Annually, United States Artists (USA) awards $50,000 grants to fifty artists from different disciplines including music, theater, dance, crafts, & writing, among others. This year’s fellows included five writers: poets Terrance Hayes, A.E. Stallings, & Campbell McGrath, fiction writer Karen Tei Yamashita, & playwright Annie Baker.

According to a description on the USA’s website, over $15 million has been “invested in America’s finest artists” in the past six years. USA Fellows are nominated anonymously by a group of leaders in the arts; critics, scholars, & other artists.

A celebration, hosted by actor Tim Robbins, was held on December 5 in Santa Monica, California to honor all fifty USA fellows. Learn more about the USA & the grant recipients at http://www.usafellows.org/celebration.