TL;DR
Get art and craft supplies delivered free — and shop member deals
- Fast, free delivery on millions of items
- Access to Prime Big Deal Days deals on October 6–7
- Prime Video, Amazon Music and more included
The MacArthur Foundation named 20 fellows on September 29, 2026, including visual artists Christine Sun Kim, Rodney McMillian, Vincent Valdez, and Chip Thomas. Each receives an unrestricted $800,000 paid over five years.
Visual artists Christine Sun Kim, Rodney McMillian, Vincent Valdez, and Chip Thomas are among the 20 recipients of this year’s MacArthur Fellowship, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced on September 29. Each fellow receives an unrestricted award of $800,000, paid in quarterly installments over five years, with no conditions attached to how the money is spent.
The foundation describes the fellowship as a no-strings-attached award given to individuals “who show exceptional creativity in their work and the prospect for still more in the future,” according to its official description. Candidates cannot apply for the fellowship directly; fellows are nominated by external parties and chosen by an independent selection committee.
Berlin-based Christine Sun Kim works as a sound artist despite being Deaf, exploring the political dimensions of communication through billboards, murals, performances, and multimedia works. She frequently translates her pieces between American Sign Language and American English, as in her 2020 video “Palm Reader,” which animates signs for authoritative words such as “state” and “rule.”
Los Angeles-based Rodney McMillian builds work from secondhand quilts, thrifted household items, and found objects such as a cast-iron piggy bank. His 2026 exhibition A Son of the Soil at the Columbia Museum of Art marked a return to his hometown of Columbia, South Carolina, examining the American South and what the foundation’s announcement describes as his engagement with racial and socioeconomic injustice.
Vincent Valdez, who works in Houston, combines Chicano art traditions with narrative painting, often at mural-like scale. His eight-foot-tall painting “So Long, Mary Ann” (2019) portrays a tattooed man with clasped hands, an approach Hyperallergic describes as confronting injustice, inequity, and stereotypes while imbuing his subjects with empathy and dignity. Chip Thomas, who retired in 2023 from his career as a primary care physician for the Navajo Nation, has worked with Diné communities to install murals and black-and-white photography on Navajo land, and founded the Painted Desert Project (2012–22), which connected public artists to local communities.
What the Award Means for Artists
The $800,000 award, delivered over five years, is among the most substantial unrestricted prizes available to individual artists in the United States. Because the fellowship carries no reporting requirements or spending conditions, recipients can use the funds for long-term projects, debt relief, studio expansion, or personal stability — a level of freedom that most grants, which typically fund specific projects, do not offer.
The selection of these four artists also signals institutional recognition of practices rooted in community engagement and social critique: Kim’s work on Deaf communication and language politics, McMillian’s material inquiry into the American South, Valdez’s large-scale depictions of marginalized subjects, and Thomas’s decades of art-making alongside medical service on the Navajo Nation. The fellowship often brings recipients wider visibility, museum interest, and market attention in the years following the award.
A Program Dating to 1981
: “The MacArthur Fellowship, popularly known as the “genius grant,” has been awarded since 1981. According to the foundation, 1,195 fellowships have been awarded to date across disciplines including art history, visual culture, writing, health policy, anthropological research, musical performance, and entrepreneurship.
This year’s 20 fellows extend beyond the visual arts. They include poet Layli Long Soldier, fiction writer Bryan Washington, dancer and choreographer Trajal Harrell, and saxophonist and composer Immanuel Wilkins, alongside recipients in fields such as climate policy (Holly Jean Buck), economics (Ellora Derenoncourt), and medicine (Liangfang Zhang).
“A no-strings-attached fellowship awarded to those who show exceptional creativity in their work and the prospect for still more in the future.”
— John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
How the Fellows Will Use the Funds
The foundation does not impose conditions on the award, and the four artists have not yet publicly detailed how they plan to use the $800,000. The specific nominators who put the artists forward are confidential under the program’s process, and the foundation has not disclosed the size or composition of this year’s selection committee.
Payments and Post-Award Projects
Quarterly payments to the 2026 fellows will begin under the standard five-year schedule. Readers can expect the four visual artists to announce upcoming exhibitions and projects in the months ahead; McMillian’s A Son of the Soil is currently on view at the Columbia Museum of Art, and the fellowship’s visibility frequently precedes new institutional shows for recipients. The full list of 2026 fellows is available on the MacArthur Foundation’s website.
Key Questions
How much money does a MacArthur fellow receive?
Each fellow receives $800,000, paid in quarterly installments over five years. The award is unrestricted, meaning there are no conditions on how it is spent.
Which visual artists won the 2026 MacArthur Fellowship?
The four visual artists among the 2026 fellows are Christine Sun Kim, Rodney McMillian, Vincent Valdez, and Chip Thomas.
Can artists apply for a MacArthur genius grant?
No. Fellows are nominated anonymously by external parties and selected by an independent committee; there is no application process.
Who else won a 2026 MacArthur Fellowship?
The 20 recipients include poet Layli Long Soldier, fiction writer Bryan Washington, choreographer Trajal Harrell, and composer Immanuel Wilkins, along with fellows in science, economics, history, and other fields.
How long has the MacArthur Fellowship existed?
The program began in 1981 and has awarded 1,195 fellowships to date, according to the foundation.
Source: rss
Fall Picks
fall essentials
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
