The Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation has announced the recipients of the 2026 Rabkin Prize, awarding eight visual arts journalists, critics, and cultural strategists $50,000 each in unrestricted funds, according to announcements published by Hyperallergic and the Rabkin Foundation. Marking a decade of support for arts writers, the Portland, Maine-based foundation has distributed $4.1 million in total awards since 2017.
The 2026 Rabkin Prize Recipients
This year’s cohort features eight professionals whose work examines how visual art intersects with history, politics, and public life. According to the Rabkin Foundation, the 2026 winners are:
- Damien Davis: An artist, educator, and writer exploring the construction and circulation of power, race, and cultural narratives.
- Melaine Ferdinand-King: A cultural strategist, poet, writer, and the inaugural curator of the African American Museum of Rhode Island, focusing on historical and community narratives.
- Tyler Green: A critic, author, and longtime host of The Modern Art Notes Podcast.
- Alicia Inez Guzmán: A critic and investigative journalist specializing in culture and land use.
- Julia Halperin: Co-founder of the Burns Halperin Report—which monitors art world equity and representation—alongside her work as an editor, critic, and investigative data journalist.
- Sarah Lewis: Creator of Vision & Justice, an associate professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, and an acclaimed author.
- Jan Tumlir: A founding editor of X-TRA, the Los Angeles contemporary art journal, as well as an author, educator, and editor.
- Kaelen Wilson-Goldie: A journalist and critic with decades of international reporting experience focused on art and politics.
Selection Process and Jury
Winners are chosen through a multi-step nomination and evaluation process. Visual arts professionals across the United States serve as nominators, supplying a pool of candidates who then submit recent work samples and resumes. An independent jury selects the final recipients.
As Hyperallergic reported, the independent panel for 2026 comprised Jaime DeSimone, chief curator at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine; Irene Borger, a writer, educator, and founding director of the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts; and Legacy Russell, a writer, curator, and the chief curator and executive director of The Kitchen in New York City.
Foundation History and Documentation
The Rabkin Foundation operates as an artist-endowed organization founded by Leo Rabkin, an artist who exhibited in New York, alongside his wife Dorothea. The couple valued discourse surrounding art and assembled a notable collection of folk and outsider art, which is housed at the foundation’s headquarters in Portland, Maine.
In keeping with its annual tradition, the foundation commissioned artist-photographer Kevin J. Miyazaki to photograph each winner in their writing spaces, according to the Rabkin Foundation. The foundation is also publishing a companion podcast series featuring interviews with the recipients on Substack, podcast platforms, and its official website through November 4.
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