Roberto Lugo receives USA fellowship

November 21, 2016

This week United States Artists announced the recipients of its significant fellowships for 2016, including Marlboro College ceramics professor Roberto Lugo. Recognized for his unique artistic voice that expands the nation’s creative environment, Rob is one of 46 artists from across the U.S. to receive one of the unrestricted, $50,000 fellowships.

“This will significantly impact my work,” said Rob, who has received national attention for his work combining visual arts traditions and stimulating new conversations surrounding cultural tolerance. “I will be able to create a new body of work and have the financial ability to work on aspects that were previously unavailable.”

United States Artists (USA) was founded in 2006 to address the lack of unrestricted funding available to artists in the U.S. Each year the organization awards fellowships to the country’s most accomplished and innovative artists working in nine fields, from architecture and design to dance. Fellows are selected through a rigorous, highly competitive process involving hundreds of experts, scholars, administrator, and artists.

“By supporting American artists, USA is supporting creativity, free expression, and a strong, diverse culture,” said USA interim president and CEO Sunny Fischer. “Our fellows cross all ages, ethnicities, and stages in their careers. We are encouraging the best of what American artists can achieve.”

“This fellowship is dedicated to all of the children who come from neighborhoods like those that I grew up in—poor,” said Rob, who grew up in inner city Philadelphia. “I realized some time ago that if you are doing something rarely done before, that means it is something in desperate need of being done. I made it as an artist, and you can too—find something you love to do and you’ll forever find bliss. Thank god for helping me find clay.”