Artadia, a non-profit grantmaking organization and nationwide community of visual artists, curators, and patrons, is thrilled to announce the 2026 Chicago Artadia Awardees: Jonathan Michael Castillo, the 2026 Joyce Foundation Artadia Awardee, Nick Raffel, and Mindy Rose Schwartz.
The 2026 Chicago Artadia Awards application was open to visual artists working in any visual media, at any stage in their career, who have been living and working within Cook County for two consecutive years at minimum. We received 377 applications, with 52% of the applicants identifying as African, African American or Black, Multiracial, Arab, Arab American, Asian or Asian American, Latina/e/o/x, Middle Eastern, or North African; 54% as women, gender nonconforming, or nonbinary; and 53% as emerging artists.
The Awards decision was reached after an extensive two-tiered jurying process. This year’s finalists for the Awards included Jonas N.T. Becker, Le Hien Minh, and Sherwin Ovid, selected by Round 1 jurors Ionit Behar, Marilyn and Larry Fields Curator, MCA Chicago; Laurel McLaughlin, Curator and Director of the Collective Futures Fund, Tufts University Art Galleries; Sara O’Keeffe, Senior Curator, Art Omi.
All six finalists held virtual studio visits with Round 2 jurors Ionit Behar, Marilyn and Larry Fields Curator, MCA Chicago, and Daniel Merritt, Chief Curator, Aspen Art Museum.
“It was both an honor and a deep responsibility to serve as a 2026 Chicago Artadia Awards [Round 1] Juror alongside Ionit Behar and Sara O’Keeffe,” said McLaughlin. “Delving into Chicago-based artistic research, material innovation, and socio-politically-engaged world-building demonstrated the immense cultural knowledge in the region and inspired me to continue reaching out to these practitioners. The finalists embody the catalyzed otherwise thinking of artists in our deeply divisive moment.”
“Artadia could not be more essential in today’s cultural landscape, providing critical support to artists who witness the contradictory conditions of our world and linger on the long tail of history,” reflected O’Keeffe. “The finalists selected each draw upon and reformulate inherited forms, often with a wink and nod. It has been an honor to be part of the process with my fellow jurors and encounter the work of so many brilliant artists in Chicago.”
Read the full press release here.
Since its founding in 1999, Artadia has awarded over $6 million in unrestricted funds to over 400 artists nationally. Celebrating visual artists and their foundational role in shaping society, the Artadia Award benefits three artists annually in seven major US cities with high concentrations of creative workers—Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
This year’s Chicago Artadia Awards are supported by the Joyce Foundation, the Pritzker Pucker Family Foundation, the Artadia Board of Directors, Artadia Council supporters, and individual donors across the country.