Nicole R. Fleetwood elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences announced on Wednesday that Nicole R. Fleetwood was among the elected new members for 2026. One of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honorary societies, the Academy recognizes exceptionally accomplished individuals.

“We celebrate the achievement of each new member and the collective breadth and depth of their excellence – this is a fitting commemoration of the nation’s 250th anniversary,” said Academy President Laurie Patton. 

Nicole R. Fleetwood is the Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication (NYU Steinhardt) and the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis (NYU Arts and Science). A MacArthur Fellow, she is a writer, curator, and art critic interested in Black art and cultural history, aesthetics, photography and documentary studies, and art and activism. Her election to the Academy underscores her transformative influence in the academy, in the art world, and beyond.

Professor Fleetwood is widely celebrated for her groundbreaking work, Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration. This decade-long research project explores the aesthetic practices of imprisoned artists and the role of art in documenting and resisting the system of mass incarceration. The project resulted in an award-winning book and a critically acclaimed exhibition that debuted at MoMA PS1 and has since toured nationally, reshaping public discourse on the relationship between art, justice, and the carceral system.

Her selection by the Academy is the latest in a series of distinguished honors. Professor Fleetwood is a 2021 MacArthur Fellow and has been the recipient of numerous accolades, including the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism, the John Hope Franklin Publication Prize from the American Studies Association, and the Frank Jewett Mather Award for Art Criticism from the College Art Association.

Her work has been supported by Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center, American Council of Learned Societies, the Art for Justice Fund, Mellon Foundation, Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers of the New York Public Library, Whiting Foundation, NJ Council for the Humanities, Schomburg Center for Research on Black Culture, Ford Foundation, Puffin Foundation, and Denniston Hill Residency.

Her forthcoming book, Between the River and Railroad Tracks, is a cultural history and memoir of the Black Midwest and will be published in fall 2026 by Little, Brown.