For Creative Girls

These are MacArthur Foundation’s 12 Female ‘Genius’ Grant Winners for 2016

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation supports creative people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. MacArthur is placing a few big bets that truly significant progress is possible on some of the world’s most pressing social challenges, including over-incarceration, global climate change, nuclear risk, and significantly increasing financial capital for the social sector.

The MacArthur fellowships, awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for exceptional “originality, insight and potential,” come with a no-strings-attached award of $625,000, distributed over five years.

These are the 2016 female fellows:

Anne Basting, 51
Theater Artist and Educator
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Milwaukee

 

 

Kellie Jones, 57
Art Historian and Curator
Columbia University
New York

 

 

Maggie Nelson, 43
Writer
California Institute of the Arts
Valencia, Calif.

 

 

Dianne Newman, 44


Microbiologist
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, Calif.

 

 

Victoria Orphan, 44
Geobiologist
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, Cal.

 

 

Claudia Rankine, 53


Poet
Yale University
New Haven

 

 

Lauren Redniss, 42
Artist and Writer
Parsons, the New School for Design
New York

 

 

Mary Reid Kelley, 37


Video Artist
Olivebridge, N.Y.

 

 

 

Rebecca Richards-Kortum, 52
Bioengineer
Rice University
Houston

 

 

Joyce J. Scott, 67


Jewelry Maker and Sculptor
Baltimore

 

 

 

Sarah Stillman, 32
Long-form Journalist
The New Yorker
New York

 

 

Julia Wolfe, 57


Composer
New York University
New York

 

 

 

MacArthur is one of the America’s largest independent foundations. Organizations supported by the Foundation work in about 50 countries. In addition to Chicago, MacArthur has offices in India, Mexico, and Nigeria.

Credit: All images via John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.