Council on the Arts Invests $172,500 to Support Alabama Artists and Educators

MONTGOMERY, Ala., (June 16, 2026) - Supporting individual artists is key to Alabama's creative growth. That's why the Alabama State Council on the Arts is awarding $172,500 in funding to 23 Alabama-based artists and arts educators.

The Council on the Arts' competitive Fellowship grant program empowers emerging and established artists and arts educators to hone their skills and pursue innovative projects. These investments not only bolster confidence and professional growth but also enrich communities and inspire future generations. For fiscal year 2027 Fellowships, the award amount was increased from $5,000 to $7,500 in an effort to better support Alabama's creative community.

"Alabama's artists and arts educators help strengthen the cultural, educational, and economic vitality of our state. Their creativity connects communities, empowers young people, and preserves the traditions that make Alabama unique. The Council on the Arts is proud to invest in these individuals so they can deepen their craft, pursue new opportunities, and continue contributing to the well-being of the places they call home. Supporting artists is one of the most meaningful ways we can ensure Alabama's communities remain vibrant, connected, and full of possibility," said Elliot Knight, executive director of the Council on the Arts.

The following Fellowship grant recipients represent some of our state's most talented individuals working in arts education, craft, dance, design, music, photography, poetry, prose, theatre, and visual arts. Notably, five of these individuals are previous Fellowship recipients. James Braziel, Tina Mozelle Braziel, Scott Fisk, Kwoya Fagin Maples, and Jessica Smith join 81 other Alabama artists who have received the lifetime maximum of two awards since the introduction of the Fellowship program in 1981.

Introducing the 2027 Fellowship Cohort

Vikash Achutaramaiah of Montgomery was awarded a Music Fellowship. He is among the few artists worldwide currently performing one of India's most ancient musical traditions, the JalTarang. It consists of water-tuned ceramic bowls struck with wooden sticks to produce precise melodic pitches. Achutaramaiah previously received a 2026 Folk Arts Apprenticeship grant from the Council on the Arts.

Garrett Ashley of Opelika was awarded a Prose Fellowship. He is a multi-genre writer and the author of several books, including the fiction collection Periphylla, and Other Deep Ocean Attractions (Press 53) and the poetry collection Habitats (Loblolly Press). Ashley holds a doctorate from the University of Southern Mississippi's Center for Writers and teaches creative writing at Tuskegee University.

Taylor Barlow of Huntsville was awarded a Music Fellowship. A bass clarinet specialist, she is committed to expanding the instrument's repertoire, having commissioned and premiered several new works. Barlow is the Principal Clarinet of the Huntsville Ballet Orchestra, serves as Alabama state chair for the International Clarinet Association, and is executive director of the Huntsville Youth Orchestra.

James Braziel of Remlap was awarded a Prose Fellowship. He is the author of multiple books, including the award-winning story collection This Ditch-Walking Love (Livingston Press) and novels Birmingham, 35 Miles (Bantam) and Snakeskin Road (Bantam). He teaches creative writing at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Tina Mozelle Braziel of Remlap was awarded a Poetry Fellowship. She is the author of multiple poetry collections, including Known by Salt (Anhinga Press) and Glass Cabin (Pulley Press), which she co-wrote with her husband, James Braziel. Braziel is a practitioner and advocate of eco-poetry and has worked with the Cahaba River Society and Alabama Rivers Alliance.

Jillian Marie Browning of Birmingham was awarded the Gay Burke Photography Fellowship. Their practice engages feminism, identity, and the contemporary Black experience through photography, printmaking, and alternative photographic processes. Browning's work is in the permanent collections of the Center for Photography at Woodstock and the Southeast Museum of Photography, among others. They serve as the assistant professor of photography at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Stacey Edwards of Greenville was awarded a Visual Arts Fellowship. A former high school art teacher, she now shares her knowledge and talent outside the traditional arts education classroom. As an artist, Edwards focuses on capturing the experiences and people of her small town, as reflected in her "Alabama Saints" series.

Amy Feger of Montevallo was awarded a Visual Arts Fellowship. Inspired by her observations and influenced by current events, representations of the land, historical paintings, and maps, she creates drawings, digital images, plein air paintings, videos, and photographs that inform her large-format metaphorical landscape oil paintings. Feger holds an MFA in painting from the University of Alabama.

Scott Fisk of Homewood was awarded a Design Fellowship. He is a designer, artist, and professor, and serves as chair of Samford University's Department of Art and Design. Fisk is an expert in letterpress printing, and his creative work has appeared in more than 100 peer-reviewed exhibitions worldwide and has earned recognition for both craft and conceptual depth.

Susie Garrett of Huntsville was awarded a Craft Fellowship. For over 40 years, she has worked as a graphic designer, illustrator, sculptor, and arts educator. Garrett creates mixed-media work combining colored pencil drawing with metal objects, and her practice centers on transforming discarded and overlooked materials into clever, whimsical art.

Maria Kuznetsova of Auburn was awarded a Prose Fellowship. Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, she is the author of the nationally acclaimed novels Oksana, Behave! (Spiegel & Grau/Random House) and Something Unbelievable (Random House). Kuznetsova is the fiction editor of the Southern Humanities Review and is an associate professor of creative writing at Auburn University.

Kwoya Fagin Maples of Vestavia Hills was awarded a Poetry Fellowship. A poet, bookshelf artist, and teacher of creative writing, her creative practice spans both literary and visual arts. Maples is the author of Long Eye (Hub City Press) and Mend (University Press of Kentucky), which received a 2019 Hurston/Wright Legacy Finalist Award for poetry.

Bobby Matthews of Hoover was awarded a Prose Fellowship. His writing explores the dark and bloody heart of the modern South and strives to show all the moving parts of a changing region. Matthews has written three novels and a short story collection, and he received the 2023 Derringer Award for Best Long Story.

Millian Pham of Opelika was awarded a Visual Arts Fellowship. She uses her art practice to dismantle social and cultural expectations through the mediums of painting, printmaking, sculpture, performance, and installation. Her visual research has been exhibited in Canada, Pakistan, Korea, and across the U.S. Pham is an assistant professor of art at Auburn University.

Chiharu Takahashi Roach of Birmingham was awarded a Visual Arts Fellowship. Born in Nagoya, Japan, she is known for her installations/paintings that explore human fragility, mortality, and hope. Roach's work utilizes multiple processes and features a complicated web of cultural symbols that draws from her early life in Japan and her 25 years in Alabama.

Jessica Smith of Tuscaloosa was awarded a Craft Fellowship. She is a ceramic artist whose work has been exhibited locally, regionally, and internationally. Smith holds an MFA from Tulane University and a BFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. She is a professor of art at the University of West Alabama.

Wanda Sullivan of Mobile was awarded a Visual Arts Fellowship. She has an active studio practice in which oil paint is her primary medium. Sullivan has an MFA in painting from the University of Mississippi and a BFA from the University of South Alabama. She is a professor of art and the director of the Eichold Gallery at Spring Hill College.

Nicholas 'Nic' Tisdale of Alabaster was awarded a Visual Arts Fellowship. His work fuses broken digital imagery with printmaking to critique mass media's evolution, exposing digital flaws and challenging traditional print and media conventions. Tisdale has an MA and MFA in printmaking from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a BFA from the University of Montevallo. He serves as a visiting assistant professor at Jacksonville State University.

Viktoria Truesdail of Madison was awarded an Arts Education Fellowship. She is the general music teacher at Horizon Elementary School, and also teaches at Mill Creek Elementary School and Midtown Elementary School. Truesdail is passionate about sharing knowledge with fellow music educators and has presented sessions at the Alabama Music Education Association conference on bucket drumming and cardio drumming.

Joseph Villalobos of Huntsville was awarded a Dance Fellowship. He has danced for numerous companies, including Ballet Arkansas, Nevada Ballet Theatre, Ballet Theatre of Maryland, and Montgomery Ballet, originating several featured roles in neo-classical and contemporary pieces, while also enjoying major roles in the classics. As an educator, Villalobos emphasizes technique, injury prevention, and longevity in the field.

Erika E. Wade of Birmingham was awarded a Theatre Fellowship. She is a writer, producer, and actor dedicated to advancing diversity in the arts. Her original work has been produced Off-Broadway and in festivals nationwide, and her short film, KNOWING, developed through the Southern Exposure Film Fellowship, has screened internationally. Wade is also a five-time Emmy Award-winning voice actress and serves as film instructor at the Alabama School of Fine Arts.

Rebecca Wall of Auburn was awarded an Arts Education Fellowship. She teaches art at Richland Elementary School, offers private art lessons, and volunteers with community organizations. Wall is passionate about ceramics and enjoys creating nature-inspired sculpture, often experimenting with altered wheel-thrown objects and slip-cast forms. She currently serves as president of the Alabama Art Education Association.

Laura Wilkerson of Springville was awarded an Arts Education Fellowship. She is the visual arts teacher at Springville Middle School, where she guides students through advanced techniques while encouraging experimentation, problem-solving, and individual voice. Wilkerson also works as a professional photographer, and her work has been featured in well-known magazines and is in the permanent collection at the Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts.

This funding is awarded for the 2027 fiscal year (October 1, 2026 - September 30, 2027) and is made possible by the Alabama Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

The Alabama State Council on the Arts grants portal will re-open on July 1, 2026, for project grants for organizations and Folk Arts Apprenticeship requests.

For more information and updates, visit arts.alabama.gov.

# # #

About Alabama State Council on the Arts
The Council on the Arts is the official state agency for the support and development of the arts in Alabama. The Council works to expand and preserve the state's cultural resources by supporting nonprofit arts organizations, schools, colleges, units of local government, and individual artists. Arts programs, assisted by Council grants, have a track record of enhancing community development, education, cultural tourism, and overall quality of life in all regions of the state. Alabama State Council on the Arts grants are made possible by an annual appropriation from the Alabama Legislature and additional funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.