Two recent CalArts graduates have been selected for the 2025–26 Association of Independent Colleges of Art & Design (AICAD) Teaching Fellowship, a program designed to increase faculty diversity and enrich art and design education across the U.S. and Canada. Additionally, a previous CalArts fellow will continue his position for a second year.
Trisha Bhattacharya (Film/Video MFA 25) and Erik Antonio Benitez (Art MFA 25) are among this year’s new cohort of Fellows. Both will begin teaching at AICAD institutions this fall, with Bhattacharya placed at the Kansas City Art Institute in Kansas City, Missouri, and Benitez at the Yale School of Art in New Haven, Connecticut.
Bhattacharya, a film and video artist from India, creates work that investigates the politics of sound, the inheritance of oral storytelling traditions, and the ecological and cultural landscapes that shape border regions. Her practice blends moving image, sound design, and experimental documentary forms.
Benitez, a first generation Salvadoran American artist and musician, explores themes of migration, decolonization, memory, and mythology through interdisciplinary work that spans digital and physical spaces. Their research and studio practice centers on “spherical time,” a nonlinear temporal framework that fuses past, present, and future to examine cultural identity and alternate futures.
Yusef Ferguson (Film/Video MFA 24) will continue his fellowship at Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio, for a second year. Ferguson is a filmmaker and visual artist whose work explores the intersection of storytelling, archival research, and expanded cinema.
Established in 2015, the AICAD Teaching Fellowship was created to support high-achieving alumni from underrepresented backgrounds. The program includes professional development, faculty mentorship, teaching experience, and financial support, including health benefits.
AICAD represents a consortium of 36 leading art and design colleges in the United States and Canada. Its mission is to strengthen member institutions both individually and collectively while promoting the value of an art and design education to the broader public.
