The MacArthur Foundation announced its 2026 fellowship class on Tuesday, naming 20 individuals from the performing arts, visual arts, humanities, and social sciences. Each fellow will receive $800,000 over five years to pursue projects without the usual reporting requirements of traditional grants.
Young Saxophonist Celebrates Unexpected Call
Immanuel Wilkins, a 29‑year‑old saxophonist and composer from Brooklyn, learned of his selection while riding an Amtrak train from New York to Philadelphia. After confirming the call, he described the moment as “a chance to yell as loud as I wanted to and celebrate.” Wilkins’ debut album, Omega, links the 1918 lynching of Mary Turner with the 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown, using jazz improvisation to convey the emotional weight of those events without recreating the violence.
Wilkins is also exploring how the language of Western musical notation can capture the nuances of Black music. He has experimented with “graphic scores” that translate sound into visual forms, such as sculptures and spectrograms, and recently performed an immersive piece called “RECESS” on an industrial jungle gym in Philadelphia.
Princeton Economist Focuses on Racial Wealth Gaps
Ellora Derenoncourt, an associate professor of economics at Princeton University, will use the fellowship to broaden public understanding of economic justice. She points to historical research showing that raising the federal minimum wage in 2021 narrowed the Black‑White earnings gap, and she emphasizes the importance of historical context in shaping policy outcomes.
Derenoncourt warned that the current administration’s rollback of workforce demographic reporting could hinder researchers’ ability to track racial inequality. She urged universities and think tanks to preserve robust data sets despite reduced official sources.
Painter Tackles “Social Amnesia” Through Large‑Scale Works
Vincent Valdez, a painter based in Texas, described the fellowship as a “deathly silent” moment when the foundation called. Valdez’s work confronts American identity by reviving mural traditions that gave Mexican‑American communities a visible presence. His 30‑foot painting The City I portrays a modern Ku Klux Klan with smartphones and a Pikachu‑holding baby, while his series Dream Baby Dream places Muhammad Ali’s eulogists in a visual homage to the TV show The Brady Bunch.
Valdez is completing a final installment titled The New Americans, featuring vertical portraits that celebrate overlooked pillars of society. He believes that the collective spirit seen in sports crowds can inspire similar unity for broader social challenges.
Foundation’s Vision and Selection Process
Kristen Mack, vice president of communications for fellows and partnerships at the MacArthur Foundation, said the 2026 class reflects a “particular interest in history.” She highlighted the fellows’ work as expanding the edges of scientific inquiry, artistic expression, and life‑saving research. The foundation does not accept applications; instead, a confidential committee reviews nominations from a rotating pool of external recommenders.
Unlike many grant programs, the MacArthur fellowship imposes no progress reports or deliverable requirements, allowing recipients full freedom to explore their ideas. The foundation expects no specific plans for how the award will be used, trusting that the fellows will pursue work that deepens public understanding of humanity’s past and present.
Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.
