The MacArthur Foundation’s stated goal is to give these extraordinary people the independence to pursue their passions.
MacArthur Foundation, recognize outstanding talent, creativity and the potential for future greatness, and are one of the few grant programs in which recipients are free to use the award money however they wish.
“They are asking critical questions, developing innovative technologies and public policies, enriching our understanding of the human condition, and producing works of art that provoke and inspire us.” “In the midst of civil unrest, a global pandemic, natural disasters, and conflagrations, this group of 21 exceptionally creative individuals offers a moment for celebration,” wrote Celia Conrad, managing director of the MacArthur Fellows in the announcement of its new class. The awardees include an anthropologist who studies how human rights are being transformed by the digital economy, a biologist working to improve contraception, a historian who traces the historic roots of anti-immigrant racism, a sociologist who looks at attitudes toward poverty, and a poet whose work elevates the Black experience. Fred Moten, a UC Berkeley alum and former UC Riverside professor, was awarded a $625,000 MacArthur grant in recognition of his cultural theory and poetry this year.įour UC alums and one faculty member will each receive a $625,000 unrestricted prize, or “genius grant,” as 2020 MacArthur fellows.