The Division of the Arts at UW–Madison, with the help of a cross-departmental panel of judges, has awarded more than $120,000 to a select a group of outstanding faculty, staff, and students — both graduate and undergraduate — as recipients of the 2026 Creative Arts Awards! Their work and research is spread across fourteen different areas of study and runs the gamut, from music, theatre & drama, arts education, fashion design, painting, photography and more. A special public ceremony to honor their achievements will be held on April 20, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. in the H.F. DeLuca Forum inside the Discovery Building.
“It is a pleasure to be able to honor these special individuals.”, says Amy Gilman, Senior Director for the Arts and Media, and Director of the Chazen Museum of Art. “Their work truly represents the Wisconsin Idea in action by benefiting the state and inspiring people to create, connect, converse, and collaborate. I am thrilled for this year’s Creative Arts Awards recipients.”
Dan Cavanagh, the Director of the School of Music and Professor of Jazz Studies and Composition, leads a distinguished list that includes two other faculty members: Jean Laurenz (Music), and Christina West (Art). Academic staff members Gabrielle Javier-Cerulli (University Health Services) and Mitch Frank (Design Studies), along with sixteen graduate and undergraduate students, are also awardees.
Here is the complete list of this year’s awardees:
Creative Arts Award
Dan Cavanagh (Mead Witter School of Music)
Emily Mead Baldwin Award in the Creative Arts
Jean Laurenz (Mead Witter School of Music)
Christina West (Art)
Edna Wiechers Arts in Wisconsin Award
Mitch Frank (Design Studies)
Joyce J. and Gerald A. Bartell Award in the Arts
Gabrielle Javier-Cerulli (UHS–Mental Health Services)
David and Edith Sinaiko Frank Graduate Fellowship for a Woman in the Arts
Nika McKagen (Photography)
Graduate Student Creative Arts Awards
Tanya Habjouqa (Photography)
Tina Rose Rea Meister (Painting/Interdisciplinary Art)
Maurice Norman (Creative Writing – Poetry)
Blue Rachapradit & Aida Arosoaie (Fine Arts)
Lars Shimabukuro (Design Studies)
Christie Tirado (Print, Book and Paper)
Lyman S.V. Judson and Ellen Mackechnie Judson Graduate Student Award in the Creative Arts
Emily Nott (Curriculum & Instruction)
Anne E. Stoner (Art)
Lyman S.V. Judson and Ellen Mackechnie Judson Undergraduate Student Award in the Creative Arts
Elizabeth Larson (Computer Science, Philosophy, Photography)
Jameson Milhaupt (Theatre & Drama)
Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Arts Award
Bryce Dailey (Consumer Behavior and Marketplace Studies)
Matthew Lyga (Textile and Fashion Design)
Ahema Odeng-Otu (Art, Graphic Design)
Justin Russell (Elementary Education)
Vivian Ye (Art)
A synopsis of the awardees’ projects can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1o4oVO_kHHnKBXE7btjUeUR2GYWYVEhLf-nt036abpRQ/edit?gid=1211928381#gid=1211928381
The 2026 Creative Arts Awards selection committee was chaired by Amy Gilman and comprised of Derrick Buisch (Art), Florence Hsia (History), Patrick Jackson (School of Human Ecology), Grant Nelsestuen (Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies), and Jen Plants (English).
The Creative Arts Awards program enables the Division of the Arts to recognize and support research and outreach in all areas of the arts at UW–Madison. Eight categories of awards are open to a variety of arts practitioners, researchers, students (both undergraduate and graduate), staff and faculty from arts academic departments, co-curricular arts units and programs. The awards ceremony is a celebration of diverse and groundbreaking creative arts research that spans disciplines and departments across UW–Madison. It is also a time for our various arts units on campus to join in community by gathering, connecting, and sharing our common ground.