United States Artists, a national arts funding organization dedicated to supporting living artists and cultural practitioners across the United States through unrestricted awards, has announced its 2026 cohort of USA Fellows. Among the 50 recipients are five CalArtians—Ty Defoe, Mercedes Dorame, Johanna Hedva, Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew, and Tanya Orellana—working across theater, visual art, performance, writing, and interdisciplinary practice.
Interdisciplinary artist Ty Defoe (Theater BFA 10), a citizen of the Oneida Nation and the Anishinaabe Tribe, was selected as a 2026 Fellow. Defoe’s practice spans writing, performance, installation, and ritual-based forms, and their honors include a Grammy Award, the Jonathan Larson Award, and the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award.
Mercedes Dorame, a multidisciplinary artist and Photo Program co-director at CalArts, was also recognized. Dorame draws on her Tongva ancestry to explore visibility, land, and ancestral connection through sculptural and installation-based work, with projects presented by The Getty Museum, LACMA, the Hammer Museum, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Dorame was also recently named one of the recipients of the 2025 Nancy Graves Grant for Visual Artists.
Writer, artist, and musician Johanna Hedva (Art MFA 2013, Critical Studies MA 2014) was also named a 2026 Fellow. Hedva is the author of How to Tell When We Will Die: On Pain, Disability, and Doom and Your Love Is Not Good, and their work has been presented internationally at institutions including Gropius Bau, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, MASS MoCA, and the Shanghai Biennial.
Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew (Theater MFA 06) was recognized for her work spanning theater, opera, dance, installation, and immersive performance. Her projects have been presented in cities around the globe including New York; Tokyo; Paris; Shanghai; Edinburgh, Scotland; Prague; Lima, Peru; and Bloemfontein, South Africa. She currently serves as arts professor and head of lighting design training at NYU.
Scenic designer Tanya Orellana (Theater MFA 17) was recognized for her work creating performance environments for theater, opera, and immersive installations at venues including The Huntington, The Guthrie, Pasadena Playhouse, Berkeley Rep, and The Getty Villa. She is a core member of Campo Santo, a member of Wingspace Design, an organizing member of La Gente: The Latiné Theatre Production Network, and a recipient of the Princess Grace Fabergé Theatre Award.
USA Fellowships provide each artist with $50,000 in unrestricted funding, along with optional access to professional services including financial planning, legal consultation, and career advising. Fellows are selected through a peer-driven nomination, application, and review process, with discipline-specific panels evaluating artistic vision, contributions to the field, and the potential impact of the award.
