The MacArthur Fellowship is a “no-strings-attached” award in support of people who show exceptional creativity, a promise for future important advances based on a track record of significant accomplishments, and potential for subsequent creative work.
Recipients may be writers, scientists, artists, social scientists, humanists, teachers, entrepreneurs, or individuals in other fields, with or without institutional affiliations.
By providing these individuals with unfettered support in pursuit of creative activities, the Fellows Program seeks to:
Cultivate the next generation of innovators;
Highlight the importance of imaginative thinking in creating objects of beauty that inspire;
Spotlight the value of risk-taking in addressing deep-rooted societal problems; and
Influence how people think about creativity.
The fellowship is not a lifetime achievement award—it is an investment in a person’s originality, insight, and potential. The Fellows Program is proactively working to foster and enable innovative, imaginative, and ground-breaking ideas, thinking, and strategies.
