Sterlin Harjo Wins MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant”

The creative, who has an overall deal with FX, was the only filmmaker to be honored for this year's celebration of arts, sciences and social justice.

The showrunner of FX’s Reservation Dogs was one of 22 people awarded with the honor.

Genius Grant:

  • Variety reports that filmmaker Sterlin Harjo was an honoree of the MacArthur Foundations prestigious “Genius Grant.”
  • The award recognizes creatives for their contributions to the arts, sciences and social causes.
  • The MacArthur Fellows Program looks for “Exceptional creativity; promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishments; and the potential for the fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work.”
  • Each winner receives an award of $800,000 split into quarterly payments over five years.
  • Nicknamed the “Genius Grant,” this award doesn’t have an application process. According to the foundations, “Nominees are brought to the program’s attention through a constantly changing pool of invited external nominators… Nominations are evaluated by an independent Selection Committee composed of a rotating roster of leaders in the arts, sciences, and humanities professions and in the for-profit and nonprofit communities.”
  • Winners of this year’s MacArthur Foundation grant include:
    • Loka Ashwood, sociologist
    • Ruha Benjamin, transdisciplinary scholar and writer
    • Justin Vivian Bond, artist and performer
    • Jericho Brown, poet
    • Tony Cokes, media artist
    • Nicola Dell, computer information scientist
    • Johnny Gandelsman, violinist and producer
    • Sterlin Harjo, filmmaker
    • Juan Felipe Herrera, poet, educator, and writer
    • Ling Ma, fiction writer
    • Jennifer L. Morgan, historian
    • MaMartha Muñoz, evolutionary biologist
    • Shailaja Paik, historian
    • Joseph Park, evolutionary biologist
    • Ebony G. Patterson, multimedia artist
    • Shamel Pitts, dancer and choreographer
    • Wendy Red Star, visual artist
    • Jason Reynolds, children’s and young adult writer
    • Dorothy Roberts, legal scholar and public policy researcher 
    • Keivan G. Stassun, science educator and astronomer
    • Benjamin Van Mooy, oceanographer
    • Alice Wong, writer, editor, and disability justice activist
  • Earlier today, it was reported that Harjo would be back at FX for a new drama pilot starring Ethan Hawke.

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Maxon Faber
Based in Los Angeles, California, Maxon is roller coaster and musical theatre nerd. His favorite dinosaur is the parasaurolophus, specifically the one in Jurassic World: The Ride.