Four New Yorkers Receive $500,000 Grants

Dafnis Prieto, 37, a jazz percussionist and composer from New York City, was told that he received the MacArthur Foundation 'genius' grant in a phone call on Sept. 16. Prieto is looking forward to producing a new record and finishing a book on drumming. (Courtesy of MacArthur Foundation)

NEW YORK—winners are notified with a single phone call and the funds come with no strings attached, and are distributed over the course of five years.

A total of 22 fellows received a grant this year. New York City is represented by Jad Abumrad, 38, a radio host and producer; Dafnis Prieto, 37, a jazz percussionist and composer; Francisco Nunez, 46, a choral conductor and composer; and Alisa Weilerstein, 29, a cellist.

“The call from the foundation is the culmination of an intensive year or longer review of the creative efforts and promise of each fellow. It comes out of the blue and offers the new fellows the gift of time and the unfettered opportunity to explore, create, and contribute,” Daniel J. Socolow, director of the MacArthur Fellows Program, stated in a press release.

Dafnis Prieto plans to use the grant to record his latest record titled “Proverb Trio.” He also plans to finish a book on drumming.

“I was very, very surprised and honored and happy to hear about the news,” said Prieto. “It’s going to increase the visibility of myself as an artist to people that can give me an opportunity to present my work.”

Prieto combines elements of his Cuban heritage with jazz music in his percussion work to create multilayered rhythms. His composition work explores rhythm, tempo, and time signatures in a nonstandard way.

Jad Abumrad will use the grant to take his radio program, Radiolab, to a new level. Started more than nine years ago, Radiolab explores big concepts, such as time and the nature of numbers, in radio format. Abumrad came into the show as a musician and had to learn the journalism part as he went along.

“Somehow early on it occurred to me that storytelling is a deeply musical act,” Abumrad said. “You’re using your voice to kind of go up and down, you’re playing with things like pitch and contour and rhythm. I just kind of took that to its logical extreme in the making of this show.”

Radiolab “takes a deep dive” into vast concepts and explores them through lively conversational interviews, storytelling, theater, and other approaches.

“I know that this award is intended to allow creative people to breathe and to sort of like point their nose to the wind a little bit and I intend to do that,” said Abumrad. “I want to continue to tell stories that are exciting and difficult and challenging. I want to continue to reinvent this thing. I want to keep this thing moving and changing and growing and always a little bit out of reach of ourselves and our listeners as well.”

Francisco Nunez, a conductor, composer, and pianist, founded the Young People’s Chorus of New York City (YPC). Over the 23 years of Nunez’s work with inner-city schools, over 10,000 children, aged 7–18 have gone through the program.

“Very few programs bring children together from underprivileged backgrounds and rich backgrounds and give them an opportunity to work together. The Young People’s Chorus is doing that,” Nunez said in an interview with the MacArthur Foundation.

Alisa Weilerstein never wanted any other instrument but a cello. She considers herself a classical musician, although she has been commissioned for performances from all time periods. Weilerstein finds inspiration in collaborating with fellow musicians. She has learned a lot from working with others and intends to continue on that path.

“I was utterly shocked to receive the MacArthur fellowship. I still think it’s a dream. I still reread the letter to make sure that I’m not hallucinating,” said Weilerstein in an interview with the MacArthur Foundation.