Home > Lists > List of Kresge Fellows
Show chronological listing
Show alphabetical listing
Trumpeter Marcus Belgrave was selected Eminent Artist in 2009. The year prior, Charles McGee was chosen for the Eminent Artist award.
The Eminent Artist awards are different from the Fellowships in that they are not applied for. An Eminent Artist is ineligible for a Fellowship and for a repeat Eminent Artist award. However, a Fellow from one year is eligible for an Eminent Artist award in a later year.
A recipient of a fellowship is temporarily ineligible for a second fellowship. However, as of 2022, no Fellow has won a second award, and apparently it hasn't been for lack of trying.
In 2010, the Kresge Foundation selected Fellows in the Literary Arts and Performing Arts categories. These are not of interest to us here unless it turns out that one of them is a visual artist who just couldn't win in the Visual Arts category (seriously, are you gonna turn down the $25K just because it's awarded to you in the wrong category?), or maybe they get into the visual arts later on in their careers.
It seems that no Eminent Artist was selected in 2010.
The Eminent Artist of 2011 was Bill Harris, husband of textile artist Carole Harris, who later won a Fellowship in the Visual Arts.
In 2012, the Kresge Foundation selected Fellows in the Literary Arts and Performing Arts categories. I think that Chris Pottinger, who won in the Performing Arts category that year, had also dabbled in painting, but my memory could be getting mixed up. Poet Naomi Long Madgett was selected as the Eminent Artist.
There were also nine Fellows selected in the Literary Arts category that year, and Michigan Opera Theatre director David DiChiera was selected as the Eminent Artist.
For 2014, the Kresge Foundation decided to subdivide the Performing Arts category into Dance/Music and Film/Theatre. Perhaps some of the Fellows in the latter category are of interest to us here. Also, photographer Bill Rauhauser was chosen for the Eminent Artist award.
There were also nine Fellows selected in the Literary Arts category this year. Designer Ruth Adler Schnee was chosen for the Eminent Artist Award.
Following the unexpected 2014 death of Gilda Snowden (who had been awarded a Fellowship in 2009), the Kresge Foundation started the Gilda Awards, a $5,000 prize to be awarded to two or more artists each year, starting in 2015. Fellowship applicants can ask to be considered or not considered for the award. If I understand correctly, someone who receives the Gilda Award one year but not the Fellowship can apply for the Fellowship the following year.
A poet and an "interdisciplinary media artist" were chosen for the Gilda Awards in 2015.
I'm a little confused by 2016. Ralph Taylor is listed as a Fellow in Theatre and the Visual Arts, and Carlos Garcia ("L05") is listed as a Fellow in Film and Visual Arts. The rest of the Fellows for 2016 are all in categories other than Visual Arts.
Photographer Leni Sinclair was chosen as the Eminent Artist of the year. An animator and a choreographer were selected for the Gilda Award.
There were also nine Fellows in the Litarary Arts, three of which are of interest to us here: art critic Taylor Renee Aldridge, graphic novelist Michael Burdick (who is also on the list of Red Bull House of Art artists), and Andrew Mehall, an "interdisciplinary" artist whose name I seem to recall from a work list at some gallery or other.
Earlier in 2017, the Kresge Foundantion announced the selection of harpist Patricia Terry-Ross as the Eminent Artist of the year. Austen Brantley and a novelist each won the Gilda Award this year.
Saxophonist Wendell Harrison was given an Eminent Artist early in 2018. Eighteen Fellows were chosen in Music, Theatre, Dance and Storytelling.
Also, nine writers were awarded fellowships in the Literary Arts category. Photographer Noura Ballout and a fiction author were each given a Gilda Award.
Earlier in 2019, Gloria House was given an Eminent Artist award.
Early in 2020, ceramicist Marie Woo was given the Eminent Artist award.
Later in the year, twenty fellows were chosen in dance, music, theatre and "interdisciplinary," including visual artists Kia Arriaga, Bree Gant and Melanie Manos.
Fellows were also chosen in the Literary Arts category, and Gilda Awards were given in both categories.
Fellows were chosen in the Film & Music and Live Arts categories. Of these, only Demario Dotson seems to be of interest for this website. Gilda Awards were also given in both categories.
Fellows were also chosen in the Literary Arts.
The Kresge Fellowship, from the Kresge Foundation, is the most prestigious prize for artists in Detroit, the one worth winning. Unfortunately, selection is by committee, and not by anyone from the Kresge family.
The strange thing is, they seem to actually worry each year that no one's going to apply. In 2017, there was a major improvement in the way rejection letters were written. Before, the extremely condescending rejection letters might make you feel like you wasted your time. Now with the polite rejection letters, you might feel like maybe you should apply again next year.
There's no need to post the application link here, for when the application time starts up again, the link will be almost ubiquitous. The application deadline is usually in January.
The Kresge Fellowships are awarded in different categories of the arts. The Visual Arts category is the one that is of interest to us here. It has usually been awarded in odd years. It's possible that could change in the future.
Also, the Kresge Foundation might subdivide the Visual Arts category, as well as make changes we can't foresee.