The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced its 2026 cohort of fellows on Tuesday, naming 20 scholars, artists and scientists as recipients of its renowned "genius grants." Each winner will receive an $800,000 award distributed over five years, with no restrictions on how the money may be used.
Now in its fourth decade, the fellowship program is designed to provide recipients with the financial freedom and creative latitude to pursue their work without the pressure of conventional fundraising. The foundation selects fellows through a confidential network of anonymous nominators and evaluators, a process meant to shield candidates from the distractions of an open application process.
This year's class spans an unusually broad set of disciplines, from organic chemistry and labor economics to forensic anthropology, public art and contemporary fiction. Yet the foundation's announcement highlighted recurring threads of human connection and healing that run through the work of several honorees — interests that surface in strikingly different forms depending on the discipline.
Among the most prominent themes is climate change. Holly Jean Buck, a sociologist at the University of Buffalo, examines the ethical and political dimensions of climate policy. Her 2019 book "After Geoengineering" argues that systems designed to remove carbon from the atmosphere should be built to serve local communities and the broader public interest, rather than being structured around corporate profit. The fellowship arrives as debates intensify over how — and for whose benefit — emerging climate technologies should be deployed.
The list also includes voices exploring the intersection of science and justice. Kate Spradley, a forensic anthropologist, works to repatriate the remains of migrants who died along the Texas-Mexico border, an effort that combines rigorous scientific method with humanitarian purpose. Felipe De Brigard, a philosopher and cognitive scientist, was likewise cited for work that sits at the boundary between scientific inquiry and questions of human welfare.
Labor economist and economic historian Ellora Derenoncourt studies wage gaps between racial groups, research that speaks directly to persistent economic inequality in the United States. Her selection underscores the foundation's interest in scholars whose work informs public understanding of structural disparities.
The arts are well represented in the 2026 class. Saxophonist and composer Joshua Redman is among the honorees, recognized for live performances that incorporate a chef cooking meals onstage — an unusual blending of music and gastronomy that transforms the concert hall into a shared, multisensory gathering. Christine Sun Kim, a visual and sound artist, and public artist Chip Thomas also received fellowships, with Kim's practice exploring sound and communication through a distinctive conceptual lens.
In the realm of chemistry, Song Lin, an organic chemist, was named a fellow, joining a lineage of MacArthur recipients whose laboratory work has reshaped their fields. Novelist Bryan Washington, whose fiction often centers on intimacy, family and the search for belonging, rounds out a cohort that repeatedly returns to questions of how people connect and recover.
The foundation's announcement noted that visual and sound artist Christine Sun Kim, philosopher and cognitive scientist Felipe De Brigard and novelist Bryan Washington all explore human connection and healing, though from radically different creative standpoints. That convergence — shared preoccupations expressed through vastly different mediums — is a hallmark of the fellowship's approach to identifying creative potential across fields.
Since its inception, the MacArthur Fellows program has awarded more than $800 million to hundreds of recipients, a figure that reflects the foundation's long-standing commitment to what it calls "originality, dedication, and self-direction." Fellows are not required to report on how they spend their awards, and many describe the grant as a transformative validation of work that may not fit neatly into traditional funding categories.
The 2026 fellows join a distinguished list of past recipients that includes poets, physicists, historians, filmmakers and social entrepreneurs. For this year's class, the prize comes at a moment of heightened public attention to issues ranging from climate policy and racial economic equity to the treatment of migrants at the southern border — subjects that several of the new fellows have devoted their careers to illuminating.
Foundation officials said the selection process relied on the judgment of a confidential network of scouts rather than open applications, a method intended to surface candidates whose contributions may be less visible to mainstream institutions. The approach has drawn praise for its independence and occasional criticism for its secrecy, but it remains one of the most closely watched honors in American intellectual and cultural life.
For the newest recipients, the award brings both resources and recognition. The $800,000 stipend — commonly described as "no-strings-attached" — offers recipients the rare ability to take creative risks, pursue long-gestating projects, or simply continue their work without the constant demands of grant writing and fundraising.
The full 2026 class, as announced by the foundation, includes Holly Jean Buck, Kate Spradley, Felipe De Brigard, Ellora Derenoncourt, Song Lin, Christine Sun Kim, Chip Thomas, Joshua Redman and Bryan Washington, among others. A complete list of the 20 fellows was published alongside the foundation's announcement.
The MacArthur Foundation has not indicated when the next round of fellows will be named, but the annual announcement typically draws widespread attention to the work of scholars and artists whose contributions might otherwise remain outside the spotlight. For the 2026 cohort, the fellowship offers a platform as well as a payday — an opportunity to expand work that, in many cases, has been years in the making.
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