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Guggenheim Fellowships awarded to Kansas and Missouri artists

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Choreographer Gary Abbott of Missouri (left) and photographer Philip Heying of Kansas were among this year's class of Guggenheim Fellows.
Laura Cobb/ John H. Carmody
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Courtesy of Gary Abbott/Philip Heying
Choreographer Gary Abbott (left) and photographer Philip Heying are among this year's Guggenheim Fellows.

The Guggenheim Fellowship is awarded to mid-career individuals who show exceptional promise in their field. A Flint Hills photographer and a Kansas City choreographer are among the 2022 winners.

More than 2000 entries were received by the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for its fellowship program, but the field was narrowed to 180 winnersfrom "51 scholarly disciplines and artistic fields."

Gary Abbott, a professor of dance at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Philip Heying, a photographer in Matfield Green, Kansas were each awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Heying admits he's not used to the attention that has come with the honor and it's made him "a little nervous." The reason, Heying says is, "when you get an award like this, you got to represent. You got to really step it up."

For Gary Abbott, he's still "flying high" to have joined the ranks of previous fellows like choreographers Alvin Ailey and Martha Graham.

The funding that comes with the fellowship creates for Abbott "excitement around the possibility and the freedom that it sort of affords you to create more."

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