Congratulations to NYFA Fellow Branden Jacobs-Jenkins on winning a 2016 MacArthur Fellowship
“Jacobs-Jenkins’s subversive, fearless, and risky approach is challenging audiences to reconsider the integrated spaces we share and to reflect on opportunities for sympathetic connection.” – The MacArthur Foundation
NYFA is delighted to congratulate Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Fellow in Playwriting/Screenwriting ‘10) on being awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced the latest class of the MacArthur Fellows Program today. The program awards unrestricted fellowships to talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction.
Often referred to as the MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grant, the fellowship awards a grant of $625,000, dispersed over five years, to selected writers, scientists, artists, social scientists, teachers, entrepreneurs, and others. Jacobs-Jenkins, at 31, is the youngest of 23 Fellows selected for 2016. His plays include Appropriate (2012), An Octoroon (2014), and Gloria (2015), which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
In Jacobs-Jenkins’s own words: “All I want is for people to leave with something to mull over, and leave with the bravery to try to connect, try to understand, to see each other in each other.”
NYFA’s Artists’ Fellowship Program awards $7,000 cash grants to artists living in New York State. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the program, and NYFA is celebrating with events and online content. Be sure to follow NYFA on Twitter and Facebook for the latest updates.
Image: Courtesy of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
