MacDowell Awards 137 Spring Summer 2026 Fellowships to Artists Working Across Disciplines

MacDowell, the nation’s first artist residency program, has awarded 137 Fellowships to visionary artists working across seven disciplines for its Spring Summer 2026 season. These distinguished artists will arrive at MacDowell’s historic campus in Peterborough, New Hampshire between March and August of 2026, each with an average stay of four weeks. Selected from a highly competitive pool of 2,618 applicants, with an acceptance rate of 5 percent, Fellows are accepted solely based on the artistic excellence of their work, as evaluated by independent panels of discipline-specific experts.

The incoming group of MacDowell Fellows includes film/video artists Mahdi Fleifel, Daria Kashcheeva, and *Courtney Stephens; theatre artists Dahlak Brathwaite, *Darrel Alejandro Holnes, *Julia Jordan, and Loyiso Madinga; composers *Huang Ruo *Edward Simon, Yuhan Su, and Bora Yoon; writers Sarah Aziza, *Marie-Helene Bertino, Jonathan Escoffery, *Sheri Fink, *Mary Gaitskill, *Peter Gizzi, Alexandra Horowitz, *Lewis Hyde, *Jared Jackson, Carmen Maria Machado, Maggie Nelson, and Brando Skyhorse; visual artists Kelani Abass, Lola Flash, *Mary Lum, Wallen Mapondera, *Julie Tolentino, Edin Vélez, and Philemona Williamson; and interdisciplinary artists *Haleh Liza Gafori, *Dan Hurlin, Amyra León, and Anna Ting Möller.

MacDowell’s Executive Director Chiwoniso Kaitano shares, “I am once again in awe of the remarkable talent arriving on our grounds this spring and summer. Representing seven disciplines and an extraordinary breadth of ideas, these artists—at every stage of their careers—are true groundbreakers. It is a deep honor for MacDowell to play even a small role in the impact our Fellows have on art and culture. Join us in welcoming this season’s Fellows and follow along as we share their work.”

Twice each year, MacDowell convenes esteemed panels of professionals— recognized leaders in their respective fields— who assess applications anonymously. Selection is based on the merit of submitted work samples and project proposals, allowing the creative voice and vision of applicants to speak for themselves.

“MacDowell is a safe haven for artists from around the world,” says Courtney Bethel, MacDowell’s Admissions Director. “I’m thrilled that we received applications from artists in all 50 U.S. states along with Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, and 71 countries. In the current political climate, it’s especially meaningful to create opportunities for artists to build connections and foster community at both the national and global levels.” Accepted artists represent 27 states as well as 16 countries and five continents.

During their time at MacDowell, Fellows are granted the gift of uninterrupted focus, supported by a private studio, comfortable accommodations, and three thoughtfully prepared meals each day. MacDowell is once again offering stays of up to eight weeks, which have not been offered since 2020 when COVID caused a need for shorter residencies. The next application deadline, for Spring Summer 2027 season, is September 10, 2026.

Artists awarded Spring Summer 2026 MacDowell Fellowships include:

Architecture: Aleksandr Bierig, *Aaron Jones, Ang Li, Mohamad Nahleh, and Kathleen Powers Conti.

Music Composition: Caio Barbosa Cunha de Azevedo, Alessandro Baticci, *Christian-Frédéric Bloquert, Stephanie Griffin, *Huang Ruo, *Vera Ivanova, Liann Kang, Uri Kochavi, Charles Peck, *Edward Simon, Yuhan Su, Berk Yağlı, and Bora Yoon.

Film/Video: Nicole Antebi, Coleen Baik, Gabrielle Brady, Ezra Edelman, Mahdi Fleifel, Fernando Guzzoni, *Christopher J. Harris, *Corey Hughes, *Bara Jichova Tyson, Daria Kashcheeva, Crystal Kayiza, Ique Langa, Lindsay Aksarniq McIntyre, Alina Orlov, *Courtney Stephens, Daniel Sterlin-Altman, Armand Yervant Tufenkian, *Daisy Ziyan Zhang, and Hao Zhou.

Interdisciplinary Arts: Annie Chen, Vinicius Couto, *Haleh Liza Gafori, Brian House, *Dan Hurlin, Ambrose Idemudia, Zoe Lee, Amyra León, Kaleena Miller, Anna Ting Möller, Annie Saunders, Odette Stout, and Shayna Strype.

Theatre: Thijs Beuming, Dahlak Brathwaite, Vichet Chum, Claire Gardner, *Darrel Alejandro Holnes, C. Julian Jiménez, *Julia Jordan, Zoë Kim, Irina Kruzhilina, LOUR, Loyiso Madinga, Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj, Lee Osorio, Christina Pumariega, Dara Silverman, and reid tang.

Visual Arts: Kelani Abass, *Karina Aguilera Skvirsky, Gouled Ahmed, Sarah Cooper, Jeremy Dennis, Kim Dickey, Lola Flash, Nina Gorfer, Cameron Harvey, Tia Keobounpheng, jesse lovell, *Mary Lum, Judy Mannarino, Wallen Mapondera, Susan Meyer, Virginia L. Montgomery, *Julie Tolentino, Kevin Umaña, Edin Vélez, Julia Weist, and Philemona Williamson.

Literature: Sarah Aziza, Elijah Bailey, *Marie-Helene Bertino, Solomon Brager, Caroline Cash, Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, Rachel Cockerell, *Amy Dryansky, Najlaa Eltom, Jonathan Escoffery, *Sheri Fink, Carl Erik Fisher, *Cal Flyn, *Richard Foerster, Michelle Frank, *Mary Gaitskill, *Peter Gizzi, Lisa Gornick, Chelsea Hogue, *Chloe Honum, Alexandra Horowitz, *Lewis Hyde, Mayada Ibrahim, *Jared Jackson, Garrett Kim, Louisa Lim, Robert Wood Lynn, Carmen Maria Machado, Wendy MacNaughton, Nathan McClain, *Kate McQuade, Michael Montlack, *Mihaela Moscaliu, Anesu Mukombiwa, Maggie Nelson, Michael O'Ryan, Alyssa Oursler, Weijia Pan, Laura Preston, Nicholas Russell, Rion Amilcar Scott, Brando Skyhorse, Preti Taneja, Myle Yan Tay, Marc Tracy, Claire Wahmanholm, Xiaowei R. Wang, Malerie Willens, Hua Xi, and Melissa Yancy.

For over a century, MacDowell has remained a sanctuary for artistic exploration and achievement. Its alumni have shaped culture on a national and global scale, earning countless honors in the arts. To open the residency to the broadest possible community of artists, MacDowell offers travel assistance and need-based stipends to ensure that all accepted artists may pursue their work in an environment of peace, purpose, and creative freedom.

*Indicates a returning MacDowell Fellow
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Made at MacDowell for 119 Years | Founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and pianist Marian MacDowell, MacDowell is the nation’s first artist residency program. It was established to nurture the arts by providing exceptional creative individuals with an inspiring environment to produce enduring works of the imagination. Honored with the National Medal of Arts in 1997, MacDowell hosts 300 artists annually—including architects, composers, filmmakers, interdisciplinary artists, theatre artists, visual artists, and writers—from across the U.S. and around the world. Over the past 119 years, more than 16,500 residencies have been awarded to distinguished artists such as James Baldwin, Charlie Kaufman, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Louise Erdrich, Suzan-Lori Parks, Ayad Akhtar, Laura Poitras, Faith Ringgold, Meredith Monk, Osvaldo Golijov, Sam Grabiner, Ersela Kripa, Alyson Shotz, Maya Ciarrocchi, and jaamil olawale kosoko.

For more information, contact Jericho Parms, Chief Advancement Officer, jparms@macdowell.org, (212) 535-9690