The MacDowell Colony has awarded fellowships to 87 artists from 19 states and six countries, from Oregon to Alabama and from Australia to Sweden. Sixty-seven are first-time Fellows. They are working in seven disciplines, and 27 percent identify as culturally diverse. The fellowships are for upcoming autumn and early winter residencies at one of the nation’s leading contemporary arts organizations.
The incoming group of MacDowell Fellows includes GRAMMY-nominated composer Anthony Wilson; author, Tony, and Emmy award-winner Jane Alexander; architect Karla Rothstein; screenwriters Guinevere Turner and David Zellner; playwright Jihae Park; visual artists Itty Neuhaus and Isidro Blasco; National Book Award finalist and poet Jane Hirshfield; and novelist Roger King.
These highly competitive fellowships, each with an average value of $10,000, were awarded from a pool of 642 applications received by the most recent of MacDowell’s three deadlines each year. Sixty-one percent of the pool were first-time applicants, and 63 percent were women. 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 for a period of up to eight weeks, accommodations, and three meals a day.
“These artists bring their diverse voices and visions, share those gifts in residence with artists of different disciplines, and no doubt their work will resonate with audiences around the world,” says Executive Director Cheryl A. Young. Young announced that she will retire from the Colony after 22 years in the post and that this will be her last full year.
The most recent group of Fellows includes, according to discipline:
- Architects Edward Ford, Kai Franz, Ryan Ludwig, and Karla Rothstein.
- Composers Byron Asher, Armando Bayolo, Frank Carlberg, Arthur Gottschalk, Ofir Klemperer, Victor Marquez-Barrios, Kurt Rohde, and Anthony Wilson.
- Filmmakers Arisleyda Dilone, Margaret Honda, Jenny Perlin, Alvaro Sarmiento, Christin Turner, Guinevere Turner, and David Zellner.
- Interdisciplinary Artists Abigail Levine, Sharon Mashihi, Kaj-anne Pepper, Tom Sellar, and Takahiro Yamamoto.
- Theatre Artists Jane Alexander, Christina Anderson, Anna Fox, Rob Handel, Darrel Holnes, Nigel Maister, Sarah Mantell, Alistair McDowall, Jiehae Park, and Christina Quintana.
- Visual Artists Andrea Artz, Isidro Blasco, Mike Crane, Stuart Diamond, Luba Drozd, Pinkney Herbert, Christine Hiebert, Sharon Horvath, Itty Neuhaus, Ester Partegas, Jami Porter Lara, Heidi Schwegler, Joni Sternbach, Margaux Williamson, and Jayoung Yoon.
- Poets Susan Barba, Brian Cochran, Ayokunle Falomo, Jane Hirshfield, Matthew Olzmann, Jamila Osman, Ethel Rackin, and Marie Silkeberg.
- Nonfiction Writers Burkhard Bilger, Michelle Bowdler, Matthew Clark, Caitlin Delohery, Jeremy Eichler, Clair MacDougall, Alexis Okeowo, Joshua Shenk, Emily Silverman, Tess Taylor, Dorothy Wickenden, and Amy Wilentz.
- Fiction Writers Sara Allen, Latifa Ayad, Mia Bailey, Maud Casey, Lan Samantha Chang, Deirdre Coyle, Simon Han, Annie Hartnett, Naomi Jackson, Roger King, Sarah Ladipo Manyika, Andrew Martin, Carole Maso, Tanwi Nandini Islam, Shira Nayman, Keija Parssinen, Sue Rainsford, Clarisse Baleja Saidi, and Tatsiana Zamirouskaya.
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 Jan. 15, 2019 for the summer 2019 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 have to date earned Fellows 85 Pulitzer prizes as well as many other accolades.
Contemporary for 111 years:
Composer Edward MacDowell and pianist Marian MacDowell, his wife, founded The MacDowell Colony in 1907 to nurture the arts by offering creative individuals of the highest talent an inspiring environment in which to produce enduring works of the imagination. In 1997, MacDowell was honored with the National Medal of the Arts. Each year, MacDowell welcomes more than 300 architects, composers, filmmakers, interdisciplinary artists, theatre artists, visual artists, and writers from across the United States and around the globe. More than 14,500 residencies have been awarded in the last 111 years. Recipients have included Ayad Akhtar, James Baldwin, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Ellen Driscoll, Louise Erdrich, Osvaldo Golijov, Cathy Park Hong, Dee Rees, Colson Whitehead, and Julia Wolfe. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon is the chairman of MacDowell’s board of directors.
For more info: Jonathan Gourlay, communications, jgourlay@macdowellcolony.org, 603-924-3886, ext.114
Original names listed based on accepted dates as of 8/20/18. Updated 1/10/19.
