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Cultural Council Awards Prestigious 4th Round of the Artist Innovation Fellowship
With its biggest investment to date, the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County continues offering a rare grant focused solely on personal artistic growth
Lake Worth Beach, Fla. (March 10, 2026) – Continuing its mission to champion creative professionals in The Palm Beaches, the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2026 Artist Innovation Fellowships. Launched in 2020, the biennial program provides funding that empowers artists to continue advancing their careers.
This year, the Cultural Council is awarding 10 professional artists $10,000 each – the largest individual award to date for this fellowship program. With this round of funding, the Council has now granted a total of $257,500 to 31 artists across all disciplines living and working in Palm Beach County.
Distinct from traditional professional development opportunities, the Artist Innovation Fellowship emphasizes personal creative exploration. The program offers artists the chance to pursue innovation in existing or new avenues of creative expression without the constraints of budgets or predetermined project outcomes. Fellows are recognized throughout the year, given additional opportunities at the Cultural Council such as being paired with emerging artists as mentors. New this year, Fellows will also be trained as cultural tourism ambassadors for The Palm Beaches, as many travel across the globe for exhibitions or performances, residencies, or other opportunities.
“The Artist Innovation Fellowship gives artists something truly rare: the freedom to imagine without limits,” said Dave Lawrence, President & CEO of the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County. “When we invest in artists as individuals, our entire community grows stronger. By equipping our Fellows to also serve as cultural tourism ambassadors for The Palm Beaches, we extend that impact globally, amplifying our creative identity, attracting new visitors, and positioning our county as a premiere arts destination across the international arts landscape.”
Selected by a regional panel of discipline-specific arts professionals, applicants were evaluated on the quality of their artistic work, the strength and relevance of their proposed fellowship activities, and the anticipated impact on their practice. Fellowships were awarded to artists who demonstrated a sustained level of accomplishment, commitment, and artistic excellence.
The 2026 Artist Innovation Fellows and proposals are:
Sonya Sanchez Arias, Visual Art
Blend collaged portraits and print on non-nontraditional surfaces including plastics, metals, glass, and fabrics. Combine digital printing and hard embroidery to reintroduce ancestral handwork into contemporary image-making.
George Bayer, Visual Art
Attend an apprenticeship at Benrido in Kyoto (founded in 1887 the world’s only remaining studio producing full-color photographic collotypes) to learn this endangered technique and create two large-format collotype works, along with a suite of 10 limited-edition boxed sets of gelatin prints.
Virginia Blische, Visual Art
Create an animated series based on multiple felted characters including Rosewell, a frog who loves all things space related.
Michelle Drummond, Visual Art
Study how rural and underrepresented communities navigate environmental and infrastructure challenges (i.e., inaccessibility of clean water). Examine the threads of interconnectedness among these communities and translate their stories into sculptural forms.
Jill Hotchkiss, Visual Art
Collaborate with Flavor Paper Silkscreen Studio to translate dendritic imagery into large wall coverings that serve as immersive environments for scrolls and reliefs, expanding the work into installation-scale formats.
Quinn Miller, Visual Art
Document stories, landscapes, and symbols that parallel the agricultural found in Palm Beach County, especially on the history of sugarcane production within South Florida. The artwork created will explore identity and belonging in rural communities. Work created will be printed on sugarcane paper showing destruction by the elements (i.e., weather).
Ashley Osorio, Music
Bring Comala, an 18th-century opera by the forgotten composer Harriet W. Stewart, to life. Complete the transcription, record Acts 1 and 2 with professional musicians, and contribute as both scholar and performer.
Quimetta Perle, Visual Art
Using interactive fabric, embedding additional imagery into the work, so it is both still and moving, light emitting as well as light reflective.
Elizabeth Price, Theatre
Attend the National Michael Chekhov Society acting training workshop in June 2026. Under the mentorship of Kristen Haaggi to bring to life the story of recovery from an accident.
Elizabeth Straight, Literature
Write and curate a matrilineal poetry collection grounded in creative vulnerability and ancestral memory.
Photo Link: AIF Recipients at the Cultural Council’s 2026 Muse Awards
(L to R): Quimetta Perle, Quinn Miller, Jill Hotchkiss, Michelle Drummond, Virginia Blische, George Bayer, Sonya Sanchez Arias, Ashley Osorio, Elizabeth Straight, Elizabeth Price
*Photo Credit: Premier Photo
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About the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County
The Cultural Council for Palm Beach County is the official support agency for arts and culture in The Palm Beaches, Florida’s Cultural Capital®. Headquartered in the historic Robert M. Montgomery, Jr. building in Downtown Lake Worth Beach, the Council presents exciting year-round exhibitions and performances featuring artists who live or work in Palm Beach County. The Council features spectacular work by Palm Beach County-based professional artisans in its Roe Green Uniquely Palm Beach Store and offers complimentary resources for visitors in its Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf Visitor Information Center. The Council is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday from 12 to 5 p.m. For more information and a comprehensive calendar of cultural events in The Palm Beaches, visit palmbeachculture.com.