MMUF PhD Jacqueline Stewart wins 2021 MacArthur Fellowship

MMUF PhD Jacqueline Stewart, currently Chief Artistic and Programming Officer at Los Angeles' Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and Associate Professor of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Chicago, is among the 25 recipients of the 2021 MacArthur Fellowship. She is one of two MMUF PhDs (along with public historian Monica Muñoz Martinez) in this year's cohort of winners. The $625,000, no-strings-attached fellowship, which is awarded annually to figures whose work has demonstrated exceptional originality and the potential for significant future contributions to their fields, recognizes Jacqueline's scholarship on the often-overlooked contributions of Black filmmakers, actors and audiences to the history and artistic development of cinema, including her 2005 book Migrating to the Movies: Cinema and Black Urban Modernity, her role as the first Black host on the Turner Classic Movies cable channel, and her archival work with the South Side Movie Project and the Academy Museum. Her MacArthur profile can be viewed here.

Jacqueline was originally selected as an MMUF fellow at Stanford University, and subsequently earned her PhD from the University of Chicago in 1999. She has since taught at both Chicago and Northwestern University. We're delighted to see Jacqueline's accomplishments recognized in this way, and offer our warmest congratulations on behalf of the MMUF program and the Mellon Foundation.