Charlotte Alum Caridad Svich Awarded Prestigious 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship
Caridad Svich, a UNC Charlotte alum, has been honored with a 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship, placing her among a distinguished group of artists and thinkers recognized for their creative potential. The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, which oversees the award, selected Svich for her impactful work in Drama and Performance Art. Out of over 3,000 hopefuls, Svich shines as one of the 188 deserving international recipients.
Edward Hirsch, president of the foundation and an award-winning poet, emphasized the importance of the fellowship in a press release, stating, “Humanity faces some profound existential challenges. The Guggenheim Fellowship is a life-changing recognition. It’s a celebrated investment into the lives and careers of distinguished artists, scholars, scientists, writers and other cultural visionaries who are meeting these challenges head-on and generating new possibilities and pathways across the broader culture as they do so.”
Svich has made a substantial mark on the world of theater and performance since graduating from UNC Charlotte. With a portfolio that includes over 40 full-length plays, various short works, and 15 translations, her voice resonates across the stage globally. Her editorial prowess can be seen in Innovation in Five Acts: Strategies for Theatre and Performance and her plays are collected in works such as JARMAN (all this maddening beauty) and other plays, which found its audience in the UK through Intellect Books. Her latest publication, Toward a Future Theatre, released by Methuen Drama in 2022, continues to push theatrical boundaries.
Currently, Svich juggles roles as the Artistic Director of New Play Development at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in New York City and an educator at Rutgers University. Her accolades include a 2012 OBIE Award for Lifetime Achievement, a 2012 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award, and the 2011 American Theatre Critics Association Primus Prize for her adaptation of Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits. She is also a two-time recipient of the National Latino Playwriting Award.
Reflecting on her educational journey, Svich shared, “One of the things I learned at UNC Charlotte was to follow my own creative path and curiosities as an artist, to trust my instincts, and to strive for excellence always.” Her undergraduate years were not only marked by her writing achievements but also by her active participation in stage performances, showcasing her versatility as a theatre artist.
Since its inception in 1925, the Guggenheim Foundation has granted over $400 million in fellowships, benefiting over 19,000 individuals including Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, and other notable scholars and creators, proving the fellowship’s legacy of fostering exceptional talent across various disciplines.