MacArthur Foundation's new Genius Grant Fellows embrace creativity in art, science

Oct. 4 (UPI) -- The MacArthur Foundation has announced its list of 2023 MacArthur Genius Grant Fellows, each of whom will receive an $80,000 no-strings attached grant.

Each year the foundation awards funds to "writers, scientists, artists, social scientists, humanists, teachers, entrepreneurs, or those in other fields."

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that supports non-profit groups and organizations. It is based in Chicago.

"The 2023 MacArthur Fellows are applying individual creativity with global perspective, centering connections across generations and communities. They forge stunning forms of artistic expression from ancestral and regional traditions, heighten our attention to the natural world, improve how we process massive flows of information for the common good, and deepen understanding of systems shaping our environment," said MacArthur Fellows director Marlies Carruth.

Among the fellows are composer and artist Raven Chacon, who has created compositions that "often include objects such as rifles, foghorns, whistles, and coins."

Pianist and composer Courtney Bryan, who "layers styles from African American traditions, such as gospel, soul, and spirituals onto postmodern classical concert works," will also receive a grant.

Recipient and molecular biologist Jason Buenrostro, "created ATAC-seq, a highly sensitive and accurate method for identifying regions of the genome that are open, or accessible, for expression."

Cultural preservationist and traditional kumu hula master teacher, Patrick Makuakane, "uses English-language lyrics, popular music, and contemporary dress and theatrical staging," to "challenge stereotypes and explore past and present-day threats to Native Hawaiian people and culture."

Ecologist Lucy Hutyra, "draws on a range of tools -- including field observations, remote sensing, spatial analysis and mathematical modeling -- to measure where, when, and how much carbon moves between different reservoirs, like plants, soil, water, and air, in forests and urban areas."

According to the foundation, there are three criteria for selection of fellows: Exceptional creativity, promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishments, and potential for the fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work.