This week the MacArthur Foundation announced its Fellows Program winners. These awards, often referred to as "genius" grants, come with a $500,000 stipend that can be used however the winner chooses. The primary purpose of the MacArthur Fellows Program is "to enable recipients to exercise their own creative instincts for the benefit of human society."
There are 23 fellows this year including an indigenous language preservationist, a stone carver, a fiction writer, an author/screenwriter/producer and a high school physics teacher. The winners received phone calls in the past two weeks telling them they were selected. Most didn't even know they were under consideration.
Check out the MacArthur Foundation Website where you can watch videos about each winner and learn more about the program. And, yes, you should take this as an invitation to be creative in your own daily endeavors. You never know who's watching.
