Welcome to the 2026 Creative Arts Awards, hosted by Dr. Amy Gilman, Senior Director for the Arts and Media & Director of the Chazen Museum of Art, with special guest Provost John Zumbrunnen.
The Creative Arts Awards program enables the Division of the Arts to recognize and support research and outreach in all areas of the creative 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, presented by the Division, is a celebration of diverse and groundbreaking creative arts research that spans disciplines and departments across UW–Madison. a time for our various arts units on campus to join in community and gather to connect and share common ground.
Opening
Creative Arts Award Video
by Aaron Granat, featuring Mariah Moneda and Laura Schwendinger
Introductions & Welcome
Samara Frame
Land Acknowledgement; Committee & Donor Acknowledgement
Amy Gilman
PERFORMANCE: Much Ado about Nothing (Theatre & Drama)
Malika Daikawa, Beatrice
Logan Vennemann, Benedick
directed by Baron Kelly
The Studio Creative Arts Award
Amari Kukreja, Women’s Bodies, Witnessed
Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Arts Award
Bryce Dailey, Nomadic Gallery
Matthew Lyga, Canyon Sleaze FW 2026
Ahema Odeng-Otu, 1997
JEXISIS, Splus
Vivian Ye, Signals
Lyman S.V. Judson and Ellen Mackechnie Judson
Student Award in the Creative Arts
Elizabeth Larson, At the intersection of
cameras, code, and conscience
Jameson Milhaupt, Falsettos
PERFORMANCE: The Studio
JEXISIS, spoken word poetry
INTRODUCTION OF DR. THOMAS BARTELL &
PROVOST JOHN ZUMBRUNNEN
Joyce J. and Gerald A. Bartell Award in the Arts
Gabrielle Javier-Cerulli, Arting for Wellbeing
Edna Wiechers Arts in Wisconsin Award
Mitch Frank, Wisconsin Cloth
Emily Mead Baldwin Award in the Creative Arts
Jean Laurenz, DESCENDED
Christina West, Re-staging Gender in the Language
of the Ceramic Figurine
Creative Arts Award
Dan Cavanagh, Redefining the Concerto Tradition
Lyman S.V. Judson and Ellen Mackechnie Judson
Graduate Student Award in the Creative Arts
Emily Nott, A Community‑Engaged Scholar
Anne E. Stoner, untitled application
David and Edith Sinaiko Frank Graduate Fellowship
for a Woman in the Arts
Nika McKagen, Conduit
Graduate Student Creative Arts Award
Tanya Habjouqa, Absence as Archive
Tina Rose Rea Meister, Soft Places
Maurice Norman, Don’t Lose Heart
Blue Rachapradit & Aida Arosoaie, Weird Opera
for the Fall of the Anthropos
Lars Shimabukuro, within and through
Christie Tirado, Cosechando Historias
PERFORMANCE: Barrio Dance Studio
featuring Dance Department Lecturer AJ Juarez + dancers
Closing & Reception
Our Vibes dance-film installation
DJ WSUM
Click any of the award names above to learn more about the recipients’ projects.
With Gratitude
Thank you to the 2026 Creative Arts Awards Selection Committee:
The 2026 Creative Arts Awards selection committee was chaired by Amy Gilman and comprised of Derrick Buisch (Art); Florence Hsia (History); Patrick Jackson (Human Ecology); Grant Nelsestuen (Letters & Science) and Jen Plants (English)
The Creative Arts Awards are made possible by the Emily Mead Baldwin Professorship Fund, Joyce J. and Gerald A. Bartell Award for Arts Faculty and Staff Fund, the Bassett Foundation, Suzanne and Roberto Freund, Lyman S.V. Judson and Ellen Mackechnie Judson Award Fund, Emily Nissley, David and Edith Sinaiko Frank Fund, Edna Wiechers Arts in Wisconsin Fund, and the Division of the Arts.
Special thanks for funding goes to the International Division, Ronald W. Hevey and the Ronald W. Hevey Scholarship Fund, donors to the Leslie Watkins Visual and Performing Arts Scholarship Fund, Joan Spero and C. Michael Spero, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education with funding from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
Additional Credits
Division of the Arts
Dr. Amy Gilman, Senior Director for the Arts and Media
Samara Frame, Advancement Manager
Lisa Spierer, Administrative Manager
Haylie Hart, Event Coordinator
Peter Kleppin, Communications Director
Aaron Granat, Videographer
Maggie Ginsberg, Writer
Rainer Carboni, Social Media Specialist
Liz Root, Senior Coordinator for Arts Recruitment
Guy Thorne, Arts Residency Programs Coordinator
Brian Jaap, Program Assistant
Ammo Eisu, The Studio Program Manager
Chazen Museum of Art
Dr. Amy Gilman, Director
Lindsay Grinstead, Chief of Staff
Kristine Klasen, Chief Operating Officer
Jessica Sayer, Executive Assistant to the Director