MacArthur Awards Go to 21 Diverse Fellows

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Felicia R. Lee
New MacArthur fellows include Joshua Oppenheimer, who made the highly debated film “The Act of Killing,” pictured.
PHILANTHROPY---Twelve men and nine women, whose work is as diverse as studying the racial elements in perceptions of crime and translating contemporary Arab poetry, have been named the 2014 fellows of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The fellowships, based on achievement and potential, come with a stipend of $625,000 over five years and are among the most prestigious prizes for artists, scholars and professionals. [link]

The artists among this year’s winners include:
  • Alison Bechdel, 54, a cartoonist and graphic memoirist in Bolton, Vt., whose 2006 memoir, “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic,” became a musical at the Public Theater in 2013; 
  • Samuel D. Hunter, 33, a New Yorker and the author of a widely produced 2012 play, “The Whale,” about a morbidly obese man; 
  • Joshua Oppenheimer, 39, a documentary filmmaker in Copenhagen who made the highly debated film “The Act of Killing,” about mass murder in Indonesia after a military coup; 
  • Steve Coleman, 57, a composer and alto saxophonist in Allentown, Pa., whose nonprofit M-Base Concepts supports musical experimentation and mentors musicians; 
  • Terrance Hayes, 42, a poet and writing professor at the University of Pittsburgh who won a National Book Award for his collection “Lighthead,” which contains pop-culture and music themes; and
  • Rick Lowe, 53, who was trained as a painter but founded Project Row Houses in Houston, bringing artists together to renovate houses and create community programs.