The UW–Madison Division of the Arts has announced the recipients of the 2025 Creative Arts Awards, who will be recognized at an award ceremony on Monday, April 28, at the Play Circle Theater in the Memorial Union. Among the award winners are 11 faculty members, graduate students, and undergraduates from the School of Education.
These awards celebrate artistic achievement, recognize service to the arts, and support arts research.
This year’s award recipients from the School of Education include:
Emily Mead Baldwin Award in the Creative Arts
Derrick Buisch, Associate Professor, Art Department, Painting and Drawing
Project title: “Public Address”
Joyce J. and Gerald A. Bartell Award in the Arts
Chell Parkins, Teaching Faculty/Arnhold Director of Dance Education/Dance Education Certificate Director, Dance Department
Project title: “UW Dance Exchange”
David and Edith Sinaiko Frank Graduate Fellowship for a Woman in the Arts
Baran Ataei, Art Department
Project title: “The Other Side of Light”
Graduate Student Creative Arts Awards
Jackelin Espinosa Moyotl, Art Department
Project title: “No nos Descurbran”
Mariah Moneda, Art Department
Project title: “Kain Na Tayo!”
Natanin Rachapradit, Art Department
Project title: “Threading the Warm Dark”
Anne E. Stoner, Art Department
Project title: “Nervous System”
Lyman S.V. Judson and Ellen Mackechnie Judson Graduate Student Award in the Creative Arts
Fatemeh Fani, Art Department
Project title: “Echoes of Silence”
Carly “Car” Riegger, Art Department, Ceramics
Project title: “Imagining Our Stories Voiced by Us”
Lyman S.V. Judson and Ellen Mackechnie Judson Undergraduate Student Award in the Creative Arts
Nicky Chier, Theatre and Drama
Project title: “Coupled”
Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Arts Award
Ava Albelo, Art Department
Project title: “Perestroika”
Applications and nominations were juried by a panel of seven committee members, chaired by Amy Gilman and including Faisal Abdu’Allah, Florence Hsia, Patrick Jackson, Grant Nelsestuen, Jen Plants, and Doug Rosenberg.
“We had an outstanding pool of deserving artists this year. Through their research, teaching, and community building, they serve as beacons of light in the arts community, whether they be professors or students,” says Gilman, UW–Madison’s senior director for the arts and media, and director of the Chazen Museum of Art. “Sharing these artists’ passions with the state — and the world — truly inspires people to connect, converse, and collaborate. It’s a perfect example of the Wisconsin Idea in practice, and I am thrilled for this year’s Creative Arts Awards winners.”
Donors that support the awards include the Joyce J. and Gerald A. Bartell family, Suzanne and Roberto Freund, Bassett and Evjue Foundations, Edna Wiechers Arts in Wisconsin Fund, Emily Nissley, and Joan Spero and C. Michael Spero.
Learn more about all of the 2025 Creative Arts Award recipients.