molecules for sustainable applications.

Vincenzo Vitelli – (University of Chicago): Theoretical physicist studying the bizarre behaviors of metamaterials and active matter. James Franck Institute professor mapping collective behaviors of metamaterials and biological systems.

Liangfang Zhang – (University of California, San Diego): Chemical and nano engineering chair pioneering biomimetic nanotechnology by coating synthetic nanoparticles with natural cellular membranes.

Kaiyu Guan – (University of Illinois): Eco-hydrologist using supercomputing, satellite observations and physics to optimize agricultural ecosystems and crop yields.

Marika Holland – (National Center for Atmospheric Research): Atmospheric scientist mapping long-term sea ice changes in polar regions, advancing global understanding of long-term polar sea ice changes and climate variability.

Humanities & Social Scientists

Ellora Derenoncourt –Labor economist and economic historian recognized for her quantitative research on the systemic, historical roots of racial wealth disparities in the United States researching the historical roots of racial wealth disparities. Assistant Professor of Economics and Faculty Director of the Program for Research on Inequality at Princeton University The foundation honored her for utilizing meticulous data collection and economic frameworks to uncover how historical policy choices continue to shape modern racial inequality. Her landmark research traces the evolution of the Black-white wealth gap from pre-Emancipation to the present day. She is highly recognized for mapping out how the design of federal minimum wage policies affected racial earnings convergence during the Civil Rights Era, as well as examining the northern backlash against the Great Migration and its subsequent impact on Black upward mobility.

Elizabeth Ellis – Associate Professor at Princeton University: Historian tracking Indigenous politics and diplomacy in early North America. Restructuring early American histories by analyzing how smaller Indigenous nations leveraged complex diplomacy and political networks to retain their sovereignty.

Felipe De Brigard – Philosopher and cognitive neuroscientist: Professor in the Department of Philosophy and the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University. Pioneering work mapping how the human brain constructs memory and how it interacts with other complex cognitive processes. Bridges philosophy and science to analyze the neural and conceptual mechanisms behind moral judgment, imagination, regret and forgiveness, mapping memory construction and moral judgment.

Holly Jean Buck – Assistant Professor of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Buffalo, NY. Developing a compelling vision for equitable energy and climate transitions. Her research maps out how to implement large-scale climate interventions (like geoengineering and phasing out fossil fuels) while protecting rural communities, addressing social realities, and ensuring environmental justice. Sociologist evaluating rural innovation during climate and energy transitions.

Ariel Ron – History Professor at Southern Methodist University: Unearthing the systemic ties between 19th-century agricultural expansion and the broader rise of American industrial capitalism and economic policy, uncovering agriculture’s direct contributions to 19th-century economic developments.

Kate Spradley – Anthropology Professor at Texas State University: Forensic Anthropologist using skeletal data and biological markers to identify undocumented border crossers, mapping historic population migrations, and advocating for human rights in forensic identification.

You can view ALL 1197 recipients of this “Genius Grant” (all the Fellows): https://www.macfound.org/fellows/search/all and more information is here: https://www.macfound.org/programs/awards/fellows/

#MacArthur Foundation’s 22 Newest Fellows, 2024: #Scientists, #Writers, #Artists, Policy Makers, #Sociologists, #Activists, #Poets, #Filmmakers, #Musicians, #Performers, #Dancers, #Choreographers and #Historians

October 4, 2024 by Sally Ember, EdD

#MacArthur Foundation’s 22 Newest Fellows, 2024:
#Scientists, #Writers, #Artists, Policy Makers, #Sociologists, #Activists, #Poets, #Filmmakers, #Musicians, #Performers, #Dancers, #Choreographers and #Historians

The 2024 MacArthur Fellows pursue rigorous inquiry with aspiration and purpose. They expose biases built into emerging technologies and social systems and fill critical gaps in the knowledge of cycles that sustain life on Earth. Their work highlights our shared humanity, centering the agency of disabled people, the humor and histories of Indigenous communities, the emotional lives of adolescents, and perspectives of rural Americans.
Marlies Carruth, Director, MacArthur Fellows

“There are three criteria for selection of Fellows:

Exceptional creativity
Promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishments
Potential for the Fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work.”

Meet the newest crop of very fortunate creative sorts, this year’s MacArthur Fellows, who will each receive $800,000/year spread over 5 years, to do WHATEVER THEY WANT!

For bios, specific info on each Fellow (photos, videos, websites, more), and plenty about the Program and the Foundation, check out their website: https://www.macfound.org/programs/awards/fellows/results?fellow_class=2024

Again, LOVE this!

Here are the award rationales/categories for each Fellow for 2024:

Loka Ashwood, Lexington, KY, Sociologist: “Shedding light on rural identity and culture and on the ecological, economic, and social challenges facing many rural communities.”

Ruha Benjamin, Princeton, NJ, Transdisciplinary Scholar & Writer: “Illuminating how technology reflects and reproduces inequality and championing the role of imagination in social transformation.”

Justin Vivian Bond, New York, NY, Artist & Performer: “Working in the cabaret tradition and weaving cultural critique and an ethic of care into performances that center queer joy.”

Jericho Brown, Atlanta, GA, Poet: “Reflecting on contemporary culture and identity in works that combine formal experimentation and intense self-examination.”

Tony Cokes, Providence, RI, Media Artist: “Creating video works that recontextualize historical and cultural moments.”

Nicola Dell, New York, NY, Computer & Information Scientist: “Developing technology interventions to address the needs of overlooked populations, such as survivors of intimate partner violence.”

Johnny Gandelsman, New Paltz, NY, Violinist & Producer: “Reimagining classical works and nurturing the creation of new music across styles and genres.”

Sterlin Harjo, Tulsa, OK, Filmmaker: “Telling stories about the daily lives of contemporary Native Americans with humor and deep affection.”

Juan Felipe Herrera, Fresno, CA, Poet, Educator, Writer: “Uplifting Chicanx culture and amplifying shared experiences of solidarity and empowerment.”

Ling Ma, Chicago, IL, Fiction Writer: “Mixing speculative and realist modes of storytelling to throw into relief the surreal aspects of our contemporary condition.”

Jennifer L. Morgan, New York NY, Historian: “Deepening understanding of how the exploitation of enslaved women enabled the institutionalization of race-based slavery in early America and the Black Atlantic.”

Martha Muñoz, New Haven, CT, Evolutionary Biologist: “Investigating the motors and brakes of evolution.”

Shailaja Paik, Cincinnati, OH, Historian: “Exploring the intersection of caste, gender, and sexuality in modern India through the lives of Dalit women.”

Joseph Parker, Pasadena, CA, Evolutionary Biologist: “Uncovering the origins of symbiosis in rove beetles and the evolution of complex organismal traits.”

Ebony G. Patterson, Chicago, IL, & Kingston, Jamaica, Multimedia Artist: “Creating visually dazzling works that explore themes of visibility, beauty, race, class, violence, mourning, and regeneration.”

Shamel Pitts, Brooklyn, NY, Dancer & Choreographer: “Pioneering experimental performance works inspired by Afrofuturism while reimagining collective ways of world-building.”

Wendy Red Star, Portland, OR, Visual Artist: “Engaging with archival materials in works that challenge colonial historical narratives.”

Jason Reynolds, Washington, D.C., Children’s & Young Adult Writer: “Depicting the rich inner lives of kids of color and ensuring that they see themselves and their communities in literature.”

Dorothy Roberts, Philadelphia, PA, Legal Scholar & Public Policy Researcher: “Exposing racial inequities embedded in social service systems and uplifting the experiences of people caught up in them.”

Keivan Stassun, Nashville, TN, Science Educator & Astronomer: “Expanding opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and careers for underrepresented populations.”

Benjamin Van Mooy, Woods Hole, MA, Oceanographer: “Investigating how microbial organisms shape cycling of elements fundamental to life in marine environments.”

Alice Wong, San Francisco, CA, Writer, Educator & Disability Rights Advocate: “Increasing the political and cultural visibility of people with disabilities and catalyzing broader understandings of disability.”

You can view ALL 1153 recipients of this “Genius Grant” (all the Fellows): https://www.macfound.org/fellows/search/all

#MacArthur Foundation 25 Newest Fellows 2021: #Scientists, #Filmmakers, #Artists, #Dancers, #Musicians, #Writers, #Activists and #Historians

October 4, 2021 by Sally Ember, EdD

#MacArthur Foundation 25 Newest Fellows 2021: #Scientists, #Filmmakers, #Artists, #Dancers, #Musicians, #Writers, #Activists and #Historians

“The MacArthur Fellowship is a $625,000, no-strings-attached award to extraordinarily talented and creative individuals as an investment in their potential….Recipients may be writers, scientists, artists, social scientists, humanists, teachers, entrepreneurs, or those in other fields, with or without institutional affiliations. They may use their fellowship to advance their expertise, engage in bold new work, or, if they wish, to change fields or alter the direction of their careers.”

There are three criteria for selection of Fellows:

Exceptional creativity
Promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishments
Potential for the Fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work.

Meet the newest crop of very fortunate creative sorts, this year’s MacArthur Fellows, who will each receive $125,000/year for 5 years to do WHATEVER THEY WANT!

For bios, specific info on each Fellow, and more about the Program and the Foundation, check out their website: https://www.macfound.org/programs/fellows/

“Although nominees are reviewed for their achievements, the fellowship is not a lifetime achievement award, but rather an investment in a person’s originality, insight, and potential. Indeed, the purpose of the MacArthur Fellows Program is to enable recipients to exercise their own creative instincts for the benefit of human society.

“The Foundation does not require or expect specific products or reports from MacArthur Fellows and does not evaluate recipients’ creativity during the term of the fellowship. The MacArthur Fellowship is a “no strings attached” award in support of people, not projects. Each fellowship comes with a stipend of $625,000 to the recipient, paid out in equal quarterly installments over five years.”

In the Foundation’s favor, this year—for the fourth time since I’ve been tracking it, which is many years—the female-appearing Fellows are about equal in number to the male-appearing Fellows: 13 seeming males, 11 seeming female and 1 nonbinary fellow. The Fellows process has been great on “diversity” and varying geographic locations for quite a while. This year, only about 3 appear to be Caucasian. You can check out the stats on their site any time.

Again, LOVE this!

I am unfamiliar with all of them for the first time, so my “most interested in getting to know” recipients this year are:

Marcella Alsan, Physician-Economist

Award is for “Investigating the role that legacies of discrimination and resulting mistrust play in perpetuating racial disparities in health….Her most influential work to date provides empirical evidence for the widely held hypothesis that mistrust of medical institutions contributes to poor health indicators experienced by Black men in the United States.”

She “holds a BA (1999) from Harvard University, an MPH (2005) from the Harvard School of Public Health, an MD (2005) from Loyola University, and a PhD in economics (2012) from Harvard University. Alsan served as an associate professor of medicine and, by courtesy, of economics and health research and policy at Stanford University prior to joining the faculty of the Harvard Kennedy School as a professor of public policy in 2019. Her work has been published in the American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Political Economy, The Lancet Infectious Diseases, and Annals of Internal Medicine, among other journals.”

Ibrahim Cissé, Biological Physicist

Award for: “Developing microscopy tools to investigate the subcellular processes underlying genetic regulation and misfunction….[He] continues to push the limits of quantitative microscopy (a microscopic study that uses algorithmic analysis of digital images) … He is also advancing imaging methods to investigate the early stages of misfolded protein clustering, which may be critical to understanding neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s. His work revealed that the initial formation of misfolded protein clusters is akin to phase transitions that lead to condensates. Through his cutting-edge innovations in single-molecule microscopy and in-depth understanding of biophysical and cellular processes, Cissé is illuminating the dynamics of gene regulation and enabling further investigation of biological condensates.”

He “received a BS (2004) from North Carolina Central University and a PhD (2009) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He served as a postdoctoral fellow at École Normale Supérieure de Paris from 2010 to 2012. Cissé was an assistant professor of physics and biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology beginning in 2014, and he was tenured in 2020. He was a professor of physics at the California Institute of Technology in 2021 prior to taking up his current position as director of the Department of Biological Physics at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg, Germany. Cissé’s work has appeared in Nature, Science, Cell, and PNAS, among other scientific journals.”

Also glad to see so many more recipients NOT from either the West or East Coast of the USA.

You can view ALL recipients of this Genius Grant (all Fellows): https://www.macfound.org/fellows/search/all

2016 #MacArthur Fellows: 23 Extraordinarily Creative People Who Inspire Us All

September 22, 2016 by Sally Ember, EdD

Let’s celebrate extraordinary and amazing and beneficial and FUN people! I first heard about these annual awards when they were only about $200,000 and they were called “Genius Grants.” The stipend for the MacArthur Fellowship is currently set at $625,000, paid in quarterly installments over five years.

The cool thing about this award is that the group of people who nominate and select these individuals every year are ANONYMOUS and it is apparently impossible to discover their identities. This protects the process from corruption, one would hope. Their FAQs page states: “All of the participants in the selection process—–nominators, evaluators, and selectors—–serve anonymously, and we keep their communications confidential. Anonymity protects them from being inundated with unsolicited requests. In addition, our experience shows that people readily provide frank impressions if they have an assurance that their responses will not be disseminated beyond the program staff and Selection Committee.”

I’ve heard that each recipient gets a phone call “out of the blue,” since they don’t even know they’re being considered, to announce that they are selected and about to receive one of our highest honors and a huge cash award.

The idea behind these awards is that the Fellows can then “quit their day jobs” or work less for money while living on the investments/cash they get/accumulate from this award. That liberates them to pursue their genius ideas even further! YEA!

Again, from the FAQs: “The MacArthur Fellowship is designed to provide seed money for intellectual, social, and artistic endeavors. We believe that highly motivated, self-directed, and talented people are in the best position to decide how to allocate their time and resources. By adopting a “no strings attached” policy, we provide the maximum freedom for the recipients to follow their creative vision, whether it is moving forward with their current activities, expanding the scope of their work, or embarking upon an entirely new endeavor. There are no restrictions on how the money can be spent, and we impose no reporting obligations.”

I also love that they make a concerted effort and usually succeed in finding obscure, diverse, interesting and helpful people to whom to give this important award each year. Check out the 2016 cohort!

Spread the word! Read about these people and their projects to youth and adults to inspire us all to be better! There is no upper age limit on recipients, either!

This year’s recipients include a Human Rights Lawyer, Artists, Musicians, Creators and Writers of several types, Linguists and other Historians, Scientists of many subdisciplines, a Jewelry-Maker and a Financial Services Innovator! And, perhaps for the first time, there are more female (13) than male (10) recipients! Most are under 50 years old, but a few are older.

About half are people of non-Caucasian/ non-Western European ethnicities. Click on this link for an interactive map showing each of the recipient’s place of birth: https://www.macfound.org/maps/1/

A few are academics or work in other large organizations, but most are independent owners/operators or work in small businesses or in the nonprofit sectors.

2016-fellows-macarthur

Want to know more? Check out these myth-busting responses: https://www.macfound.org/press/commentary/five-myths-about-macarthur-genius-grants/

2016 MacArthur Fellows: 23 Extraordinarily Creative People Who Inspire Us All

23 Extraordinarily Creative People Who Inspire Us All
Recognizing 23 exceptionally creative individuals with a track record of achievement and the potential for significant contributions in the future, the Foundation today named the 2016 MacArthur Fellows. Fellows will each receive a no-strings-attached stipend of $625,000, allowing recipients maximum freedom to follow their own creative visions.

“While our communities, our nation, and our world face both historic and emerging challenges, these 23 extraordinary individuals give us ample reason for hope,” said MacArthur President Julia Stasch. “They are breaking new ground in areas of public concern, in the arts, and in the sciences, often in unexpected ways. Their creativity, dedication, and impact inspire us all.”

Visit the MacArthur Foundation website for Fellows’ bios and more info about each recipient as well as videos, the lists and descriptions/bios of previous years’ recipients, and the remaining FAQs/Answers: https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class/class-2016/

ALSO, as described in a previous post, the MacArthur Foundation is celebrating having had 35 years of MacArthur Fellows with events in Chicago and New York City still to come for 2016. Check out the three remaining public ceremonies and events. Fantastic opportunities!

This weekend, “Poetry Off the Shelf”: with poet, Ellen Bryant Voigt, September 27, 2016, 7 – 8:30 PM CDT, at the
Poetry Foundation , 61 West Superior Street, Chicago, IL, USA.

On October 1 and 2, 2016, at New York City’s Kennedy Center, Artistic Director and Jazz Fellow, Jason Moran, hosts two different Fellows, Jessie Little Doe Baird and George E. Lewis.
https://www.macfound.org/events/fellows35/

“MacArthur [Foundation] Announces [a year-long series of] Performances, Discussion to Celebrate 35 Years of Iconic Fellowship Program”

January 26, 2016 by Sally Ember, EdD

“MacArthur [Foundation] Announces [a year-long series of] Performances, Discussion to Celebrate 35 Years of Iconic Fellowship Program”
https://www.macfound.org/press/press-releases/macarthur-announces-performances-discussion-celebrate-35-years-iconic-fellowship-program/#sthash.wuDoFQcB.dpuf

AND

Events Calendar
https://www.macfound.org/events/fellows35/?all=1

These events are happening mostly in Chicago and on the East Coast (Washington, D.C., New York City), but will be broadcast/put online as well. Awesome! And, “Most of the events will be open to the public for free or at low cost.”

I have always been fascinated by and love seeing who gets these grants each year. I adore the entire secrecy of the process (no one knows, supposedly, who does the selecting, no one can be nominated, and no one can self-nominate). So, one day, my friends and I imagine, someone gets this phone call or email saying: You have been selected as a MacArthur Foundation Fellow for a “Genius Grant”! What an amazing thing to happen!

The panel chooses such an excellent variety of creative, intelligent, talented and skilled individuals, also. Each year, we can learn about their Fellows and meet jugglers, dancers, scientists, writers, playwrights, poets, musicians, choreographers, youth workers and other educators, environmentalists and activists of other types and whoever strikes their fancy all honored in this way. Usually they choose about 20 people from all around the country. Not all are young, not all are older; not all are men or women; not all are Caucasian. Fabulous.

The MacArthur Fellowship[s], called “genius grants” by the media, recognize[s] exceptionally creative individuals with a track record of achievement and the potential for significant contributions in the future.

Fellows each receive a no-strings-attached stipend of $625,000, which comes with no stipulations or reporting requirements and allows recipients maximum freedom to follow their own creative visions. Since 1981, 942 people have been named MacArthur Fellows.

Fellows are selected through a rigorous process that has involved thousands of expert and anonymous nominators, evaluators, and selectors over the years.

The Foundation does not accept unsolicited nominations.

This year “is expected to include the following events as well as others to be announced later.

Public artist Rick Lowe will deliver a lecture on “Art in the Social Context” at Stanford University’s Haas Center for Public Service as part of the Mimi and Peter E. Haas Distinguished Visitor program (Stanford, CA, Feb. 4).
The College Art Association will host a discussion with photographer LaToya Ruby Frazier and public artist Rick Lowe as part of its 104th Annual Conference (Washington, DC, Feb. 5).
The Poetry Foundation will present the Chicago-based collective Every House Has a Door’s adaptation of a work by poet Jay Wright (Chicago, Feb. 20).
In conjunction with an exhibition of her work, the Whitney Museum of American Art will host a discussion with documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras (New York City, Feb.).
Sixth & I, a historic synagogue and cultural event space, will present a panel discussion on immigration featuring writers Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Aleksandar Hemon and Assistant to the President and Director of the Domestic Policy Council Cecilia Muñoz (Washington, DC, March 7).
New York’s 92nd Street Y will present a panel discussion featuring MacArthur Fellows (New York, March).
Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry will host MacArthur Fellows for events marking National Robotics Week, including Jr. Science Cafes, a public conversation, and robotics demonstrations (Chicago, April 2).
The National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution, in collaboration with the American Historical Association, will host a conference on “The Future of the African American Past,” featuring scholars, activists and historians, including several MacArthur Fellows (Washington, DC, May 19-21, 2016).
The Poetry Foundation will host a reading by poet and writer Alice Fulton (Chicago, May 24).
The Economic Club of Chicago will feature two conversation pairings with arts entrepreneur Claire Chase and music educator Aaron Dworkin as well as computational biologist John Novembre and historian Tara Zahra (Chicago, May 25).
Wingspread will host a public event featuring MacArthur Fellows working on issues of interest to the Johnson Foundation and the Racine community (Racine, Wisconsin, May).
The Chicago Humanities Festival will host a one-day series of programs highlighting the work of MacArthur Fellows (Chicago, May).
MacArthur Fellows will be featured in a plenary session at the annual convention of Americans for the Arts (Boston, June).
Orchestra conductor and MacArthur Fellow Marin Alsop is designing three free evenings of performances in conjunction with the Grant Park Music Festival that will showcase MacArthur Fellows working in music and science, including cellist Alisa Weilerstein, violinist Regina Carter, and composer Osvaldo Golijov (Chicago, July).
The Harris Theater will host a free, two-night dance performance series featuring curated works created by MacArthur Fellows, including Kyle Abraham, Merce Cunningham, Michelle Dorrance, Susan Marshall, Mark Morris, and Shen Wei (Chicago, Sept. 16 and 17 or 18).
The Chicago Humanities Festival will incorporate MacArthur Fellows into its regular annual programming (Chicago, Sept.).
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will host two free public performances by MacArthur Fellows through its Millennium Stage series (Washington, DC, Oct.).
Conservation biologist Claire Kremen will speak at as part of the Women in Science series at The Field Museum (Chicago, Nov. 2).
Also during the year-long anniversary MacArthur Fellows will field questions from the public in Reddit ask-me-anything sessions and appear on other digital platforms.

Attend! View! Learn! Appreciate! Enjoy!

More info about the Fellows Eligibility, Criteria and Selection Process, from their website:

Criteria:
“There are three criteria for selection of Fellows: exceptional creativity, promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishment, and potential for the fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work.

“The MacArthur Fellows Program is intended to encourage people of outstanding talent to pursue their own creative, intellectual, and professional inclinations. In keeping with this purpose, the Foundation awards fellowships directly to individuals rather than through institutions. Recipients may be writers, scientists, artists, social scientists, humanists, teachers, entrepreneurs, or those in other fields, with or without institutional affiliations. They may use their fellowship to advance their expertise, engage in bold new work, or, if they wish, to change fields or alter the direction of their careers.

“Although nominees are reviewed for their achievements, the fellowship is not a lifetime achievement award, but rather an investment in a person’s originality, insight, and potential. Indeed, the purpose of the MacArthur Fellows Program is to enable recipients to exercise their own creative instincts for the benefit of human society.

How Fellows are Chosen:
“Nominees are brought to the Program’s attention through a constantly changing pool of invited external nominators. The nominators are encouraged to nominate the most creative people they know within their field and beyond. They are chosen from as broad a range of fields and areas of interest as possible.

“Nominations are evaluated by an independent Selection Committee composed of about a dozen leaders in the arts, sciences, humanities professions, and for-profit and nonprofit communities. Each nomination is considered with respect to the program’s selection criteria, based on the nomination letter along with original works of the nominee and evaluations from other experts collected by the program staff.

“After a thorough, multi-step review, the Selection Committee makes its recommendations to the President and Board of Directors of the MacArthur Foundation. Announcement of the annual list is usually made in September. While there are no quotas or limits, typically 20 to 30 Fellows are selected each year. Since 1981, 942 people have been named MacArthur Fellows.

“Nominators, evaluators, and selectors all serve anonymously and their correspondence is kept confidential. This policy enables participants to provide their honest impressions independent of outside influence.

“The Fellows Program does not accept applications or unsolicited nominations.”

Eligibility:
“There are no restrictions on becoming a Fellow, except that nominees must be either residents or citizens of the United States, and must not hold elective office or advanced positions in government as defined by the statute.”

2015 #MacArthur Fellows: 24 Extraordinarily Creative People Who Inspire Us All

September 30, 2015 by Sally Ember, EdD

I’ve heard that the recipient gets a phone call “out of the blue,” since they don’t even know they’re being considered, to announce that they are selected and about to receive one of our highest honors and a huge cash award.

Spread the word! Read about these people and their projects to youth and adults to inspire us all to be better! There is no upper age limit on recipients, either!

2015 MacArthur Fellows: 24 Extraordinarily Creative People Who Inspire Us All

Recognizing 24 exceptionally creative individuals with a track record of achievement and the potential for significant contributions in the future, the Foundation today named the 2015 MacArthur Fellows. Fellows will each receive a no-strings-attached stipend of $625,000, allowing recipients maximum freedom to follow their own creative visions.

“These 24 delightfully diverse MacArthur Fellows are shedding light and making progress on critical issues, pushing the boundaries of their fields, and improving our world in imaginative, unexpected ways,” said MacArthur President Julia Stasch. “Their work, their commitment, and their creativity inspire us all.”

https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class/2015/