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Yale Alumni Received MacArthur Genius Grant for Creativity in Various Artistic Fields
Eda Aker
Contributing journalist
Ryan Chiao, Senior Photographer
Reginald Dwayne Betts LAW ’16 GRD ’21 told the News he laughed in surprise when an anonymous caller informed him of an award he had won – the MacArthur Fellowship.
Former university students who have also received this honor include Jordan Casteel ART ’14 and Monica Muñoz Martinez GRD ’12. The MacArthur Fellowship, commonly known as the Engineering Fellowship, is awarded annually to 25 individuals who demonstrate exceptional creativity in their respective fields of work and accomplishments. The three alumni won the award for their respective achievements in the fields of poetry and law, art and public history. Each received a five-year grant from $ 625,000, paid in quarterly installments, to continue their work as they see fit.
“I laughed because it was so unexpected and then I was still, I’m still developing what my reaction is,” Betts said. “I’ll use [the grant] to build relationships and build a base of support for what I want to do in the future.
The selective and secretive nomination process for the award involves nominations by a “changing pool of invited external nominators”. None of the three had ever planned on being nominated for the award, let alone winning it, they said.
Betts is a poet, lawyer and currently a law doctoral student at Yale. He has worked for the promotion of the rights of people who are or have been imprisoned previously. At the age of 16, Betts himself was tried as an adult for auto theft and has since written as a poet to reflect on his experiences with the justice system. After graduating from college, Betts worked as a lawyer to end the cash bond, limit sentence lengths and outlaw juvenile sentences in adult prisons.
Currently, as part of the Yale Law School Justice Collaboratory, Betts works as the director of the nonprofit Freedom Reads – creating reading circles, donating books, and organizing book lists for incarcerated people. Betts founded Freedom Reads with the aim of broadening the horizons of inmates through access to books in prison libraries.
Elsa Hardy LAW ’23 also shared with News her joy to hear that Betts won the MacArthur Scholarship. Hardy has worked with Betts since before the founding of Freedom Reads and was his “right hand man”. She said she could feel the “innovative” and “pushing the limits” qualities of Betts “in the air around him”.
Hardy gave the example of Freedom Reads ‘shelving construction project as an example that illustrates Betts’ execution of a vision. Most would think building shelves in prison is “crazy” and the few who think about it would build them in prison libraries, she said. But Betts, by building shelving in prison housing units with MASS Design Group, was able to broaden the reach of readers reached by the project.
“Dwayne is the kind of leader who doesn’t get trapped by habit or laziness in the most practical way, or even trapped in battling inconvenience; it is the ultimate step back to imagine a truer, more interesting and more ambitious solution, ”Tess Wheelwright, Freedom Reads project manager, told News. “Also, he never fails to interrupt any meeting for a call from family or prison. I think this combination of giant vision and fierce loyalty is the reason people… are inspired by and trust Dwayne.
Martinez, another recipient, is a public historian who has raised awareness of racial violence along the Texas-Mexico border. Growing up in South Texas, Martinez shared with News his desire for a more accessible and true Texas history.
Currently, through his work with the Mapping Violence Project, Martinez is working on creating a digital archive of “the true Texas history” to complement the more common myths and records that are “often corrupted” in cases. of “state-sanctioned violence” targeting various racial groups in the early 1900s. She investigates neglected records and connects with people who have preserved their stories with personal records – such as photographs – and plans to use the grant to further contribute to the Mapping Violence project, with the belief that “reckoning with the past is closely linked to current efforts for social justice.
“What impressed me the most [about Martinez] was that she had very close relationships with the descendant communities… the children and grandchildren of people who had survived these horrific cases of violence or had lost their lives… and [Martinez] was able to not only get them into the conversation, but also get them to the table, ”said Benjamin Johnson GRD ’00.
Johnson met Martinez after graduating from Yale and worked with her on Refusing to Forget – an award-winning nonprofit that Martinez and Johnson co-founded with other academics – to raise awareness about violence against Mexicans Americans in Texas, according to the organization’s website. . Johnson explained that what is most remarkable about Martinez is his holistic and collaborative approach to “building bridges” and his “generosity of spirit”.
Casteel, the third recipient, is a painter who has worked to encapsulate the closeness of people and environments – ranging from the New York subways to classrooms – into art. She often portrays people of color in her work and addresses relevant social issues. Many of his paintings are created from photographs and depict his subjects in forward-facing positions conveying intimacy. Casteel’s artistic style is also notable for his unique use of bright colors. His work has been featured in solo exhibitions at the New Museum in New York, in the permanent collections of the Denver Art Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, among others.
“In our individual and group conversations on politics, color and space, Jordan Casteel has always been attentive, open-minded and grounded ”, Anoka Faruqee, director of graduate studies in painting and printmaking, told the News.
Currently, Casteel sets up its new exhibition at the Massimo De Carlo gallery in London, a gallery that brings together the works of leading artists from around the world. She continues to strive to use art as a means of reflecting on our “shared humanity”.
“We couldn’t be happier for [Casteel] about MacArthur’s incredible achievement, ”wrote Veronica Levitt, who works at the Casey Kaplan Gallery where Casteel’s work is on display, in an email to News. “We have had the privilege of witnessing the evolution of Jordan’s painting practice, but also the unwavering commitment to the nuanced language around the work, which is an integral part of valuing people and landscapes represented. “
MacArthur is one of the largest independent foundations in the United States.
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