Congratulations are in order to ceramicist Akio Takamori, filmmaker James Longley (already a Stranger and MacArthur Genius), and choreographer Donald Byrd. The three Seattle artists are among this year's 50 USA Fellows, each of whom receives $50,000 (making the award one of the biggest out there).

Roger Shimomura, another artist with many close ties to Seattle despite living in Kansas, is a winner this year, and so is Carolee Schneemann, whose wild, anarchic, terrific retrospective is currently at the Henry Art Gallery.