FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 8, 2006
GUGGENHEIM LATIN
AMERICAN
AND CARIBBEAN
FELLOWSHIP
AWARDS, 2006
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has awarded 34
Fellowships to artists, scholars, and scientists from Latin America and
the Caribbean with a total grant allocation of $1,200,000 according to
Edward Hirsch, Foundation president. There were 434 applicants.
Countries represented by the new Fellows this year include Argentina,
Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, and
Venezuela.
The Foundation grants Fellowships through two annual
competitions: one for citizens and permanent residents of the
United States and Canada; the other for citizens and permanent
residents of Latin America and the Caribbean. The Fellowships are
awarded to persons who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for
productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts.
Decisions are based on recommendations from hundreds of expert advisors
and are approved by the Foundation’s Board of Trustees, which
includes six members who are themselves past Fellows of the Foundation
– Joel Conarroe, Joyce Carol Oates, Richard A. Rifkind, Charles
A. Ryskamp, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, and Edward Hirsch.
The diversity of the 2006 Fellows is worth noting. The new
Fellows range in age from the 29-year-old Cuban sculptor and
installation artist, Yoan Capote, to the 62-year-old Chilean poet,
Soledad Fariña. The 34 new Fellows are diverse not only in
age, but also in their interests as the following samples show:
works of fiction by the novelist, Jorge Accame; Rodrigo
Cánovas’ study of Chilean and Mexican writers of Arab and
Jewish origin; Mario G. Maldonado’s research on the diagnostic
skills of Quichua healers of the Andes; Pablo Marquet’s study of
key problems in macroecology; new works by the choreographer, Gabriela
Prado; works by the painter, Fernando Prats; Gabriel Adrián
Rabinovich’s research on the impact of protein-glycan
interactions in tumor-immune escape; Ethelia Ruiz Medrano’s study
of the historical arguments for Indian rights; and Gabriela
Siracusano’s study of the ritual uses of pigments in 16th- and 17th- century Andean and Spanish artistic practices.
In its selection process, the Foundation consults with distinguished
scholars and artists regarding the accomplishments and promise of the
applicants and presents this evidence to the Committee of
Selection. This year's Committee of Selection consists of
Guillermo Jaim-Etcheverry, Professor of Cell Biology and Histology, and
former Rector, University of Buenos Aires; Sabine MacCormack, Professor
of History, University of Notre Dame; Sylvia Molloy, Albert Schweitzer
Professor in the Humanities, New York University; María Teresa
Ruiz, Professor of Astronomy, University of Chile; and Peter H. Smith,
Professor of Political Science and Simon Bolivar Professor of Latin
American Studies, University of California, San Diego. All
members of the Committee of Selection are past Guggenheim Fellows.
The due date for applications in the competition for Latin America and
the Caribbean is December 1st of each year. Persons interested in
applying should visit the website listed below or write to the
Foundation at 90 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016, for information and
forms.
The full list of all 2006 Fellows, including those named in the United
States and Canadian competition, is on the World Wide Web at http://www.gf.org.
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