2026 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Program Recipients and Finalists Announced
$903,000 Awarded to 132 New York State Artists Working in Craft/Sculpture, Digital/Electronic Arts, Nonfiction Literature, Poetry, and Printmaking/Drawing/Book Arts
New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) has announced the recipients and finalists of the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship program, which it has administered for the past 41 years with leadership support from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). NYFA has awarded a total of $903,000 to 132 artists (including 6 collaborations) throughout New York State, whose ages range from 25-90 years, in the following disciplines: Craft/Sculpture, Digital/Electronic Arts, Nonfiction Literature, Poetry, and Printmaking/Drawing/Book Arts.
A complete list of the 116 Fellows and 16 Finalists follows.
The NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Program makes unrestricted cash grants of $8,000 to artists working in 15 disciplines, recognizing five disciplines per year on a triennial basis. Finalists were also recognized with unrestricted cash grants of $1,000. The program is highly competitive, and this year’s recipients and finalists were selected from 3,985 applicants in discipline-specific peer-review panels. Since it was launched in 1985, the program has awarded over $37.4 million to 5,726 artists.
Each year, the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship provides a lens for contemporary artistic expression. The themes, ideas, and materials used by the 2026 Fellows and Finalists are grounded in lived experience, personal perspectives, and cultural specificity–from identity and community to immigration and the diaspora; artificial intelligence; and a broad range of social, political, and economic issues. Panelists noted the increasingly blurred boundaries between traditional discipline categories and responded to work that demonstrated a clear artistic voice and conceptual rigor. Details follow on observations gained from each discipline area.
- Craft/Sculpture Fellows demonstrated a deep engagement with materiality and process—working with ceramics, textiles, found objects, metal, wood, and mixed media in often experimental and transformative ways to support conceptual ideas and personal narratives. Several Fellows are exploring the social and political dimensions of space, including how environments can shape inclusion, exclusion, access, and communal experience.
- Digital/Electronic Arts Fellows are utilizing interactive systems, immersive environments, and hybrid analog-digital processes—among other technologically innovative applications—to explore themes including identity, artificial intelligence, surveillance, migration, and ecology. Strong applications demonstrated that technology was central to the meaning and structure of the work rather than purely functional or stylistic.
- Nonfiction Literature Fellows are exploring narratives about New York State and New York City; politics and social issues; and identity, family, and cultural reconnection. Much of their work examined larger issues including gentrification, diasporic experiences, race and identity, cultural inheritance, and economic inequality; some intertwined personal narratives with these broader issues while others raised questions around the ethics of nonfiction writing.
- Poetry Fellows are exploring themes of identity, migration, race, queerness, grief, intimacy, and politics. Many are challenging conventional poetic structures through fragmentation, hybrid text forms, visual poetry, multilingual approaches, performance, or interdisciplinary elements. Panelists consistently returned to work that demonstrated a strong poetic voice and emotional immediacy.
- Printmaking/Drawing/Book Arts Fellows are exploring themes of queer identity/interiority, climate, cultural memory, alternative futures, grief, and ritual, among others, in their work. Several artists’ work is engaged in funeral and burial practices, including recurring references to Korean burial traditions. Strong applications illustrated artists who are expanding traditional understandings of printmaking and drawing through interdisciplinary approaches like sculptural printmaking, unconventional materials including the use of cyanotypes, and experimental formats like tarot cards.
The Fellows, Finalists, and Panelists represent the diversity of New York State. Of the Fellows and Finalists who specified their Race/Ethnicity, 73.91% identify as a Person of Color. More than one-third of Fellows and Finalists, or 35.7%, were born outside the United States and U.S. Territories. Of the Panelists who specified their Race/Ethnicity, 70.6% identify as a Person of Color. More than half of panelists live outside of New York City.
“This program is unique not only for how longstanding it is—now more than 40 years and a testament to NYSCA’s generosity—but for the type of unrestricted support and professional validation it offers to artists of all disciplines. We’re grateful to be able to administer this program in partnership with NYSCA and to recognize the promise and innovation of so many artists across New York State,” said Michael Royce, CEO, New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA).
“When NYSCA’s partnership with NYFA started over 40 years ago, no one could have predicted that it would recognize almost 6,000 artists,” said Erika Mallin, Executive Director of the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). “This year’s grantees are receiving more than funding; they are joining a legacy of New York artists who have shaped our world and inspired our future. Congratulations to each of our 2026 grantees, we look forward to following your accomplishments.”
In addition to no-strings-attached financial support, the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship provides encouragement for artists at all career stages and creative disciplines to continue making work.
Yesenia Montilla, a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Poetry living in New York, NY, spoke about the award’s personal significance: “The dream of the first-born child of immigrants is always to succeed (in whatever way that means for the family). The dream of all of us humans is to create, to make, to sew, to weave, to write, to paint—this is our way of engaging with the world. Receiving this grant is more than the money; although money is really important for an artist & can help in easing the burden of what the cost of living has become in this country. But no, this grant also means that the work I am creating & have created is worthwhile, it allows me to go back to my family & say: look, I am writing poems, and I am happy and also, you might say I am successful at it.”
Said Sean Sam, a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Nonfiction Literature living in Ithaca, NY: “This fellowship allows me to temporarily step away from outside work and turn my focus fully to writing. Right now, that means I can commit myself to research around a current project, one that examines repatriation and Native American history. To have my work supported by NYSCA and NYFA shows their willingness to make room for voices that rarely meet the mainstream. It is a great honor.”
For Brooklyn, NY-based artist Tatiana Arocha, receiving a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Printmaking/Drawing/Book Arts affirms her interdisciplinary approach: “When I started my practice as an artist, there was still resistance to digital artwork and digital prints. This award acknowledges the craft of digital work alongside traditional printmaking techniques; I’m honored to receive it. Receiving this fellowship from NYFA and NYSCA is a meaningful affirmation of that interdisciplinary approach, and it gives me renewed support and confidence to keep pushing the boundaries of what can be done through printmaking.
NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowships are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Additional funding is provided by Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation (one visual arts fellow), Joy of Giving Something, the Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation, Lawrence Foundation (one literary arts fellow), L91 Art Foundation (one visual arts fellow), and individual donors.
Fellowship Recipients and Finalists by Discipline and County of Residence:
Craft/Sculpture
Paria Ahmadi (New York)
Patricia Encarnacion (Bronx)
julien feller (Essex)
Aaron Feltman (Ulster)
Sasha Fishman (Kings)
Danielle Gadus (Kings)
Covey Gong (New York)
Jesús Hilario-Reyes (Kings)
Alex Ito (Queens)
Paloma Izquierdo (Kings)
Emily Janowick (Queens)
Melissa Joseph (Kings)
Tamiko Kawata (New York)*****
Catherine Telford Keogh (New York)
Ellie Krakow (New York)
Megan Mi-Ai Lee (New York)
Chico MacMurtrie (Kings)
Jeffrey Meris (New York)
Kristyna and Marek Milde (Kings)*
Anna Ting Möller (Kings)
Brian Oakes (Kings)
Saman & Sasan Oskouei (Queens)*
Chelsey Pettyjohn (Kings)
Vartan Poghosian (Oneida)
Lina Puerta (New York)
lucía reissig (Kings)
Alvaro Villa (Westchester)
Patrice Renee Washington (Orange)
Anne Wu (Queens)
JAYOUNG YOON (Dutchess)
Finalists
Rachel Dana (Kings)
courtney puckett (Dutchess)
Sabri Sundos (Kings)
Panelists
Andrea Alvarez, Curator at Buffalo AKG Art Museum (Erie)
Felipe Baeza, artist (Kings)
Edward Kwaku Boateng, Art Director & Studio Manager at Wellsville Creative Arts Center (Allegany)
Nneka Kai, artist (Chenango)
Amanda M. Johnson, Deputy Director at Chashama (Bronx)
Alison McNulty, Gallery Director at Ann Street Gallery and Interdisciplinary Artist (Orange)
Portia Munson, artist (Greene)
Stephanie H. Shih, artist (Kings)
Jovanna Venegas, Curator at SculptureCenter (Queens)
Digital/Electronic Arts
Zain Alam (Kings)
Kabir Carter (Kings)
Leo Chang (Queens)
Simon Deschamps (Ulster)
alexa dexa (Suffolk)
Maria F. Izaguirre (Queens)
Umber Majeed (Kings)
MAYSUN (Kings)
Emmett Palaima (Kings)
Lisa Ann Schonberg (Kings)
rebecca shapass (Kings)
Samantha Simmons (Queens)
Yeseul Song (New York)
Hans Tammen (Kings)
Hakan Topal (Kings)
Frank WANG Yefeng (New York)
elekhlekha อีเหละเขละขละ (Kings)*
Finalists
ashley middleton (Ulster)
Stephanie Rothenberg (Erie)
Elia Vargas (Erie)
Panelists
Bianca Felix Biberaj, Co-Director of Wave Farm (Greene)
Maja Čule, artist (Kings)
Melika Dave, artist (New York)
Sofia Theodore-Pierce, Filmmaker (Tompkins)
Nonfiction Literature
Eric Tyler Benick (Kings)
May Jeong (Kings)
Theresa Lin (New York)
Benjamin Lorr (Kings)
Vanessa Martir (Orange)
Leila Christine Nadir (Monroe)****
Rashida Nakia (Kings)
Anastasia Nikolis (Monroe)
Beth Raymer (New York)
Sean Sam (Tompkins)
Hind Shoufani (Kings)
Hyeseung Song (Kings)
Angelique Stevens (Monroe)
Karen D. Taylor (New York)
May Teng (Kings)
Ly Tran (Queens)
Mai Tran (Queens)
Ricky Tucker (New York)
Nat Wisehart (Broome)
Rong Xiaoqing (Queens)
Finalists
Cam Moreno (Ulster)
Zohra Saed (Kings)
Chloe Sorvino (New York)
Panelists
Chloé Caldwell, writer and author (Columbia)
Emma Dries, Literary Agent at Triangle House (Dutchess)
Edgar Gomez, author (Queens)
Shahnaz Habib, writer (Kings)
Sarah Wang, writer (Bronx)
Poetry
Kimberly Alidio (Greene)
Stine An (New York)
Terrence Arjoon (Kings)
Anselm Berrigan (Queens)
Anna Boughtwood (Albany)
Sasha Burshteyn (Kings)
DeeSoul Carson (Kings)
River 瑩瑩 Dandelion (Richmond)
Claire DeVoogd (Kings)
t’ai freedom ford (Kings)***
Karl Michael Iglesias (Kings)
Omotara James (Kings)
Brionne Janae (Kings)***
Christine Kitano (Suffolk)
Sade Lanay (New York)
Tan A Lin (New York)
Yesenia Montilla (New York)
Angel Nafis (Kings)
Noelle de la Paz (Kings)
Peggy Robles-Alvarado (Bronx)
Chae Sung (New York)
Finalists
Lara Atallah (Kings)
Jan-Henry Gray (Kings)
Danielle Pafunda (Monroe)
Panelists
S. Erin Batiste, interdisciplinary poet (Kings)
Kay Gabriel, writer (Kings)
Chen Chen, poetry faculty at New England College (Monroe)
Robert Fitterman, poet (New York)
Jillian Hanesworth, Founding Poet Laureate Emerita of Buffalo, NY (Erie)
Printmaking/Drawing/Book Arts
¡AGITPOP! Press (Johannah Herr & Cara Marsh Sheffler) (Kings)*
Tatiana Arocha (Kings)
Andrew Brischler (Kings)
Melissa Dadourian (Ulster)
Marisol Diaz-Gordon (Bronx)
Andy Van Dinh (New York)
Oasa DuVerney (Kings)
Amaryllis R Flowers (Greene)
Linda M. Ganjian (Queens)
Luis A. Gutierrez (Queens)
Edgar Jerins (New York)
Leekyung Kang (Kings)**
Kyung-Me (Queens)
Kakyoung Lee (Kings)
Priyanka Dasgupta & Chad Marshall (New York)*
Anette Millington (Dutchess)
Kenneth Millington (Dutchess)
Azita Moradkhani (Queens)
Diana Schmertz (New York)
Jacquelyn Strycker (Kings)
Pedro Troncoso (Bronx)
Trevor Wilson (Delaware)
Chang Yuchen (Queens)
Finalists
Kelli Anderson (Kings)
Zorawar Sidhu and Rob Swainston (New York)*
Carol Wax (Westchester)
Panelists
Osi Audu, artist (Ulster)
Elizabeth Castaldo, artist (Westchester)
M. Florine Démosthène, artist (Rockland)
Valeria Rachel Herrera, Artist; Assistant Professor and Head of Print Media, Ithaca College (Onondaga)
Isabella Kapur, Assistant Curator of Research (Kings)
Sadaf Padder, independent curator (Kings)
Karen J. Revis, artist (New York)
María Verónica San Martín, Assistant Professor, Department of Art, Smith College; Board Member, Booklyn Art (Kings)
Rosemary Williams, Education Director at WNY Book Arts Center (Erie)
*Collaborative Artists
**Deutsche Bank Americas Fellow
***Shelly Pinz Fellow
****Leonard and Rita Bernstein Writing Fellow
*****L91 Art Foundation Fellow
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