Announcing the 2026-2028 Eureka Fellows
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Fleishhacker Foundation Announces New Cohort of Eureka Fellows, Awarding Nearly $500K to Bay Area Visual Artists
12 Bay Area Artists will receive unrestricted grants of $40,000 to Support Their Work and Livelihood in Celebration of the Fellowship’s 40th Anniversary
Media Contact: Abby Margulies; [email protected]; 614-827-5810
San Francisco, CA (September 11, 2025) — The Fleishhacker Foundation is pleased to announce the new cohort of Eureka Fellows, a distinguished group of Bay Area visual artists who will each receive an unrestricted grant of $40,000 to support their creative practice. Twelve contemporary artists in various stages of their careers have been selected for the prestigious award, which will be given to groups of four artists per year over the next three years. The Eureka Fellowship is among the largest fellowship awards for visual artists in Northern California.
Over the past 40 years, the Eureka Fellows program has provided nearly $3.5 million in unrestricted support to 155 Bay Area visual artists to help them continue creating inspiring work that enriches our community. In celebration of the Eureka Fellowship’s 40th anniversary, the award amount has been increased from $35,000 to $40,000 per artist, bringing the program’s total investment to nearly $4 million and reaffirming the Foundation’s enduring commitment to sustaining a vibrant artistic community in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The new Eureka Fellows are: Cat Alden, Jillian Crochet, Marlon Mullen, and Rahsaan Thomas (2026); Jonathan Calm, James Chan, Maya Fuji, and Jennifer Huang (2027); Christy Chan, Nimah Gobir, Sahar Khoury, and Masako Miki (2028). Further information about the artists and their work can be found on the Foundation’s website here.
In January 2025, the Foundation invited more than 100 Bay Area visual arts organizations to nominate artists for the fellowship. Nearly 160 artists were nominated, and more than 130 artists applied. After a rigorous review process, the awardees were selected by an esteemed panel of jurors from outside the Bay Area: Dr. Rhea L. Combs, Director of Curatorial Affairs, Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Rosario Güiraldes, Curator of Visual Arts, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; and Paul C. Ha, Director, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA. The selected artists work in an array of media and are at different stages of their careers, offering a rich portrait of contemporary visual art in the Bay Area.
“This talented array of artists takes pride in who they are,” said juror Rhea Combs. “Their work focuses on telling real, human stories that showcase what makes the Bay Area special. It’s not just technology that makes the region distinctive. These creatives tap into the rich, vibrant history of what truly distinguishes the Bay Area: its people. Trends in technology come and go, but the region’s people and their cultures endure.”
The Eureka Fellowship Program was established in 1986 to provide direct financial support to visual artists living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area. “We value the arts as a means to bring people together, promote empathy and understanding, and strengthen community,” said John Ehrlich, President of the Fleishhacker Foundation. “Since the Eureka Fellows program began, we’ve been at the forefront of providing direct, unrestricted support to Bay Area visual artists to realize their creative vision, and we take great pride in the extraordinary achievements of Eureka Fellows over the past four decades. The artists we have supported in the past have enriched our community in profound ways, and we know this new cohort will carry forward their legacy of innovation, impact, and artistic excellence.”
The program was created to address a funding gap for visual artists, many of whom work independently of nonprofit structures and face the challenge of sustaining their practice amid the Bay Area’s high cost of living. Unlike project-based funding, Eureka Fellowship awards are unrestricted, giving artists the freedom to pursue their creative interests and dedicate more uninterrupted time to their work.
“The Eureka Fellowship marked a pivotal moment in my career,” said artist Mildred Howard (Eureka Fellow 1996). “I received the grant at a critical juncture, when I was working multiple jobs to support my creative practice. The fellowship allowed me to focus solely on my art, which ultimately led to me working full-time as an artist and creating a major work that has since traveled throughout the US and internationally. This type of unrestricted support is so valuable to artists and the artistic community at large.”
The Eureka Fellowship is one of four grantmaking programs offered by the Fleishhacker Foundation in support of Bay Area arts and culture. Collectively, these programs provide vital support for artists, arts organizations, and arts service groups, helping ensure the region remains a vibrant and innovative cultural hub. Previous Eureka Fellows include notable Bay Area artists such as Tauba Auerbach, Sadie Barnette, Enrique Chagoya, Kota Ezawa, Mildred Howard, David Ireland, Hung Liu, Barry McGee, Richard Misrach, and Arleene Correra Valencia, among others.
For more information, follow the Foundation on Facebook and Instagram.
2026 - 2028 Nominating Organizations
The following exceptional Bay Area nonprofit arts organizations nominated up to three local artists for the 2026 - 2028 Eureka Fellowship Program.
500 Capp Street Foundation
Alliance for Media Arts + Culture
The American Indian Cultural Center of San Francisco
ARTogether
ArtSpan
Asian Art Museum
BAVC Media (Bay Area Video Coalition)
Bedford Gallery
The Berkeley FILM Foundation
Cabrillo Gallery
Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University
CCA Wattis Institute for the Contemporary Arts
Center for Photographic Art
Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco
Community Arts Stabilization Trust
The Contemporary Jewish Museum
Creative Growth Art Center
Creativity Explored
de Saisset Museum
Djerassi Resident Artists Program
EastSide Arts Alliance
Edge on the Square
FOR-SITE Foundation
Gallery Route One
Headlands Center for the Arts
ICA San José
Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco
Kala Art Institute
Kearny Street Workshop
KQED, Inc.
Los Cenzontles Cultural Arts Academy
Luggage Store Gallery
MarinArts
Mills College Art Museum, Northeastern University
Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts
Montalvo Arts Center, Lucas Artists Program
Museo Italo Americano
Museum of Craft and Design
Museum of Sonoma County
Museum of the African Diaspora
Natalie and James Thompson Gallery, San José State University
New Museum Los Gatos
NIAD Art Center
Oakland Museum of California
Pajaro Valley Arts
Palo Alto Art Center
Queer Cultural Center
Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project
Radius Gallery
Re-Present Media
Root Division
San Francisco Center for the Book
Sanchez Art Center
Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History
Sebastopol Center for the Arts
SFMOMA
SFO Museum
Shipyard Trust for the Arts
/ Slash
Southern Exposure
Swim Gallery
Thacher Gallery at the University of San Francisco
UC Santa Cruz, Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery
University Art Gallery, Sonoma State University
University of San Francisco
William James Association/Prison Arts Project
2026 - 2028 Nominated Artists
The following artists were nominated by one of the nonprofit Bay Area arts organizations above. These exceptional artists represent a compelling cross-section of contemporary Bay Area talent. Collectively, their work highlights the diversity, complexity, and innovation – and reflects the depth of creative vision – flourishing across the region today.
Dalar Alahverdi
Annie Albagli
Cat Alden
Kin Folkz (Monica) Anderson
Michael Arcega
Sholeh Asgary
Saif Azzuz
Simone Bailey
Todd Barricklow
Matt Barruso
Traci Bartlow
Kajahl Benes-Trapp
Liat Berdugo
Leo Bersamina
Cynthia Brannvall
Stephen Bruce
Natalya Burd
Jonathan Calm
Irene Carvajal
James Q. Chan
Christy Chan
Xiangqi Chen
Windy Chien
Sooja Choi
Emily Cohen Ibañez
Jillian Crochet
Rose D'Amato
Erica Deeman
Rafael Delacruz
Adriana Diaz
Marie-Astrid Do-Rodriguez
Nimisha Doongarwal
Sabin Filip
Henry Edward Frank
Maya Fuji
Bushra Gill
Nimah Gobir
Sofia Gonzalez
Matt Gonzalez
Cynthia Yadira Gonzalez
Julia Goodman
Mary Graham
Robert Haemmerling
Chad Hasegawa
Cliff Hengst
Alexander Hernandez
Thad Higa
Tubi Ho
Rhonda Holberton
Jennifer Huang
Risa Iwasaki Culbertson
Vincent Jackson
Mushi Wooseong James
Chris Johnson
Pantea Karimi
Jalena Keane-Lee
Joanna Keane-Lopez
Ryan Kelder
Em Kettner
Sahar Khoury
Ahn Lee
Summer Lee
Bijun Liang
Bonnie Lockhart Ochoa
Leslie "DIME" Lopez
Rivka Valérie Louissaint
Taneya Lovelace
Kija Lucas
Franna Lusson
Martin Machado
L. Frank Manriquez
Kara Maria
Fernando Marti
Alicia McCarthy
Klea McKenna
Masako Miki
Mareiwa Miller
Adia Millett
Eva Mitala
Nasim Moghadam
Zea Morvitz
Ranu Mukherjee
Marlon Mullen
Abi Mustapha
Nancy Nguyen
Tucker Nichols
Margaret Niven
Miguel Novelo
Yvonne Onakeme Etaghene
Alejandra Palos
Marcel Pardo Ariza
Eileen Parent
Sun Park
Meryl Pataky
Anthony Pedemonte
Anthony Dwight Peebles
Jeanna Penn
Elijah Pfotenhauer
Edward Ramirez
Michiko Reyes
William Rhodes
Gregory Rick
Roz Ritter
Trina Michelle Robinson
Eugene Rodriguez
Sawyer Rose
Leah Rosenberg
Andy Ross
Chelsea Ryoko Wong
Esteban Samayoa
Ron Moultrie Saunders
Tiffany Schmierer
William Scott
Susan Searway-Fertig
Muzae Sesay
Jennifer Shada
Victoria Shen
Adam Shiverdecker
Brian Singer
Tranesha Smith-Kilgore
Lisa Solomon
Jiovanny Soto
Beli Sullivan
Susanne Takehara
Helge Ternsten
Weston Teruya
About the Fleishhacker Foundation
The Fleishhacker Foundation is a family foundation located in San Francisco, California. It was established in 1947 to improve the quality of life in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Foundation makes grants to local, community-based organizations and artists in two main areas: Arts & Culture and Social Justice. Arts grants are made to local small to mid-sized visual and performing arts organizations, arts services organizations, and films by Bay Area filmmakers. The Foundation’s Eureka Fellowship Program also provides unrestricted grants of $40,000 to Bay Area visual artists.
The Fleishhacker Foundation has a proud 78-year history of funding a broad array of Bay Area arts and culture organizations. It focuses its arts grants on advancing the work of local artists and arts groups and furthering the artistic innovations and original voices that make the Bay Area such a vibrant, culturally diverse community.