<p><i>Grammy-nominated saxophonist, composer, and arranger known for spiritual innovations in jazz is the youngest of this year’s fellows</i></p> <p>New York University’s Immanuel Wilkins, a Grammy-nominated saxophonist and composer, has been named a 2026 MacArthur Fellow by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.</p> <p>MacArthur Fellows are recipients of the foundation’s “genius grants,” who each receive $800,000 over a five-year period to pursue intellectual, social, and artistic endeavors.</p> <p>This year’s fellows also included NYU alumna Maaza Mengiste (GSAS, ‘07), a novelist who graduated from the university’s Creative Writing Program. </p> <p>“For 45 years, MacArthur Fellows have defied boundaries, by questioning conventions, crossing disciplines, and driving collective progress,” said Kristen Mack, vice president of communications, MacArthur Fellows, and partnerships. “The 2026 Fellows continue that creative tradition—they explore the depths of our humanity; they reveal untold origins to modern challenges; they expand the edges of scientific inquiry and life-saving research. They show us new ways to understand the world.”</p> <p><a href="/content/sps-nyu/faculty-directory/20647-immanuel-wilkins.html" target="_blank">Wilkins</a>, 29, is an adjunct instructor in NYU’s School of Professional Studies (SPS) who has received three Grammy Award nominations. He is widely recognized for his gospel-infused music that is both inventive and steeped in tradition.</p> <p>“Receiving a MacArthur Fellowship allows for me to continue my practice with a certain boundlessness of creativity,” said Wilkins, who has been on NYU’s SPS faculty since 2020. “I’ve been called to look back on the projects I’ve presented to lead me to this point—while also looking ahead to the possibilities this fellowship allows. </p> <p>“I now have room to create more radical, provocative, and intellectually rigorous work. I’m so encouraged to uphold the standard of incredible artists who have been selected for this fellowship and I’m excited for what this opportunity can make possible in my career.”</p> <p>Wilkins’s debut album, <i>Omega</i> (Blue Note Records), was named the Best Jazz Album of the Year in 2020 by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/02/arts/music/best-jazz-albums.html" target="_blank"><i>The New York Times</i></a> and nominated for an NAACP Image Award. His second album, <i>The 7th Hand</i> (Blue Note Records), was among <i>The New York Times</i>’ Best Jazz Albums of the Year in 2022. </p> <p>In 2026, Wilkins received two Grammy nominations—for Best Alternative Jazz Album for his most recent work, <i>Blues Blood</i> (Blue Note Records), and for Best Jazz Performance for his work on Lakecia Benjamin's single, “Noble Rise” (Ropeadope). In 2025, his contributions to Kenny Barron’s <i>Beyond This Place</i> (Artwork Records) received a Grammy nomination for “<a href="https://www.grammy.com/awards/categories/best-jazz-instrumental-album/" target="_blank">Best Jazz Instrumental Album</a>”.      </p> <p>His three-volume <i>Live at the Village</i> Vanguard was released earlier this year by Blue Note Records.</p> <p>Born in Philadelphia, Wilkins moved to New York in 2015 to attend the Juilliard School, forming the Immanuel Wilkins Quartet, which includes Micah Thomas (piano), Ryoma Takenaga (bass), and Kweku Sumbry (drums). It has become Wilkins’ central vehicle for his exploration of improvisation, memory, and the lineage of jazz. </p> <p>Wilkins combines visual art and sculpture into his musical practice. Among these works is  Recess, an immersive musical installation that debuted in North Philadelphia in 2026 and included fellow artists Odean Pope and Rachael Elliott. Other notable artists he has collaborated with include Cauleen Smith, Leslie Hewitt, and Theaster Gates.</p> <p><a href="/content/sps-nyu/experience/success-stories/faculty-spotlights/immanuel-wilkins-discusses-liberation-music.html" target="_blank">Wilkins</a>, who holds a bachelor’s degree in jazz studies from the Juilliard School, teaches in SPS’s Division of Applied Undergraduate Studies as well as at the New School. </p>

<p>Wilkins’s previous honors include the Creative Capital Award in 2023, a Pew Fellowship, a Civitella Ranieri Fellowship, and winner of the DownBeat Critics Poll’s “Alto Saxophonist of the Year” in 2024, 2025, and 2026.</p> <p><a href="https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2026/maaza-mengiste" target="_blank">Mazza</a>, a professor of English at Wesleyan University, has authored <i>Beneath the Lion’s Gaze </i>(W. W. Norton &amp; Co, 2010) and <i>The Shadow King</i> (W.W. Norton &amp; Co, 2020).</p> <p>For more information on this year’s fellows, please visit the MacArthur Foundation’s <a href="https://www.macfound.org/programs/awards/fellows/" target="_blank">website</a>.</p> <p><b>EDITOR’S NOTE<br> </b><i>Founded in 1831, NYU is one of the world’s foremost research universities and is a member of the selective Association of American Universities. NYU has degree-granting university campuses in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai and has 13 other global academic sites, including London, Paris, Florence, Tel Aviv, Buenos Aires, and Accra, and US sites in Washington, DC, Los Angeles, CA, and Tulsa, OK. Through its numerous schools and colleges, NYU is a leader in conducting research and providing education in the arts and sciences, law, medicine, business, dentistry, engineering, education, nursing, the cinematic and performing arts, music and studio arts, public service, social work, public health, and professional studies, among other areas.</i></p>