Introducing SFAI’s 2026 Fellows

The Spinal Cord Artist Residency (SCAR) Fellowship emerges from years of partnership between SFAI and the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation, built on the Creative Access Fellowship, which, since 2017, has supported 20 artists with spinal cord injuries (SCI) participating in SFAI’s Thematic Residency program. SCAR is being co-developed by four alums of the Creative Access Program—Minna Hong, David McCauley, Wes Holloway, and Reveca Torres—artists who intimately understand the barriers that persist in the arts ecosystem and have shaped a program that directly addresses them, along with additional artists with SCI invited to participate this year and next.

Created by and for artists with SCI, this two-year pilot provides barrier-free access, creative research support, and inclusive community engagement opportunities. Each artist receives a $2,500 stipend, fully funded travel to and from Santa Fe, on-site lodging at SFAI, exhibition support, and funds for personal care assistants and studio assistants.

Throughout the fellowship, artists will participate in critique circles with curators and cultural workers, receive professional development support, and collaborate on projects including a video series documenting creative adaptive techniques, a digital publication offering guidance for accessible program design, and a traveling exhibition designed to reach audiences both physically and virtually.

SCAR represents more than artist support. It’s a model for how residencies can become more accessible, intentional, and artist-led. By centering the lived expertise of SCI artists in its design, SCAR demonstrates what becomes possible when those most impacted by systemic barriers lead the work of dismantling them.

In 2026, SFAI is piloting a transformative, one-year reimagining of our International Thematic Residency program in response to the growing global crises of ideological division, cultural fragmentation, and ecological instability. Building on the program’s 10-year history of responding to major social and environmental issues through artist-led inquiry, the 2026 Community of Practice: Art in Action Fellowship offers artists a unique, project-based opportunity to cultivate empathy, promote healing, and encourage connection within their own communities, instead of traditional onsite residencies at our Santa Fe, NM facilities.

Through a highly competitive selection process, artists were nominated by local and national artists and cultural workers, and five extraordinary artists were selected by an independent jury comprised of Regine Basha, an independent curator and consultant to residency programs working internationally; Celeste C. Smith, a philanthropic strategist with over 15 years of experience in trust-based grantmaking, serving on advisory boards for Grantmakers in the Arts, the Heinz Endowments, and Carnegie Mellon University; Polly Morris, Executive Director of the Lynden Sculpture Garden and administrator of the Mary L. Nohl Fund for Individual Artists since 2003; and Mallory Rukhsana Nezam, a cross-sector culture-maker and co-founder of the Cross-sector Artists in Residence Lab.

The selected artists, Nic[o] Brierre Aziz, Carlos Garcia, Dianne Smith, Aghogho Otega, and SHAN Wallace, are accomplished practitioners whose work has consistently demonstrated the transformative power of community-engaged art. With proven track records in creating projects that invite dialogue, challenge assumptions, and build collective understanding, these artists use creative practice to help communities explore complex ideas, reclaim histories, and imagine new possibilities together.

Each fellow receives a $10,000 stipend, monthly staff-supported virtual engagements and peer learning opportunities, career development consultations, and project documentation support. A publication documenting the fellows’ work will be released at the conclusion of the program.

We are thrilled to introduce the 2026 Community of Practice: Art in Action Fellows, working across four US states and Nigeria: