Announcing Our 2026 Scholarship Winners
After weeks of evaluation by our panel of judges, the Gena Branscombe Project is thrilled to announce the winners of our 2026 scholarships:
ARTS ADMINISTRATION
Harley Winzenried (they/she) is a Vermont-based theatremaker. Harley has been described in the press as displaying “skill beyond her years,” and their work is guided by the objective of providing a space for the stories of historically excluded voices to be shared. They are the founder and program director of the Historically Close Friends new play development project, a program of Between The Willows, Burlington’s premiere queer theatre & dance company. They are also a member of The Furnace, an artists’ collective that programs ensemble-driven theatre theatre & donation-based skill-sharing opportunities. In the education realm, Harley serves as the Festival Associate for the Young Playwrights Festival at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center and volunteers as a theatre educator & program coordinator at Camp Treetops in the Adirondacks. Vermont locals may have seen Harley’s acting performances with Vermont Stage, Lost Nation Theater, Full Circle Theatre Co, The Foul Contending Rebels Theatre Co, The Furnace, Vermont Repertory Theatre, The Hub, and Lyric Theatre Company. North Carolinians may have seen them with Paper Lantern Theatre Company, Actors Theatre of Charlotte, and the North Carolina Theatre For Young People. Harley’s dramaturgical work has supported development and production processes in New York City, Chicago, London, and (of course) Burlington, Vermont. They are a proud alum of the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center and hold a BA in Drama from UNCG. For more info, visit: www.harleywinzenried.com
COMPOSITION
Hannah Mufuka is a composer and sound artist from Decatur, Georgia. She is a recipient of a 2025-2026 Kenan Fellowship at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, where she developed and premiered an original composition, Mbira, My Love. In 2024-2025, she was a See/a/change fellow, where she collaborated on two environmental arts pieces, both of which premiered at the Winston-Salem Arts Council in 2025.
Hannah Mufuka has worked with various ensembles, such as the Golden Hornet Quartet, Decoda, the European Recording Orchestra, and Ensemble Intercolor, and her compositions have been presented in the United States and Europe. Additionally, as an Emerging Composers Program Fellow at the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival, she premiered a new composition, Osprey, at the Juilliard School. Currently, Hannah continues to lean into her passion for environmental advocacy through the NC Climate Justice Collective TapRoots Arts Residency and the Good Hart Artist Residency.
Hannah Mufuka holds a Bachelor of Music in Composition from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where she studied with esteemed composer Dr. Lawrence Dillon and Emmy-nominated sound designer Mark Messick.
CONDUCTING
Valentina Paolucci is a rising orchestral conductor and violinist currently based in New York City. She has recently graduated from the Juilliard School with a Masters Degree in Orchestral Conducting under a full scholarship, and was awarded the Robert Craft-Igor Stravinsky Conducting Award upon graduation. Valentina is currently a Conducting Fellow with The Chelsea Symphony and Music Director of the NYO-USA Alumni Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.
Internationally, Valentina has conducted orchestras such as the Zhixing Symphony Orchestra (China), Brandenburger Symphoniker (Germany), Lüneburger Symphoniker (Germany), Orquesta de Cámara de Santiago (Chile), Athens Philharmonia Orchestra (Greece) along with orchestras in Finland, Bulgaria, and Panama. In the United States she has conducted orchestras such as the Richmond Symphony, Georgia Symphony Orchestra, Jackson Symphony, Adelphi Orchestra, Juilliard Orchestra, and has assisted the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Sinfonietta, Rhode Island Philharmonic, and Grand Rapids Symphony, for conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel, Daniel Harding, Ruth Reinhardt, Ken-David Masur, Marin Alsop, Mei-Ann Chen, Tito Muñoz, Gemma New, and David Robertson.
Valentina is deeply committed to contemporary music and has collaborated with living composers such as David Lang, Augusta Reed Thomas, Jennifer Higdon, John Adams, Kati Agócs, Marcos Balter, Conrad Tao, Nina C. Young, Tania León, Anthony Cheung, Suzanne Farrin, Brittany J. Green, Felipe Lara, Andrew Norman, Arturo Márquez, Maria Schneider, Roberto Sierra, Enrico Chapela, Jerod Impichcha̱achaaha’ Tate, Joel Thompson, Wang Lu, and Nina Shekhar.
Passionate about music education, she previously served as Assistant Conductor of the Greater Miami Youth Symphony and co-founded Through the Staff 501(c)(3), a nonprofit organization providing free music lessons to underserved students.
Thank you to all who applied and for the thoughtfulness and care that went into your applications. We are encouraged to see so many people sharing the vision that Gena held almost one hundred years ago: equality, inclusivity, and persistence. She was a champion for her peers and her colleagues, both inside the music world and in her community at large. Together, we can make a similar difference in our circles.
Now to toast our 2026 Branscombe Scholars! 🥂 Each will receive a $500 cash prize and recognition across our social media platforms.
