Features

From November 23 to 25, more than 30 international musicians, visual artists, architects, philosophers, and musicologists will gather in Rome at the Academy to exchange ideas and experiment on the theme of improvisation. Bringing together artistic and performance practices, including reflections on their social implications, the event will offer a fascinating exploration of improvisation as the foundation for creative activity and new forms of expression and listening—both individual and collective—in response to the uncertainties of our complex contemporary moment.

Udi Perlman, the 2027 Luciano Berio Rome Prize Fellow in Musical Composition at the American Academy in Rome, is a Tel Aviv-born composer based in Berlin.

On October 27, 2026, Giulia Colletti (2026 Italian Fellow) curated the exhibition and public program "They Make You Write Your Poems" at Onassis ONX in New York City. AAR sat down with Colletti to learn more about how the event came together and how the time she spent in Rome as an Italian Fellow at the American Academy shaped the project. 

On October 29, the American Academy in Rome gathered friends, Fellows, Residents, and supporters at the New York Public Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building for its 2026 New York Gala. The annual occasion brings the Academy community together in recognition and support of the essential role of the arts and humanities in our societies today.

Maria Cecilia Lovato, the 2027 Franco Zeffirelli Italian Fellow in Modern Italian Studies,  is an art historian working on Italian visual culture in the first half of the twentieth century, with particular attention to the interwar period and the relationship between the visual arts and colonialism. 

The American Academy in Rome mourns the passing of Charles Witke, 1962 Fellow and 1998 Resident, and Professor Emeritus of Greek and Latin at the University of Michigan. He died on March 21, 2026, at the age of 95.

Rebecca Kerns, the 2027 Samuel H. Kress Foundation Rome Prize in Ancient Studies, is a PhD candidate in Classics specializing in Roman archaeology and urban history. Her work explores forces of change and stasis in Roman cities, with a particular focus on urban disasters. 

The American Academy in Rome is pleased to present its fall exhibition, Giorgio Griffa/Kamrooz Aram: Paintings, curated by Ilaria Puri Purini. The show, which sets the painters Giorgio Griffa (b. 1936, Turin) and Kamrooz Aram (b. 1978, Shiraz) in dialogue, will open on October 20 from 6 to 9 PM in the AAR Gallery. The exhibition will run from October 23 to November 28, 2026, open on Fridays and Saturdays from 4 to 7 PM.

Sir Isaac Julien (2016 Resident and 2023 New York Gala Centennial Medal honoree) presents a new installation of his film All That Changes You. Metamorphosis on view at the Galleria Borghese in Rome through October 25. An artist whose practice is itself in constant transformation, Julien returns to a city that has helped shape his work.

Corrado Cagli: Nostoi. Rome New York Taormina, an exhibition in Taormina, Sicily, highlights the creative journey and complex homecoming of Corrado Cagli (1910–1976). The exhibition is curated by Raffaele Bedarida, with the artistic direction of Franco Baldasso (2019 Fellow), and features exhibition design by Pietro Airoldi (2025 Affiliated Artist).

On the occasion of Dr. Anthony Grafton (2004 Resident) having been awarded the 2026 International Prize for History by the International Committee for the Historical Sciences (CISH) and delivering a public lecture, we are publishing a brief interview with Dr. Grafton.

Francisco J. Cintrón Mattei, the 2027 Millicent Mercer Johnsen Rome Prize Fellow in Medieval Studies, is a PhD candidate at the University of Notre Dame’s Medieval Institute. He is currently completing his dissertation, titled The Christian Imamate of Al-Andalus: Law, Society & Christian Community in the Islamic West.

It is with great sadness that the Academy remembers Devon Dikeou, 2025 Jules Guérin Rome Prize Fellow in Visual Arts, an artist, publisher, and collector. She died on October 6, 2026, in Denver, Colorado. She was 63.

Tom Zhuohun Wang, the 2027 Arthur Ross Rome Prize Fellow in Ancient Studies, is a PhD candidate in Classics and History at Yale University. He is currently working on his dissertation, titled Beyond Euergetism and Taxation: Financing Western Roman Cities from the First to Third Centuries CE. 

Jordan Rogers, the 2027 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Rome Prize in Ancient Studies, is a social and cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean world, with a particular interest in the sociology of small communities and urbanism in antiquity. He is currently Assistant Professor of History at North Carolina State University.

Francesca LaPasta, the 2027 Emeline Hill Richardson/Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Rome Prize in Ancient Studies, is a PhD candidate in Classical Archaeology in the Department of Ancient Greek and Roman Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently working on her dissertation, titled Living under Lock and Key: Slavery and Security in the Houses of Pompeii.

On Monday, September 28, 2026, the American Academy in Rome welcomed chef and restaurateur Alice Waters and local farmers to the Academy for a special lunch marking the beginning of a year-long celebration, concluding in the spring of 2027, to commemorate twenty years of the Project.

Christine Sun Kim (2026 Resident in Graphic Design) has been named a 2026 MacArthur Fellow, joining nineteen other Fellows whose work represents exceptional creativity and accomplishment in their fields.

Neeraj Bhatia is an architect, urban designer, and educator whose work resides at the intersection of politics, housing, infrastructure, and urbanism. He is an Associate Professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, where he also serves as Director of the Urban Design Program.

The American Academy in Rome mourns the passing of Charles K. Williams, a Trustee Emeritus of the Academy, former Director of the Corinth Excavations and the former Chair of the Board of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens. He died on September 16, 2026, at age 96.