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 visual artists Christine Sun Kim, Rodney McMillian, Vincent Valdez and Chip Thomas among its 20 2026 fellows on September 29. Each recipient will receive an unrestricted $800,000 award in quarterly installments over five years.
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation named visual artists Christine Sun Kim, Rodney McMillian, Vincent Valdez and Chip Thomas among 20 recipients of its 2026 MacArthur Fellowships on September 29. Each fellow will receive an unrestricted $800,000 award, paid in quarterly installments over five years, supporting work across the arts and other fields.
The foundation says the fellowship recognizes people who show exceptional creativity and the prospect of further achievement. Fellows are nominated by external parties and selected by an independent committee. The award has no specific project requirement, according to the foundation’s description of it as a no-strings-attached fellowship.
The four artists work across distinct practices. Berlin-based Christine Sun Kim, a Deaf sound artist, examines the politics of communication through multimedia work, including performances, murals and billboards. Los Angeles-based Rodney McMillian uses materials such as quilts and household objects in work addressing the American South, racial injustice and socioeconomic inequality.
Houston-based Vincent Valdez combines Chicano art traditions with narrative painting, often on a large scale. Chip Thomas, who retired in 2023 from his work as a primary care physician for the Navajo Nation, has collaborated with Diné people on murals and photography integrated into structures on Navajo Nation land.
Funding Four Distinct Art Practices
The fellowship provides each recipient with $800,000 over five years without restricting the funds to a named project. For the four artists, the award offers substantial support while recognizing practices that engage with communication, identity, inequality and community collaboration. The foundation does not specify how recipients must use the money.
The selection also places visual artists alongside fellows working in literature, performance, music, research and other fields. The 2026 class includes poet Layli Long Soldier, fiction writer Bryan Washington, choreographer Trajal Harrell and saxophonist and composer Immanuel Wilkins, among others.
How the Fellowship Is Selected
The MacArthur Fellowship program began in 1981. The foundation says it has awarded 1,195 fellowships since then, across disciplines that include art history, visual culture, writing, health policy, anthropological research, musical performance and entrepreneurship. The annual class brings together recipients from several areas of work rather than representing a single field.
In the artists’ work, the subjects identified in the announcement take different forms. Kim has translated work between American Sign Language and American English, including in her 2020 video “Palm Reader.” McMillian’s 2026 exhibition “A Son of the Soil” returned to his hometown of Columbia, South Carolina. Valdez’s large-scale paintings address stereotypes and inequity, while Thomas’s Painted Desert Project connected public artists with local communities through mural work from 2012 to 2022.
““who show exceptional creativity in their work and the prospect for still more in the future.””
— John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Award Use and Future Work
The announcement does not say how each fellow plans to use the funds or identify work that recipients will undertake as a condition of receiving them. The award is described as unrestricted, and no project commitments are specified in the report. The foundation’s announcement also does not provide individual comments from the four artists about the award.
Five Years of Installments
Each of the 20 fellows will receive quarterly payments across a five-year period. The foundation has published the full 2026 class, but the source report gives no further schedule for payments or planned public events connected to the announcement.
Key Questions
Who are the four visual artists named as 2026 MacArthur Fellows?
They are Christine Sun Kim, Rodney McMillian, Vincent Valdez and Chip Thomas.
How much does each MacArthur Fellow receive?
Each of the 20 recipients receives $800,000, paid in quarterly installments over five years.
How are MacArthur Fellows selected?
According to the foundation, fellows are nominated by external parties and chosen by an independent committee.
Is the fellowship tied to a specific project?
The foundation describes it as an unrestricted, no-strings-attached award. The announcement names no required project or use for the funds.
Source: rss
Fall Picks
fall essentials
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
