Notable Names from the History of the Artist Fellowship Program

Since being founded in 1974 by the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities (the predecessor to the Massachusetts Cultural Council), the Artist Fellowships Program has recognized and fostered the vital creative work of hundreds of exceptional individual artists.

Over the years, many artists of national and international prominence – particularly in literature - have received support from the Artist Fellowships, including:

• Steve Almond (2008), author of Candyfreak
• Karen Aqua (2011), animator and filmmaker
• Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor (2011), filmmakers, Sweetgrass
• Frank Bidart (1981), poet, winner of the Wallace Stevens Award
• Rita Mae Brown (1977), author of Rubyfruit Jungle
• Andrew Bujalski (2003), filmmaker, Beeswax
• Alexander Chee (2010), author of Edinburgh
• Migdalia Cruz (2005), playwright, El Grito Del Bronx
• Mark Doty (1994), poet, winner of the National Book Award
• Andre Dubus (1976), author of In the Bedroom
• Janet Echelman (2009), nationally renowned public artist
• Robert Ferrandini (1996), painter
• Donal Fox (1989), composer and jazz musician
• Jonathan Franzen (1986), author of The Corrections
• Elizabeth Graver (2006), author of Awake
• Gish Jen (1987), author of Typical American
• Denis Johnson (1983), winner of the National Book Award
• Mary Karr (1987), author of The Liars' Club
• Shirish Korde (2011), composer
• Melinda Lopez (2005), playwright, Sonia Flew
• Rania Matar (2011), photographer
• Ross McElwee (2005), filmmaker, Bright Leaves
• Sue Miller (1984), author of While I Was Gone
• Tim O'Brien (1976), author of The Things They Carried and Going After Cacciato
• Robert ParkeHarrison (2001), photographer
• Tom Perrotta (1998), author of Election and Little Children
• Carl Phillips (1990), winner of the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award
• Robert Pinsky (1977), former U.S. Poet Laureate
• Salvatore Scibona (2006), author of The End, one of The New Yorker’s 20 Under 40
• Jim Shepard (2002), writer, winner of the Story Prize
• Jimmy Slyde (2006), American jazz tap artist
• Rachel Perry Welty (2009), conceptual artist
• Kevin Young (2010), poet, For the Confederate Dead
• Evan Ziporyn (2011), composer

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