The MacArthur Foundation recently announced their 21 Genius grants winners, and five have Chicago connections. We sit down with two of  the winners to learn more about their work and their reactions to the $625,000 award. 

Tarell Alvin McCraney, an ensemble member at Steppenwolf Theatre, was the recipient of a $625,000 “genius grant” from the MacArthur Foundation this year. We revisit our conversation with him. Read an interview.

Tarell Alvin McCraney, an ensemble member at Steppenwolf Theatre, was the recipient of a $625,000 “genius grant” from the MacArthur Foundation this year. He joins us. Read an interview.

MacArthur Genius fellow, Dylan C. Penningroth, Associate Professor at Northwestern University and research professor for the American Bar Foundation, talks about getting the grant of a lifetime and how it will impact his research of African American life under and after slavery.