MacArthur Foundation Awards 2026 Fellowships to Four Visual Artists
On September 29, the MacArthur Foundation revealed the 20 winners of the 2026 MacArthur Fellowship, including Christine Sun Kim, Rodney McMillian, Vincent Valdez, and Chip Thomas. Each recipient will receive $800,000 in unrestricted funding over a five-year period. This award highlights outstanding creativity and potential for future contributions. Since its inception in 1981, a total of 1,195 fellowships have been awarded across diverse disciplines. Kim, who is Deaf, investigates the political aspects of communication; McMillian addresses issues of racial and socioeconomic inequality; Valdez combines Chicano art with narrative painting; and Thomas, a retired doctor, has created murals with the Diné People. Other notable recipients are Layli Long Soldier, Bryan Washington, Trajal Harrell, and Immanuel Wilkins.
Key facts
- The MacArthur Foundation announced its 2026 fellows on September 29.
- Four visual artists received fellowships: Christine Sun Kim, Rodney McMillian, Vincent Valdez, and Chip Thomas.
- Each of the 20 fellows receives $800,000, disbursed quarterly over five years.
- Fellows are nominated by external parties and selected by an independent committee.
- The foundation has awarded 1,195 fellowships since 1981.
- Christine Sun Kim is Berlin-based and Deaf, working across billboards, murals, performances, and multimedia.
- Rodney McMillian's 2026 exhibition A Son of the Soil was held at the Columbia Museum of Art in his hometown of Columbia, South Carolina.
- Chip Thomas retired in 2023 from his career as a primary care physician for the Navajo Nation and founded the Painted Desert Project (2012–22).
Entities
Artists
- Christine Sun Kim
- Rodney McMillian
- Vincent Valdez
- Chip Thomas
- Layli Long Soldier
- Bryan Washington
- Trajal Harrell
- Immanuel Wilkins
- Holly Jean Buck
- Felipe De Brigard
- Ellora Derenoncourt
- Elizabeth Ellis
- Kaiyu Guan
- Marika Holland
- Song Lin
- Maaza Mengiste
- Ariel Ron
- Kate Spradley
- Vincenzo Vitelli
- Liangfang Zhang
- Jeff McLane
- Ry Cooder
Institutions
- John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
- Columbia Museum of Art
- Vielmetter Los Angeles
- Painted Desert Project
- Navajo Nation
- Hyperallergic
- NPR
- University of Buffalo
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- National Center for Atmospheric Research
- Princeton University
- Southern Methodist University
- Wesleyan University
- University of California, Los Angeles
- Texas State University
- University of California, San Diego
- Stanford University
- University of Chicago
- Duke University
- Operation Identification
Locations
- Berlin
- Germany
- Los Angeles
- United States
- Columbia
- South Carolina
- Houston
- Navajo Nation
- San Antonio
- Flagstaff
- Arizona
- Texas
- California
- Santa Fe
- New Mexico
- Zürich
- Switzerland
- New York
- Tokyo
- Japan
- Boulder
- Colorado
- Colombia
- Ethiopia
- Lower Mississippi Valley
- Gulf South
- Mexico
Sources
- Artsy —
- ArtsJournal —
- Hyperallergic —