2026-2027 California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship Awardees Announced
I am so incredibly proud and deeply honored to share that I’ve been selected as a 2026 Emerging Artist through the California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship program administered by Los Angeles Performance Practice for Los Angeles County.
This year, $800,000 in unrestricted funding is being distributed to 101 Los Angeles County artists and culture bearers. The 2026-2027 cohort includes 66 Emerging Artist Fellows, 32 Established Artist Fellows, and 3 Legacy Artist Fellows.
Fellows were selected from more than 1,200 applications through a competitive peer-review process and span all five Los Angeles County Supervisorial Districts.
As a native Californian, to receive this fellowship celebrating my work that is so full of Los Angeles and Southern California and to be among the most incredible, expansive, and fiercely talented artists, both humbles me and drives me to excavate more fully, honor the sacred process of creation more deeply, and strive to continue helping my community in its blooming.
Throughout this fellowship, I will be working on my poetry manuscript on ecological and generational inheritance and collaborative work with artists on poetry comics and poetry film.
Los Angeles Performance Practice Announces
2026-2027 California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship Awardees
Awarding $800,000 to Los Angeles County Artists
101 artists across disciplines and career stages will receive unrestricted awards of $50,000, $10,000, and $5,000
LOS ANGELES, CA – October 9, 2026 – Los Angeles Performance Practice (LAPP) announces the 101 awardees of the California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowships for Los Angeles County, distributing a total of $800,000 in unrestricted funding directly to artists and culture bearers across the region. This marks LAPP’s second cycle serving as the program’s Administering Organization for Los Angeles County.
Spanning Emerging, Established, and Legacy Artist tiers, this year’s Fellows reflect the extraordinary breadth of artistic practices and communities that make up Los Angeles County’s cultural landscape. The California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowships program uplifts and celebrates California artists across all disciplines and traditions, highlights their excellence, and acknowledges their leadership in shaping traditional and contemporary cultures.
Unlike project-based grants, the Individual Artist Fellowships provide unrestricted awards directly to artists, empowering artists at pivotal moments in their creative lives. This direct investment in individual artists and culture bearers strengthens artistic expression, sustains creative practice, and supports meaningful engagement with communities across California.
“We’re honored to serve for a second cycle as the Administering Organization for the Individual Artist Fellowships in Los Angeles County,” says Miranda Wright, LAPP Board Chair. “It’s a privilege to help direct resources to such an extraordinary range of artists across the region.” “Unrestricted funding trusts artists to know what they need,” says Scarlett Kim, Board Member and member of the Interim Leadership Team. “Investing directly in artists strengthens the cultural life we all share.”
Emerging Artist Fellows are in the beginning stages of making their work public, engaging the larger community in their practice, and identifying ongoing resources and support. This cycle, 66 Emerging Artist Fellows will each receive an award of $5,000.
Lu Coy, performer-composer, educator and activist, who was awarded in the Emerging Tier, says: “Receiving the fellowship will allow me to step fully into my role as a cultural steward, providing the time and resources necessary for me to engage in a research-driven practice that returns suppressed histories, languages, and musical traditions to my community.”
Cade Moga, Brazilian-born trans artist creating performance and installation for stage, screen, and public space, also awarded in the Emerging Tier, says: “I’ve been working independently for nearly a decade in LA, often dealing with taboo subjects and across multiple mediums that do not conform to a category. This fellowship application felt different in the sense that the prompts demonstrated curiosity about the message as much as the medium behind the works I’ve already built.”
Established Artist Fellows regularly make their work public and engage the larger community in their practice. This cycle, 32 Established Artist Fellows will each receive an award of $10,000, including Brian Sonia-Wallace, Lauren McCarthy, Josefina López, Kristina Wong, Lars Jan, and Roger Q. Mason.
“Artists always have more ideas than resources. This fellowship will enable me to pay fellow Los Angeles writers to bring poetry into the streets through a series of pop-ups during my laureateship, and to guard time for my own work,” says Los Angeles Poet Laureate and social practice poet Brian Sonia-Wallace.
“LA is a sprawling city that can sometimes feel isolating, but it’s the communities artists build together that make it such a special place. I’m honored to be recognized alongside the artists whose work makes LA the unique cultural center that it is,” says Lauren McCarthy, artist working with performance, installation, software, and video to explore how technology shapes human relationships.
Legacy Artist Fellows are artists with a significant body of work produced over a substantial period of time, whose practices have engaged their communities and made significant community impact. This year’s Legacy Artist Fellows, selected from a pool of 150 applicants, will each receive an award of $50,000. Awardees are Chicano performance artist, writer, theater director, and social activist Luis Alfaro, Lula Washington, the Founder and Artistic Director of the Lula Washington Dance Theatre, and world-renowned dancer, filmmaker, martial artist, musician, director, and producer, Chester Whitmore.
Luis Alfaro, Chicano Poet, Playwright, Performance Artist born and raised in downtown Los Angeles, says, “Nothing makes me happier than when we get to celebrate the breadth of what art and artists can do in Los Angeles at the Pacific Rim, on the Western Edge, in our international city of great possibility. This award belongs to the nearly 10 million people in Los Angeles County, who live in 88 different cities, speaking over 224 different languages; they are the ones who make and inspire me on the daily.”
Fellows were selected through a competitive peer-review process from a total of 1,226 applications submitted by artists across Los Angeles County. The 101 selected Fellows span all five Los Angeles County Supervisorial Districts and represent the full breadth of artistic disciplines identified by the California Arts Council: Culture Bearer / Traditional Practice, Dance, Design, Digital Art & New Media, Film/Video, Folk & Traditional Arts, Interdisciplinary & Multidisciplinary, Literary Arts, Music, Public Art, Theater, and Visual Art. Reflecting the deeply interdisciplinary nature of artistic practice across the region, more than three-quarters of Fellows also self-identified as working across more than one medium in their practice.
Panels of artists, arts leaders, culture bearers, and community members reviewed and scored applications using the statewide evaluation criteria: Creative Vision, Aesthetic Excellence, and Community Engagement, with Legacy Artist applicants additionally evaluated on Mentorship. Bruce Lemon, theatre artist and Co-Artistic Director of Watts Village, who served as a panelist, says: “What a joy to witness the vibrant community of career artists that call Los Angeles home. Every application was a reminder that there are no rules—and infinite ways to build a life telling stories.”
Chisaraokwu Asomugha, MD, a transdisciplinary poet artist, scholar, writer, performer, and health futurist who was an Established Fellow in the last cycle, also served as a panelist. She says, “Receiving the award made a profound impact on my art and practice. So when the opportunity came to pay it forward as part of this year’s award review panel, I enthusiastically said yes. I felt the magnitude of the privilege and responsibility of this role because of what is happening at this moment in our nation’s story—attempts to erase history, ban literature, shut down arts programming and funding. Every bit of support to an artist counters that erasure, gives space for new art and artists to emerge, and ensures that artists and the communities they serve can benefit from the fellowship, inspiration, and transformation that only art can bring.”
In addition to the unrestricted funding, Fellows will receive opportunities for professional development and peer convening throughout the fellowship period, beginning this fall and running through August 31, 2027. Programming will be geared towards supporting Fellows in areas including grantwriting, fundraising, advocacy, and resource development, as well as opportunities to connect with cultural institutions and arts leaders.
#
ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA ARTS COUNCIL INDIVIDUAL ARTIST FELLOWSHIPS
The California Arts Council (CAC) is a statewide agency committed to serving California artists, arts organizations, and communities of all sizes and needs. Guided by racial equity principles, the CAC continuously evaluates its grantmaking practices to ensure fair and inclusive funding opportunities that sustain a vibrant, safe, and resilient creative ecosystem across the state.
Through regionally based Administering Organizations (AOs), the Individual Artists Fellowship (IAF) program uplifts and celebrates California artists across all disciplines and traditions, highlights their excellence and acknowledges their leadership in shaping traditional and contemporary cultures.
ABOUT LOS ANGELES PERFORMANCE PRACTICE
Los Angeles Performance Practice is a non-profit organization devoted to the production and presentation of contemporary performance by artists whose work advances and challenges multi-disciplinary artistic practices.
Our mission is to support a unique and diverse constellation of artists and audiences through the active creation and presentation of groundbreaking experiences that use innovative approaches to collaboration, technology and social engagement. Anchored in Los Angeles, our artists and projects have national and global reach.
Across a range of platforms and partnerships, we build an active network of contemporary practitioners—curators and producers, artists and designers, audiences and patrons—all leveraged in service to the ideas and issues of our time.
Website: performancepractice.la
Instagram: @laperformancepractice
