Kresge Arts in Detroit has announced its Artist Fellowships and Gilda Snowden Emerging Artist Award recipients for 2026.
In total, 20 artists — all of whom reside in Wayne, Oakland, or Macomb County — are receiving no-strings-attached cash awards to help fund current and future projects. Artist Fellowship recipients receive $50,000, and Gilda Award recipients, who are artists early in their careers, receive $5,000.
In addition to the cash award, these artists will also be granted access to legal and accounting support, professional coaching, promotional opportunities, and more.
Kresge Artist Fellowship Recipients
Among those receiving fellowship, three specialize in live arts, and seven specialize in film and music. The live arts category consists of choreography, comedy, dance, performance art, playwriting, storytelling, theatre directing, and interdisciplinary work. Meanwhile, the film and music category consists of animation, film directing, music composition, music performance, screenwriting, sound art, and interdisciplinary work.
Live Arts Fellows
Galaxy, performance art
Ed Miller, dance and choreography
Karen Prall, dance and choreography
Film and Music Fellows
Frisly Soberanis, film directing
Maurice “Pirahnahead” Herd, music composition
Shahida Nurullah, music performance
Salar Ansari, music composition and performance
Mitch McCabe, interdisciplinary work
Jeremy Brockman, film directing and screenwriting
Ackeem Salmon, interdisciplinary work
Of the 10 Artist fellows, three have previously received the Gilda Award: Galaxy, Jeremy Brockman, and Ackeem Salmon.
Gilda Snowden Emerging Artist Award Recipients
The Gilda Awards are named after Gilda Snowden, a Detroit-based artist who taught painting at the College for Creative Studies for over 30 years. Snowden, who died in 2014 at the age of 60, was also part of the inaugural group of artists in 2009 that received a Kresge Artist Fellowship.
Like the Artist Fellowship, there are ten artists receiving Gilda Awards, with three specializing in live arts, and seven specializing in film and music.
Gilda Awards: Live Arts
Ayman “Mino” Aboutaleb, dance and choreography
Levon Kafafian, interdisciplinary work
Chris Woolfolk, dance and choreography
Gilda Awards: Film and Music
Kasan Belgrave, music composition and performance
Ifayomi Christine, film directing
Kashira Dowridge, film directing
RAEDY LEX, music composition and performance
Ashley Sorrell, music performance
Nico Swan, interdisciplinary work
Vaughn Taormina, animation
About Kresge Arts in Detroit
Funded by The Kresge Foundation and administered by the College of Creative Studies, Kresge Arts in Detroit has awarded $10.6 million to local artists since 2008. Of that $10.6 million, 327 Artist Fellowships have been awards, and 82 artists have received the Gilda Award. A third honor — the Kresge Eminent Artist Award, worth $100,000 — has been received by 18 artists.
To learn more about their work and their roster of artists, visit kresgeartsindetroitorg.
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