Recipients of $100,000 Rauschenberg Centennial Award Named
47March 16, 2026
TheRobert Rauschenberg Foundationtoday announced the recipients of its Rauschenberg Centennial Award. The one-time prize is given only this year, in honor of pioneering artist Robert Rauschenberg’s one hundredth birthday. Winners were chosen from among those who were invited to attend or participated in the foundation’s Captiva Residency, in the disciplines of art, photography, performance, and writing, respectively. Each will receive an unrestricted award of $100,000.
Senga Nengudiwas named the recipient of the art prize. Nengudi is known for her poetic, abstract work, especially her improvised, ritualistic performances centering everyday objects such as nylons, sand, and masking tapes. Through a practice additionally encompassing photography and sculpture, she explores such sociopolitical themes as feminism, inequality and the Black experience.
David Thomson won for performance. Thomson, a dancer, has collaborated with a wide range of artists, ranging from Ralph Lemon to Yvonne Rainer, and creates his own work as well. Thomson is a cofounder of the Artist Sustainability Project and of the YoungArts’ Artist Resource Collective, both of which aid artists with achieving professional goals and financial stability.
Chandra McCormick and Keith Calhoun, who for decades have chronicled Black life in Louisiana, focusing on the prison-industrial system and the state’s history of slavery, were recognized for photography.
Poet, educator, cultural activist, and anthologist Patricia Spears Jones took the writing prize. Spears Jones, who has published several books of poetry, was the first African American programmer to lead the renowned Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church in New York.
“It is a privilege for the foundation to recognize the work of these individuals on the occasion of the artist’s centennial year,” said Courtney J. Martin, the foundation’s executive director, in a statement. “Each of them has made an extraordinary impact in his or her respective field, exemplifying Rauschenberg’s collaborative spirit, social consciousness, and commitment to experimentation.”
The Rauschenberg Foundation last year made the decision to sunset its Captiva Residency program, held on the Florida island for which it was named. The island will be sold, with the proceeds redirected to support artists where they live and work. The Centennial Awards are meant to recognize and inaugurate the shift.