Jazz artists Rez Abasi, Helen Sung and Elio Vilafranco have been awarded Guggenheim fellowships for 2021. They join 184 artists, writers, scholars and scientists receiving the honor.
Presented annually by the board of trustees of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the fellowships are granted through a rigorous peer-review process of nearly 3,000 applicants.
Created in 1925 by Senator Simon and Olga Guggenheim in memory of their son John Simon Guggenheim, the Foundation has offered fellowships to exceptional individuals in pursuit of scholarship in any field of knowledge and creation in any art form, under the freest possible conditions.
“I am truly honored and grateful to be named a Guggenheim Fellow,” said guitarist and composer Abbasi. “The award is a concrete affirmation that embracing my intuition and artistic values was the right thing to do.”