AFIELD has named its 2026 fellows, recognising six artists and cultural practitioners whose social initiatives are producing long-term, tangible change in their communities. Announced on 20 October 2026, the fellowship comes through a new partnership with Storefront for Art and Architecture and a circle of supporters, and carries a USD 10,000 grant. In response to the compounding crises facing grassroots initiatives, the organisation has doubled its support from three to six fellowships.

The fellows span continents and forms of practice. Multidisciplinary artist Dakota Camacho is honoured for Gi Matan Guma', an initiative advancing Indigenous sovereignty in Guåhan (Guam) through ceremony, ancestral knowledge and performance rituals. Writer, actor and theatre director Dorcy Rugamba is recognised for the Rwanda Arts Initiative, an independent cultural organisation building up Rwanda's creative ecosystem through incubation, production, residencies, advocacy and international exchange.

Cultural activist and producer Eka Putra Nggalu joins for Komunitas KAHE, an interdisciplinary collective in Maumere on Flores Island that works to reclaim civic spaces and carry stories from underrepresented voices in eastern Indonesia. Contemporary artist Hu Yinping is awarded for Xiaofang, a long-term social enterprise confronting the economic isolation of aging women left behind by China's rapid industrial transformation, valorising their craft and building support networks across eight provinces.

The announcement positions the fellowship squarely behind practices that exist outside the pressures of the art market while remaining committed to artistic freedom and experimentation. By scaling from three to six recipients, AFIELD signals that small-scale, community-rooted cultural work — the kind that rarely attracts institutional money — needs more backing now, not less.