Chicago, longtime home of the MacArthur Foundation and its famous “genius” grants, is now also the headquarters of the United States Artists Fellows awards, which were celebrated at a festive three-day event last week at the Lake Shore Drive W hotel.
And if you’re thinking maybe a State Department traveling fellowship, it’s understandable, but also wrong. In spite of the generic and official-sounding moniker, United States Artists has nothing to do with the government.
US Artists was headquartered in Los Angeles, where from 2006 to 2012 it went about the business of playing Santa to scores of artists across a broad range of genres every year. But in 2013, after the departure of its original CEO and what public tax documents show as several years in which expenses seriously outpaced income, the program came to a halt. USA Projects, a crowd-funding start-up USA had founded, was handed off to another nonprofit, and no awards were made that year.
Here’s how it works: About 300 anonymous nominators across the country come up with candidates, who are then invited to apply. Panels of experts, convened for each of nine genres, review the applications, selecting winners and alternates. They look for commitment, innovation, and a unique artistic vision, along with U.S. residency. Final approvals and decisions are made by the board, with winners announced in the fall. Diversity is a consideration for the group as a whole.
If US Artists thrives here, English says, in addition to whatever it does for artists, “it’ll raise Chicago’s status in the arts world.” v
