Vilcek Foundation Awards $950,000 in Prizes to Immigrants and Cultural Leaders
Recognizes immigrant contributions and fostering appreciation for the arts and sciences.
The Vilcek Foundation announces its largest-ever cohort of prizewinners with the 2025 Vilcek Foundation Prizes. This year, the foundation honors 14 prizewinners with a total of $950,000 in awards. Awarded annually since 2006, the Vilcek Foundationʼs prizes are an important part of how the foundation accomplishes its mission: to raise awareness of the importance of immigrant contributions in the United States, and to foster appreciation for the arts and sciences more broadly. The 2025 Vilcek Foundation Prizes comprise the Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Biomedical Science, the Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Visual Arts, the Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Curatorial Work, the Vilcek Prize for Excellence in Literary Scholarship, and the Marica Vilcek Prize in Art History.
The Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Biomedical Science
The Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Biomedical Science are awarded in recognition of immigrant scientists at the forefront of biomedical research in the United States. The prizes are a tribute to Vilcek Foundation co-founder Jan Vilcekʼs career as a research scientist at New York University, where he pioneered the development of Remicade® (Infliximab). Four prizes are awarded in biomedical science in 2025: The Vilcek Prize, and three Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise. The Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science includes a $100,000 cash award. Each recipient of the Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science receives a $50,000 cash award.
Marianne Bronner receives the Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science for her career research on neural crest stem cells and their role in the development of the peripheral nervous system, heart, and craniofacial skeleton in vertebrate organisms. Born in Hungary, Bronner emigrated to the United States with her family as a young child. She is the director of the Beckman Institute and a professor at Caltech, and an advocate for gender equity in science.
The three recipients of the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science are Elham Azizi, Maayan Levy, and Guosong Hong.
The Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Visual Arts
The Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Visual Arts recognize immigrant artists working across a range of visual media. In 2025, the foundation awards four prizes in this category: The Vilcek Prize, and three Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise. The Vilcek Prize in Visual Arts includes a $100,000 cash award; recipients of the Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Visual Arts each receive a $50,000 cash award.
Guadalupe Maravilla receives the Vilcek Prize in Visual Arts for his sculptures, installations, and performances that combine symbol, sound, and ritual. His immersive and evocative works explore concepts of migration, transcendence, and the human condition. Born in El Salvador, Maravilla came to the United States as an undocumented unaccompanied child at the age of 8 in 1984. His work focuses on the power of art to heal and transform both the creator and the viewer.
The three recipients of the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Visual Arts are Selva Aparicio, Felipe Baeza, and Jeffrey Meris.
The Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Curatorial Work
In 2025, the Vilcek Foundation made the decision to double the number of prizes it awards in the arts and humanities, awarding prizes in two categories: Visual Arts and Curatorial Work. The goal is to expand the foundationʼs awards to support individuals in fields in the arts and humanities that are under-recognized. The Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Curatorial Work recognize immigrant art professionals and curators whose work has a profound impact on their institutions, and on contemporary art history more broadly. Four prizes are awarded in curatorial work in 2025: the Vilcek Prize in Curatorial Work, a $100,000 award, and three $50,000 Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Curatorial Work.
Oluremi C. Onabanjo is The Peter Schub Curator in The Robert B. Menschel Department of Photography at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York. She receives the Vilcek Prize in Curatorial Work for her work to examine the power, position, and production of Blackness in relation to the ongoing global history of the photographic medium. Born in the United Kingdom to Nigerian parents, she is an alumna of Oxford University and Columbia University.
Recipients of the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Curatorial Work are Donna Honarpisheh, Aimé Iglesias Lukin, and Bernardo Mosqueira.
The Vilcek Prize for Excellence in Literary Scholarship
The Vilcek Prize for Excellence is awarded at the discretion of the Vilcek Foundationʼs president and board of directors. The $100,000 prize recognizes an outstanding intellectual and cultural leader whose work has had a profound impact on their field of work or study, and on culture and society in the United States more broadly. In 2025, the Vilcek Foundation awards the Vilcek Prize for Excellence in Literary Scholarship to Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Henry Louis Gates Jr. is an African American literary scholar, professor, historian, and filmmaker, and the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He receives the Vilcek Prize for Excellence in recognition of his contributions as a scholar of African American history; for his leadership in contemporary discourse on race, literature, and immigration; and for his commitment to excellence in public education.
The Marica Vilcek Prize in Art History
The Marica Vilcek Prize in Art History was developed to recognize and honor Vilcek Foundation co-founder Marica Vilcekʼs career leadership and legacy as an art historian and museum professional in the United States. The $100,000 prize acknowledges arts professionals whose work is of critical importance in shaping museums and cultural institutionsʼ impact on culture and society.
Francesca Du Brock is chief curator at the Anchorage Museum and a public speaker and educator. She receives the Marica Vilcek Prize in Art History for her holistic and comprehensive approach to exhibition curation and to public education and engagement with art through museum programming.
The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation for the arts and sciences. The foundation was established in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia. The foundationʼs mission was inspired by the coupleʼs respective careers in biomedical science and art history. Since 2000, the foundation has awarded over $15 million in prizes and grants.
