Interdisciplinary artists and composers Mendi + Keith Obadike have been named United States Artists (USA) Fellows for 2026. The USA Fellowship gives recipients an unrestricted award of $50,000 that “nurtures creative freedom and drives lasting impact,” according to a USA release.
“We’re heartened and encouraged by this recognition of our work,” the Obadikes said. “Beyond the support it offers our practice, we are pleased that there are organizations investing in culture and the infrastructure of the American imagination. We believe that expanding the imagination can alter the contours of culture and shift our sense of what is possible in this world, and while that is work that everyone can do, it is the special province of the artist.”
Mendi Obadike, professor in the Department of Performing and Media Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences, works collaboratively with Keith Obadike, professor in the Department of Art in the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning. They have exhibited and performed their interdisciplinary work at The New Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Museum of Modern Art.
Their projects include four books, two albums, and a series of large-scale public sound artworks, including: “Blues Speaker” (for James Baldwin) at The New School (commissioned by the Vera List Center for Art and Politics with Harlem Stage), “Free/Phase” at the Chicago Cultural Center and Rebuild Foundation, “Compass Song” (commissioned by Times Square Arts), “SlowDrag” (commissioned by Counterpublic), and “GuideStar” – a sound and laser work at Seattle’s Space Needle (commissioned by Wa Na Wari).
Their current projects include “RingShout,” (a musical satellite), and “DreamTrain,” a new video and music work commissioned by American Composers Orchestra.
Their previous honors include a Rockefeller New Media Arts Fellowship, a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Fiction, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award Biennial Award, and the New Music USA Creator Development Award.
“For two decades, United States Artists has advanced a simple yet powerful conviction – that artists are essential to the imagination and health of our society,” said Judilee Reed, president and CEO of United States Artists.
The Fellowships are awarded through a year-long, peer-led selection process in ten disciplines. USA Fellows are selected “based on their groundbreaking artistic visions, unique perspectives within their fields and evident potential for the award to make a significant impact in their practices and lives,” according to a USA statement.
