The American Academy in Rome has re-opened its doors, welcoming a new community of Rome Prize and Italian Fellows, Residents, and members of the Academy’s extended community.
On Wednesday, September 9th, we had the opportunity to celebrate the beginning of the new academic year in person at our annual Opening Reception, which featured a Presidential Lecture with President and CEO Peter N. Miller, as well as an evening of conversation and exchange to welcome and introduce the Fellows and Residents arriving in Rome this month.
Alongside the Fellows announced in the spring, the Academy is pleased to welcome Nancy Lupo to the 2026–27 Rome Prize cohort in Visual Arts. Selected after the initial announcement, Lupo joins the Academy for the fall semester, from September 1, 2026, through January 8, 2027.
Born in Flagstaff, Arizona, and based between Berlin and Los Angeles, Lupo is an artist whose sculptural practice brings together objects, images, language, and installation. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at MoMA PS1, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Palais de Tokyo, and MAC Lyon, with recent work presented at the Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation in London. At the Academy, Lupo will develop Dying Playing, a project inspired by Etruscan mirrors and necropolises.
Lupo joins Taji Nahl in Visual Arts and Neeraj Bhatia in Architecture, as well as Maria Cecilia Lovato, the Italian Fellow in Modern Italian Studies, as the Fellows whose residencies take place during the fall. They join the Rome Prize and Italian Fellows who are in residence for the full academic year.
We also welcome Chris van den Berg as our Interim Andrew W. Mellon Humanities Professor, following the conclusion of Caroline Goodson’s tenure. Van den Berg will lead the Humanities Office and work with the Fellows throughout the academic year.
This fall also marks the return of the prestigious Rome Prize competitions, which will select the next generation of U.S. artists and scholars for residencies in Rome during the 2027–28 academic year. Applications are now open, “with a November 1 deadline and a November 15 final deadline, with an additional fee.
[See the full list of 2026–27 Rome Prize Fellows →]
[See the full list of 2026–27 Italian Fellows →]
The 2026–27 Community of Residents
The Fellows join a distinguished group of Residents: established figures in their respective fields who are invited to the Academy in recognition of their significant contributions to the arts and humanities. Their presence brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the Academy, while creating opportunities for exchange with Fellows and the broader community.
This year’s Residents include Elizabeth Diller, Wang Shu, and Lu Wenyu in Architecture; Marisa Bass, Emily Braun, Sarah Lewis, and Carolina Mangone in Art History; Jeremy Hartnett, Michael Straus, and Astrid Van Oyen in Ancient Studies; and Barry Flood and Elizabeth Sears in Medieval Studies.
In Visual Arts, the Academy welcomes Joan Jonas, Meriem Bennani, Francesco Clemente, Jeffrey Gibson, and Elizabeth Peyton, whose practices span performance, installation, painting, sculpture, film, and textiles. Ghiora Aharoni and Netta Yerushalmy join Design, with Andrew Blauvelt in Graphic Design and Elizabeth Kennedy in Landscape Architecture.
The Musical Composition Residents are Anthony Roth Costanzo, Osvaldo Golijov, Michael Gordon, and Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky. The community also includes Johnson Chang in East-West Intersections: Arts, Ideas, Attitudes; Chai Vasarhelyi in Film & Cinema; Jimmy Moffat in Photography; Ocean Vuong in Poetry; and Helen Marriage in Public Art.
Together, the Residents bring a remarkable breadth of experience and expertise to the Academy, contributing to the interdisciplinary exchange at the heart of its residential community. Please join us in welcoming both the Fellows and Residents to Rome.