We’re happy to announce the
2026 Roots and Branches Fellows!

The Museum of Contemporary Art congratulates the 2026 Roots and Branches Fellowship recipients, each will be honored in person at the Art Awards this Sunday. Each fellow will receive a $1,000 unrestricted award, thanks to our 2026 program donors.

Beth Amine
Natalia Bautista 
Audrey Gamble
Luis David Figueroa
Mia Lopez

2026 Committee:
Carlos Estrada
Spenser Jaimes
Carlos Mendez
Ademola Oyewole-Davis
Tayllor Oyewole-Davis
Barb Parmet

2026 Roots & Branches Fellowship Donors:
Rachel & Avrom Altman, Stephanie Baker, Carly Bass, Sara Bazan, Jane Brody, Patricia Clarke, Elizabeth Downing, Leslie Ekker, Neal & Dori Friedberg, Matef Harmachis, Mark & Jo Weissberg and Lindt, Don McIlraith & Mary Jane Ryan, Patricia Montemayor, Lisa Park, Michael Parmet, Barb Parmet, Cedric & Elizabeth Robinson Trust, Jay Ryan, Elisabeth Weber

Roots and Branches is one of MCASB’s core BIPOC fellowship programs, a reparative investment in the cultural leaders our community already has. This year’s cohort recognizes five BIPOC artists and cultural organizers in Santa Barbara County for their labor, commitment, passion, and social justice work.

The fellowship recognizes that BIPOC artists and activists in Santa Barbara County have long produced essential cultural and community work without institutional recognition or fair compensation. Roots and Branches honors that work by treating fellows’ time as labor and their contributions as leadership.

Fellows reflect diverse disciplines, ages, and communities: Black, Indigenous, immigrant, LGBTQ+, and working-class artists and organizers whose practices are rooted in lived experience, community accountability, and arts and culture work.

Fellows are compensated, not volunteering. Their time is treated as labor, and their presence reflects MCASB’s commitment to supporting the BIPOC artists and activists shaping arts and culture in our community.

Support the 2027 fellows by donating today.