2026-2027 Imagining America / Joy of Giving Something (JGS) Fellows

PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: connect@imaginingamerica.org

Announcing the 2026-2027 Imagining America / Joy of Giving Something (JGS) Fellows

Davis, California — Imagining America is proud to announce the cohort of 2026-2027 IA/JGS Fellows. These eight undergraduate students from IA Member campuses were selected for their creative use of art to uplift diverse stories, create connection, and build community.

The goals of the national IA/JGS Fellows Program are to elevate photography and digital media as pathways for undergraduate students to pursue their careers and to make a difference in their communities. The program specifically aims to support students for whom economic and family circumstances render such career pathways particularly challenging.

Fellows receive a $2,000 tuition scholarship, mentorship, and financial support for a community project. They attend the 2026 IA National Gathering (in Davis, California), participate in regular virtual learning exchanges, and are connected to the consortium’s national network of scholars, artists, and community organizers. Please join us in celebrating the 2026-2027 IA/JGS Fellows:

Asin Fathima Allavudeen
Southwestern University
Senior, Studio Art and Economics

Jasmine Alves
College Unbound
Sophomore, Organizational Leadership & Change

Addison Lamaute
Emerson College
Junior, Film Production

Amanda Matheson
Florida International University
Junior, Art

Madeleine Salunga
Macalester College
Senior, Media and Cultural Studies, Psychology, Environmental Studies

Lena Szerwo
University of California, Santa Cruz
Senior, Art and Linguistics

Kami Whipple
Fort Hays State University
Junior, Agricultural Communications/Agricultural Business with a certificate in Marketing & Photography

Melanie Zepeda
New Mexico State University
Senior, Journalism media studies/ Political Science

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The Imagining America consortium (IA) brings together scholars, artists, designers, humanists, and organizers to imagine, study, and enact a more just and liberatory ‘America’ and world. Working across institutional, disciplinary, and community divides, IA strengthens and promotes public scholarship, cultural organizing, and campus change that inspires collective imagination, knowledge-making, and civic action on pressing public issues. By dreaming and building together in public, IA creates the conditions to shift culture and transform inequitable institutional and societal structures. 

The Joy of Giving Something, Inc. (JGS), is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to the photographic arts and established in 1988 by the late Howard Stein. In 2010, Director of Outreach and Education Wayne Maugans approached IA about expanding support for community-engaged visual arts students as a way to encourage them to pursue post-secondary education and find a life path. Stein saw the visual arts as a potential career for young adults. The IA/JGS Fellows Program is a generous part of Stein’s legacy.