NIU’s College of Visual and Performing Arts has announced the six 2026 recipients of a fellowship that provides financial support and recognition for some of the university’s most promising graduating students in the arts.
The Simpson Schatzle Fellowships were first awarded last year, and annually support two graduates from each of the college’s three schools; the School of Art and Design, School of Music and School of Theatre and Dance.
Applicants have to meet certain academic criteria and be able to show evidence of their artistic promise, as well as provide their five artistic goals and how they plan to use the monetary award to meet those goals.
This year’s recipients are:
NIU School of Art and Design
Alexis Del Fiacco, BFA, Sculpture
Del Fiacco also earned a certification in digital fabrication in conjunction with her BFA. “My area of practice focuses on designing, 3D modeling and final physical production of figural objects,” Alexis said. “I plan to join a collaborative design team, with a focus on collaborative toy design. And, build a career as a freelance artist with the goal of transitioning independent figures into commercial productions.”
Elyse Herrera, MFA, Printmaking
Herrera hopes to develop community programming where they may share their artistic experiences and expertise. “I will begin career at Zygote Press, a non-profit print studio based in Cleveland, Ohio, serving as a technical director of the studio, working closely with the studio’s residencies and teaching workshops in and outside of Cleveland,” Elyse said. “I dream of building educational programming that will provide a solid and all-inclusive structure for artists from any background to learn and grow in their practice.”
School of Music
Spencer Mackey, MFA, Trombone Performance
Mackey focused on Jazz Studies during his undergraduate time at NIU and shifted focus to classical trombone playing as a graduate student. Mackey performed with the NIU Philharmonic Orchestra, and taught classical music courses as a teaching assistant. A lifelong resident of the DeKalb-area, Spencer has long been active in area musical groups like the DeKalb Municipal Band, Jazz In Progress and the KIswaukee Symphony Orchestra where he also serves as stage manager. Mackey plans to start a private trombone studio to teach students to become well-rounded musicians. Spencer also plans to continue writing music and to publish trombone arrangements so that anyone can play them with their own groups.
Korbyn Ringer, BFA, Euphonium Performance and Music Education
Ringer plans to incorporate their own art into teaching music, and to find ways to give art to students and to the community. While teaching, Korbyn will continue to spend summers participating in municipal bands in areas like DeKalb, Wheaton, Dixon and Sterling. Ringer hopes to enhance students’ learning with opportunities to see incredible recitals as a great musical reference for their ears to refer to.
School of Theatre and Dance
Antonio Horn, BFA, Acting
Horn expects the fellowship will help “claim greater authorship over my creative life.” Antonio will pursue acting opportunities and supplement potential roles with self-made projects like poems, screenwriting projects, short films and photography. Horn says he is “an artist driven by faith, discipline and increasingly drawn to work that lives between theater, film, writing, sound and movement,” and hopes to continue creating pieces that feel intimate and grounded in human yearning while responding to the social and emotional climate of today.
Ski Sciaraffa, MFA, Design and Technology
Sciaraffa describes their career-long ambition as helping “tell stories that we haven’t seen before, stories that represent marginalized groups, and stories we already know in a completely new light.” Over the next five years, Sciaraffa plans to gain more real-world education and experience outside the classroom. While at NIU, Ski divided focus between costumes and props as well as design and technology. They hope to find jobs that will continue to allow for hands-on experience in each of those aspects, and combine them in new and interesting ways. Sciaraffa has already begun freelance work, including work as a teaching artist at Paramount School of the Arts, costume designer for Moraine Valley Community College and costume shop manager for Festival 56.
The fellowship is made possible by the generosity donors who have dedicated their lives to philanthropy and the arts, inspired by their deep appreciation for music, theater, dance and visual creativity. Their passion for the performing and visual arts inspired them to establish the award and ensure that future artists have the resources to pursue their creative aspirations.
