Cuban-heritage artists named 2026 Oscar Cintas Foundation fellows
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Anai Moussawel, who captured this photo, was named a 2026 Oscar Cintas Fellow. Photo: Courtesy Oscar Cintas Foundation
For years, the Oscar Cintas Foundation has provided grants and fellowships to Cuban-heritage artists to foster creativity and support their work.
Why it matters: Earlier this month, the nonprofit foundation named five creators — including two from Miami — as recipients during a ceremony at the University of Miami, awarding each fellow $25,000.
State of play: Since its founding in 1963, the foundation has awarded more than 350 fellowships and grants, resulting in what the organization touts as the "largest collection of Cuban exile art anywhere."
- More than 200 artists are represented across varying mediums.
How it works: The fellowships are split into five categories: Architecture & Design, Creative Writing, Music Composition, Photography and Visual Arts.
- Applicants submit two narrative statements: a personal statement and a project statement.
- Fellows are selected by a jury.
The fellows include, per the foundation's announcement:
- Carmen Peláez, a playwright, screenwriter and filmmaker. Her work has been commissioned by Miami New Drama and Oolite Cinematic Arts, and her bilingual series, "Ventanita," is in development.
- Ania Moussawel, a Cuban-Lebanese American artist and educator from the 305. Her work "explores family, memory, and loss through portraiture, ritual and observations of daily life."
- Frida Mouchlian, an architect whose practice looks at research and curatorship in architecture to understand the relationship between "space, art, and power."
- Daniel Toledo Guillén, a composer whose work has been featured at festivals and concert series from Cuba to Germany to Argentina and the United States.
- José Manuel Mesías, whose work spans painting, drawing, video and installation. Mesías examines objects, material, personal and collective histories "in relation to Cuban history and contemporary contexts."
The big picture: The foundation is named after Oscar B. Cintas, Cuba's former ambassador to the United States (1932-1934) and a patron of the arts who entrusted his estate to a foundation rooted in supporting Cuban artists.
Between the lines: The foundation also has roots in Miami, with strong ties to the Frost Art Museum at Florida International University, having lent the Fellows Collection to the college between 1993 and 2011.
- It also has a long-term collaboration with the Museum of Art and Design and Miami-Dade College.