Wagner Foundation Names Winners of $75,000 2026 Arts Fellowships
2March 25, 2026
TheWagner Foundationtoday announcedTomashi Jackson,Lucy Kim, andYu-Wen Wuas the winners of its 2026Wagner Arts Fellowships. Inaugurated last year, the fellowships are awarded annually to mid-career or established artists in the Boston area who are engaged with social change. Each fellowship is accompanied by a $75,000 unrestricted grant. The winning artists are offered professional development opportunities and assistance and will present their work in a group show at the Wagner Gallery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where it will be on view from August to December of this year.
Jackson, who lives in Cambridge, works across painting, printmaking, video, photography, fiber, and sculpture. In works that are frequently layered and three-dimensional, she explores themes of segregation and systemic oppression. Kim, who was born in South Korea, also lives in Cambridge. Her interdisciplinary practice encompasses painting, sculpture, and biological media; she employs distortion as a way of deconstructing how we see what we see. Looking to her own experience as an immigrant, the Taiwan-born, Boston-based Wu investigates concepts of global migration, displacement, and identity through large-scale drawings, videos, and site-specific installations.
“We are proud to continue investing in Boston’s ever-evolving creative community and to highlight artists whose creative practices meaningfully shape the cultural legacy of this city,” said Charlotte Wagner, the foundation’s president and founder, in a statement. “In the second cycle of this initiative, we remain committed to amplifying artists’ contributions and sustaining the ecosystems that allow art to thrive, underscoring the essential role artists play in Boston and within the broader national cultural landscape.”
Founded in 2005, the Wagner Foundation distributes more than forty cultural and arts grants annually, partnering with local organizations and with arts organizations across the country.