Lin-Manuel Miranda Receives 'Genius Grant' From MacArthur Foundation

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation aims to foster the development of knowledge and nurture individual creativity through four programs: International Programs, U.S. Programs, Media, Culture, and Special Initiatives, and The MacArthur Fellows Program.

The latter awards unrestricted $625,000 fellowships to talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and marked a capacity for self-direction. This year, 24 delightfully diverse artists made the list including Broadway’s own, Lin-Manuel Miranda.

According to the New York Times, Lin-Manuel thought it was the cable company calling to beg him to reconsider his recent service cancellation when he got the news. Miranda, who won the Tony Award for Best Musical with “In The Heights” in 2008, expands its idiom with the aesthetic of popular culture and stories from individuals and communities new to Broadway stages.

As a composer, lyricist, and performer, Miranda continues to explore the dramatic potential of hip-hop in “Hamilton,” in which he uses an urban soundscape to tell the story of Alexander Hamilton’s rise from an orphaned West Indian immigrant to America’s first Treasury Secretary.

“This is not all going to go to me,” Miranda told the New York Times. “This is also going to go to some of the places that have fed my soul.” Mr. Miranda said he would donate some of the prize money to “organizations that I have fallen in love with,” like Graham Windham, founded in 1806 by Alexander Hamilton’s wife, Elizabeth, which continues to serve needy children and families, and the Mariposa Center, which helps girls in the Dominican Republic.

Lin-Manuel shared this video of his nephew sharing his opinion when he found out his "tío" was given the "Genius Grant." How cute is he?