United States Artists Names 2026 Fellows

Chicago-based nonprofit Artists for America has selected 50 artists to receive the annual USA Fellowship and Beresford Prize, both of which will receive $50,000 in unrestricted funding.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the American Society of Artists, which was founded in 2006 and is one of the few American organizations to provide direct support to artists.

“For two decades, American Artists has advanced a simple but powerful belief—that artists are essential to the imagination and health of our society,” Judile Reed, the nonprofit’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “We provide unrestricted support through programs like America’s Fellowships to enable artists across disciplines and geographies to make ends meet, take creative risks, and determine their own paths forward.”

USA scholarships are awarded in nine disciplines: Architecture and Design, Crafts, Dance, Media, Music, Theater and Performance, Traditional Arts, Visual Arts, and Writing. The 2026 entrants include several critically acclaimed artists, including Mendi + Keith Obadike and Nancy Baker Cahill, who won in media; visual arts fellows including Edra Soto, Eric-Paul Riege, Macon Reed, and Maia Chao, who will participate in this year’s Whitney Biennial; and in writing, Johanna Hedva, known for her collection of essays How to tell when we’re going to die: On pain, disability and doom.

“As a non-commercial artist, maintaining financial stability is an ongoing challenge,” Soto told art news in an email. “Grants and commissions are my main source of income, which can be challenging when I take creative risks. Grants are not only central to my livelihood, but they are also vital to my mental and emotional well-being. My grants are directly tied to my art-making and the investments I make to produce my work.”

Soto, who has an exhibition later this month at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri, said she plans to use the grant to realize future projects that have become more ambitious and costly as her career has progressed. Those costs include “research and materials, studio rent, studio assistance, art storage rent, travel expenses, taking chances, living, and doing my best to support others, especially artists like myself as a member of society’s collective consciousness, in any way we can during this sad, dishonorable moment in American history.”

in an email art news“We are deeply honored to be recognized for our work and deeply grateful for this support,” said the Obadkes. “What is needed now is a broad effort to cultivate American culture and imagination, and supporting artists is an important part of that effort. We sincerely thank our nominees and American Artists for their continued commitment to this effort.”

The 2026 Beresford Award recipient is Lori Lea Pourier (Oglala Lakota), who has been an advocate for Native artists and the artist community for nearly three decades. Her career includes roles with the Institute for Aboriginal Development and the International Aboriginal Women’s Network, as well as establishing the Aboriginal Fund.

The Beresford Award is named for Susan Beresford, former president of the Ford Foundation. Prior said in a statement that she met Beresford early in her career while working at Ford. “As a young Indigenous woman entering the Foundation’s offices for the first time, I could not have imagined the path ahead.” Poirier added that past recipients of Native Foundation grants have been supported by American artists, “a lasting reflection of the vision and investment that began in those early years.”

The complete list of 2026 U.S. Fellows is below.