Rev. Dr. William Barber II and Okwui Okpokwasili Earn MacArthur 'Genius' Awards

The minister and multimedia artist feature among several creators, organizers and scholars of color who earned the MacArthur Foundation’s annual honor.

By Sameer Rao Oct 4, 2018

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation honored racial justice activists, thought-provoking artists and other changemakers of color in its annual list of MacArthur fellows today (October 4).

The annual award's recipients, colloquially known as "geniuses," each receive an award of $625,000 to subsidize their work over five years. Here are just a few of this year's grantees of color, along with individuals video profiles that the foundation also released today:

Reverend Dr. William Barber II, North Carolina-based minister, organizer and co-chair of the new Poor People's Campaign
Okwui Okpokwasili, performance artist, choreographer and creator of "Bronx Gothic"
Vijay Gupta, classical violinist, educator and arts activist
Natalie Diaz, Indigenous and Latinx poet and educator
Wu Tsang, performance artist and filmmaker of "Wilderness"