The Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University named Okwui Okpokwasili (2016 Awardee) as one of five Mary MacKall Gwinn Hodder Fellows for the 2018-2019 academic year. This prestigious fellowship provides artists and humanists in the early stages of their careers an opportunity to undertake significant new work. According to the announcement, her fellowship year will focus on "design of a rigorous and formal container for a collective song of grievance and grief that serves as a ritual of remembering and reconstitution. The piece is inspired by the traditional practice of women’s resistance movements in southeastern Nigeria called 'sitting on a Man’s Head.'" Okwui premiered her Creative Capital project, Poor People’s TV Room, last spring. She also starred in Jim Findlay’s (2016 Awardee) project premiere, Electric Lucifer, in January.

In other premiere-related news, Jesse Ball (2016 Awardee) recently published his 8th novel and Creative Capital project Census. It is currently available for pre-order and will be on shelves March 6th! Please see an early review of his book here.

In December, HBO announced Lisa Heller as Executive Vice President of HBO Documentary and Family Programming (along with her colleague Nancy Abraham). Lisa has been with HBO’s documentary division since 2000, and has served as a programming executive on such productions as Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, Cries from Syria, Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt & Anderson Cooper, Life According to Sam, Six by Sondheim, The Loving Story, Ethel and Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory.

We are very grateful to have her years of experience and expertise on the board.

We’re also excited to mention that in January the MacDowell Colony Fellowships were announced. Among the 85 artists were several members of the Creative Capital community, including Awardees Basil Twist and Stacey Steers, as well as board member Lewis Hyde.

We are thrilled to have Marianna Schaffer join the team as the Director of Artist Initiatives. As previously shared, Marianna has spent over a decade as a leader in the nonprofit and philanthropy sectors, most recently at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and the David Rockefeller Fund.

Outside of her professional activities, Marianna serves on the Board of Directors of Placeful, a community-investment nonprofit, as the Chair of the Local Arts Advisory Council of the Special 125th Street District in Manhattan, and recently completed a term on the Young Partners Board of the Public Theater. She is active in her Harlem community, serving on the steering committee of the North Star Neighborhood Association and as a member of the Garden of Love community garden. She is the loving wife of teacher and filmmaker Micah Schaffer and devoted mother of two children, Gael and Salma. In her free time you can find her taking pictures and exploring textile art and design.

Marianna’s first day in the office will be Tuesday, February 20th, and she can be reached at [email protected].

Please see Marianna’s ArtNews announcement here.