The MacDowell Colony has awarded fellowships to 79 artists from 19 states and six countries. The incoming Fellows represent seven artistic disciplines and will arrive from places such as Nigeria, Mexico, and Hong Kong, as well as Oregon, Texas, and North Carolina. The fellowships are for upcoming fall residencies at one of the nation’s leading contemporary arts organizations.
This group of MacDowell Fellows includes Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori, Pulitzer Prize in Drama finalist Sarah DeLappe, Grawemeyer Award winner Sebastian Currier, industrial-pop composer Olin Caprison, recording artist and actor Jibz Cameron, Pulitzer Prize in Fiction finalist Hernan Diaz, award-winning historian Nell Painter, journalists Noah Sneider and Jeff Sharlet, and visual artists Clarity Haynes, Pamela Council, and Anna Hepler.
“MacDowell is honored to provide time and space at our bucolic property for these remarkable individuals to investigate, imagine, and create new works of art,” says Executive Director Philip Himberg. “They represent a wide and diverse range of artistic voices, reflecting a truly diverse landscape of art makers in our country and across the globe.”
These highly competitive fellowships, each with an average value of more than $10,000, were awarded from a pool of 676 applications received by the most recent of MacDowell’s three annual deadlines. A panel of distinguished professionals in each discipline selects Fellows based solely on their talent as evidenced by a work sample and project description. While at MacDowell, Fellows are provided a private studio and accommodations for a period of up to eight weeks and three meals a day.
According to discipline, incoming Fellows are:
- Architects: Charlotte Algie, Cecil Howell, Ryan Ludwig, Gregory Melitonov, and Mark Shepard.
- Composers: Olin Caprison, Sebastian Currier, David Dominique, Huck Hodge, Rodrigo Martinez Torres, Jeanine Tesori, David Torsabo, and Ho Kwen Austin Yip.
- Filmmakers: Jason Cortlund, Julia Halperin, Marnie Ellen Hertzler, and Isabel Sandoval.
- Interdisciplinary artists: Jibz Cameron, Maya Ciarrocchi, Mairead Delaney, Andrew Ondrejcak, Brian Rogers, and Sue Slagle.
- Theatre artists: Sarah DeLappe, Lisa Dring, David Mallamud, Stevie Nemazee, Terry O'Reilly, Gary Winter, and Zack Zadek.
- Visual artists: Tonita Cervantes, Elisabeth Condon, Pamela Council , Bruce Crownover, Marina Fridman, Clarity Haynes, Anna Hepler, Hong Hong, Carol Keller, Cyriaco Lopes, and Chris Wright.
- Poets: Kanika Agrawal, Sojourner Ahebee, T. J. Anderson III, Cathy Che, Janine Joseph, Mihaela Moscaliuc, Dean Rader, Eléna Rivera, and Brad Trumpfheller.
- Nonfiction writers: Omer Aziz, Bliss Broyard, McKenzie Funk, Rachel Gross, Seth Harp, Hilal Isler, Christopher Ketcham, Sara Lautman, Nell Painter, Christi Payne, Jeff Sharlet, Noah Sneider, and Jodi Spotted Bear.
- Fiction writers: David Aloi, Patricia Chao, Amanda DeMarco, Hernan Diaz, Linda Rui Feng, Emily Goldman, Nusrat Hossain, Ndinda Kioko, Amey Miller, Xavier Navarro Aquino, Lola Opatayo, Casey Plett, Patrick Ryan, Jessica Shi, Emma Sloley, Moez Surani, and Jackie Thomas-Kennedy.
Fellows make use of uninterrupted time to work and enjoy the rare opportunity for multidisciplinary exchange. Artists with demonstrated financial need are eligible for travel grants and stipends to cover expenses that accrue at home while away at a residency. The MacDowell Colony awards more than 300 fellowships each year. The next application deadline is January 15, 2020 for the summer 2020 residency period.
By awarding these fellowships, The MacDowell Colony continues its long-standing mission to nurture the arts by offering creative individuals of the highest talent an inspiring environment in which they can produce enduring works of the imagination. It is a mission that has inspired important contributions to American and world culture for more than a century, and has to date earned Fellows 89 Pulitzer Prizes as well as many other accolades.
