The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation is pleased to announce the recipients of the Rauschenberg Centennial Award. Established in honor of Robert Rauschenberg's 100th birthday, these one-time awards recognize excellence across four disciplines–Art, Performance, Photography, and Writing–with one recipient in each field receiving an unrestricted amount of $100,000. All creatives who attended or were invited to participate in the Foundation’s Captiva Residency program were eligible to receive this award.

Recipients of the Rauschenberg Centennial Award
Art: Senga Nengudi
Performance: David Thomson
Photography: Chandra McCormick and Keith Calhoun
Writing: Patricia Spears Jones

The Rauschenberg Residency on Captiva was established in 2012 and has provided over 500 artists with the opportunity to live and work in spaces once occupied by Rauschenberg. The Residency was inspired by Rauschenberg's early years at Black Mountain College, where he encountered a diverse artistic community which inspired the collaboration and exploration which became central to his art.

The artist’s centennial celebrations, held throughout 2025 and continuing into 2026, provided an ideal moment to reflect upon Rauschenberg’s enduring legacy, and to recognize the meaningful impact of the Captiva residency program and those alumni/ae who have made significant contributions to their respective fields.

Courtney J. Martin, Executive Director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, stated, “It is a privilege for the Foundation to recognize the work of these individuals on the occasion of the artist’s centennial year. Each of them has made an extraordinary impact in his or her respective field, exemplifying Rauschenberg’s collaborative spirit, social consciousness, and commitment to experimentation.”

A panel of external jurors in each of the four disciplines contributed deep expertise. Their evaluations of the eligible candidates were holistic, taking into account artistic excellence, the depth and significance of each artist’s body of work, impact beyond their primary medium, community engagement, and education and mentorship.

Artist and professor Nyeema Morgan commented, “Avant garde artist Senga Nengudi is a lodestar for generations of artists who have centered questions that bridge social, political and philosophical concerns. What it means to be present in one’s own body and the conditions that influence our engagement with each other and the world have been central for her nearly fifty-year career. She has committed to taking bold risks in her work, eschewing categorization and prioritizing a spirit of camaraderie through her collaborations and teaching. It was an honor to support Nengudi’s nomination for the Rauschenberg Centennial Award.”

Of recipient Patricia Spears Jones, Catherine Taft, writer, curator, and Deputy Director at The Brick in Los Angeles, noted: "This award celebrates the extraordinary, interdisciplinary achievements of Patricia Spears Jones, including her forward-thinking poetry, ecological stewardship, and community-oriented work on all levels. This major award also acknowledges the importance of the Rauschenberg Residency to the lives and work of so many artists over nearly fifteen years. Captiva has been a significant American hub for creativity and experimentation."

Photographer, filmmaker, author, and professor An-My Le wrote of Chandra McCormick and Keith Calhoun: “[their] life’s work constitutes an expansive documentation not only of the daily life in Louisiana over the past thirty-five years, but also of the criminal and environmental justice systems, the enduring legacies of slavery, and the complexities of African American experience in the American South. Their body of work reflects a sustained and deeply passionate commitment—one that merits careful recognition, critical engagement, and long-term preservation.”

Of David Thomson, Stuart Comer, The Lonti Ebers Chief Curator of Media and Performance at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, stated: “David Thomson is a singular agent for dance and performance, empowering both performers and audiences, the stage and the archive. He carries the full weight of New York's remarkable dance history in his body, as he performs at the crossroads of a singular, intergenerational network of artists, whose work he has brought to vivid life. He has forged his own unique vision through choreography and installations that emerge alongside a wide matrix of collaboration with notable artists from Bebe Miller, Ralph Lemon, Trisha Brown, Yvonne Rainer, and Deborah Hay to Maria Hassabi, Okwui Okpokwasili, Meg Stuart, and Matthew Barney. Thomson has also proven to be a powerful advocate for the preservation of dance history through his work developing databases for Trisha Brown Archive and Merce Cunningham Foundation, among many other critical roles he has played in the field. Thomson has routinely demonstrated the urgency of building culture, sustaining communities, and creating living archives.”

About the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation
The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation builds on the legacy of artist Robert Rauschenberg, emphasizing his belief that artists can drive social change. Rauschenberg sought to act in the “gap” between art and life, valuing chance and collaboration across disciplines. As such, the Foundation celebrates new and even untested ways of thinking.

The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation hosts residencies designed to provide time and space for research and artistic experimentation across disciplines.

The Archives Research Residency is a one- to three-week research intensive at the Rauschenberg Foundation Archives in New York City. The Archives consist of Robert Rauschenberg’s personal papers and the records from his Florida and New York studios and contain the most comprehensive body of information on the artist’s life and career. Residencies at 381 Lafayette provide artists and scholars with a dedicated space to work, write, research, experiment, and create at the Foundation’s headquarters in New York.

Since 2012, the Rauschenberg Residency on Captiva Island, Florida, has served as a creative center that has welcomed artists of all disciplines from around the world to live, work, and create.

In 2025, after a multi-year study of the sustainability of the Captiva site, the Foundation announced its plans to sunset the Residency program and sell the property. Of the decision, Courtney J. Martin stated, “As stewards of Rauschenberg’s legacy, the Foundation has a responsibility to allocate its resources in ways that sustain a wide range of mission-driven programs, both now and in the future. Redirecting funds previously allocated to Captiva’s upkeep will allow us to invest more intentionally in programs that support artists and institutions in communities where they live and work.” Today, Martin adds, “We are thrilled to inaugurate those efforts with the Rauschenberg Centennial Award, honoring the legacy of the Residency and celebrating all that is to come.”

For more information on the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, please visit www.rauschenbergfoundation.org.

About Rauschenberg100
Robert Rauschenberg’s (1925-2008) strong conviction that engagement with art can nurture people’s sensibilities as individuals, community members, and citizens was key to his ethos. The Centennial celebrations seek to allow audiences familiar with him and those encountering the artist for the first time to form fresh perspectives about his artwork.

A series of global activities and exhibitions in honor of Rauschenberg’s Centennial reexamines the artist through a contemporary lens, highlighting his enduring influence on generations of artists and advocates for social progress. The Centennial’s activation of the artist’s legacy promotes cross-disciplinary explorations and creates opportunities for critical dialogue.

For more information on the Centennial, please visit www.rauschenberg100.org.