PETERBOROUGH, N.H.: An international group of 154 talented artists working in multiple disciplines have been awarded Fellowships at MacDowell, the nation’s preeminent artist residency program. Among them are 17 theatre artists, including playwrights Amy Berryman, Steph Del Rosso, Sam Grabiner, C.A. Johnson, Peter Kim George, Luz Lorenzana Twigg, Daaimah Mubashshir, Aya Ogawa, Kevin Renn, Christopher Shinn, and Ken Urban; actor-playwrights Carolina Đỗ, Jesse Jae Hoon, Diana Lobontiu, and Carmen Pelaez; actor-theatremaker Amara Janae Brady; and community organizer Anooj Bhandari.
The renowned Fellowships are distributed by seven discipline-specific admissions panels who choose artists in a blind process based solely on the content of their proposed projects and work samples. This latest group of individuals was chosen from MacDowell’s second largest applicant pool in its history, a total of 2,034, for an admissions rate of 7.6 percent. The Fellowship awardees range in age from 21 to 72 and will be traveling to Peterborough from 30 U.S. states, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Nigeria, Portugal, and Switzerland. More than half identify as women while close to 30 percent identify as men, with the remaining artists identifying as gender expansive. Some 70 percent will visit MacDowell for the first time and almost 60 percent of the incoming artists self-identify as artists of color.
“The incoming group showcases the wonderfully diverse and immensely creative artists that have been a feature of the MacDowell culture for several years now,” said executive director Chiwoniso Kaitano in a statement. “In continuing our legacy of awarding Fellowships to some of the world’s most innovative and original minds and art makers, we are welcoming a remarkable group of artists this autumn and winter and hope they find the quiet, inspiration, and community that has worked its magic for so many others in the past. This is a group we anticipate will be leaving their own indelible marks on world culture for years to come.”
Each year, MacDowell awards about 300 Fellowships, with a maximum expense-free stay of six weeks each. Fellows receive a studio, living quarters, and three nutritious meals a day in a supportive, multidisciplinary environment unique to MacDowell. Needs-based stipends are available to artists who would not otherwise be able to afford the time away from home or work that a Fellowship requires. The next application period opens on Jan. 1, 2024, with a deadline of Feb. 10 for residencies to be scheduled from September through March of 2025.
