Wayne State University faculty, alumni among 2026 Kresge Artist Fellows and Gilda awardees

Wayne State University is once more keeping company with the annual Kresge Artist Fellows and Gilda Award recipients.

Creative Warriors among the 2026 winners are Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance associate professor Karen Prall, who was named a Kresge Artist Fellow in live arts, while department alumnus Chris Woolfolk '21 took home a Gilda Award in live arts.

In addition, from around the university, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences alumni Levon Kafafian '14 earned a Gilda Award in live arts, while College of Engineering alumnus Jeremy Brockman was named a Kresge film and music fellow.

The 18th cohort of award recipients consists of three Kresge Artist Fellows in live arts and seven Kresge Artist Fellows in film and music, in addition to three Gilda Awards in live arts and seven in film and music. Awards are proportional to the relative number of applications received in each category. A celebration for the awardees is held in July.

Fellowships recognize creative vision and commitment to excellence within a wide range of artistic disciplines - including artists who have been academically trained, self-taught artists, and artists whose art forms have been passed down through cultural heritage.

Prall has been an instructor of African and modern technique at Wayne State University since 2000 where she is associate professor of dance. She has traveled extensively, teaching, observing, and creating works in Africa, Europe, and the U.S.

Born and raised in Detroit, Prall studied ballet and contemporary dance in high school. She moved to New York in 1975, where she studied at the Ailey School of Dance.

Soon afterwards, she was invited to join the first African (Congolese) dance company in the United States. When Prall returned to Detroit, she founded and directed The Art of Motion (AOM) Dance Theatre.

In addition to the monetary prize, Kresge Arts in Detroit connects fellows and Gilda Award recipients to legal and accounting support, event and exhibition opportunities, and more. Fellows also are invited to participate in a film series highlighting Detroit artists.

Gilda Awards - named in honor of Gilda Snowden 's legacy as a mentor and champion of emerging artists in Metro Detroit - recognize artists who are early in their artistic career, gaining momentum, and demonstrate exceptional potential through creative risk-taking and pushing the boundaries of their chosen art form.

Gilda Award winner Woolfolk embarked on his dance journey at Wayne State University.

Earning a bachelor of science in dance education, Woolfolk honed his skills at Deeply Rooted Dance Theater in Chicago, training, touring, and performing from 2011-2015. He returned to Detroit to perform, teach, and create with various companies, artists, studios, and schools.

He has collaborated with esteemed artists such as Aku Kadogo, Marlies Yearby, Biba Bell, Nathan Trice, and Ta'Rajee Omar, co-founding the innovative (Re)Claim Series. Woolfolk starred in Detroit Poet Laureate jessica Care moore's play Salt City.

WSU College of Engineering's Brockman earned a 2026 Kresge Fellowship. He is an Emmy award-winning filmmaker from Detroit.

Brockman's work primarily explores the interior lives of Black men, creating a space to show the fullness of their humanity apart from expectation or stereotype. He was awarded an Emmy for the Lyricist Society, a short documentary about an alternative music program for young men in Detroit.

CLAS alumni Kafafian is a Detroit-based artist creating speculative worlds and futures by weaving together the narrative threads of costume, artifact, performance, and installation. They infuse textile traditions with future ancestral practice, hybridity, and magic, channeling the Armenian diasporic imaginary.

Kafafian has exhibited at CUE Foundation (New York, NY; 2025), MoCAD (Detroit, MI; 2024), UM Stamps Gallery (Ann Arbor, MI; 2023), the Arab American National Museum (Dearborn, MI; 2019), and co-led a 7-week weaving program with Trapholt Museum for Moderne Kunst (Kolding, Denmark; 2022).

Since its founding, Kresge Arts in Detroit has awarded $10.6 million in unrestricted dollars directly to Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb county artists through 18 Kresge Eminent Artist Awards, 327 Kresge Artist Fellowships ($50,000 each), and 82 Gilda Awards ($5,000 each).

"Detroit has shaped American creative culture for decades; this cohort knows it and owns it. Across disciplines and generations, their work is rigorous, communal, and reflective of what this city means in the American story," said Katie McGowan, director of Kresge Arts in Detroit. "We believe in the transformational power of unrestricted investment in artists, and I am so excited to see what comes next for this group."

Shawn Wright, communications officer, College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts.