fM ^H m i 1 1 m m «> ■ ^H I National Endowment for the Arts ■ I &>■»&& v. H ■ ^ ■ ** w ■ ■ "h.a*^ H »,'::. fc> I A i. K ON M MEDAL OF ARTS * ** f 2001 National Medal of Arts recipient Judith Jamison, artistic director of the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation (which also received a National Medal of Arts in 2001), surrounded by dance students who performed at the Medals ceremony. Photo by Neshan Naltchayan What is the National Medal of Arts? The National Medal of Arts is the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the United States government. These individuals, through their creativity, inspiration, and hard work, have significantly enriched the cultural life of our nation. When the award program began in 1984, it was envisioned that the National Medal of Arts would honor the extraordinary accomplishments of those engaged in the creation and production of the arts in the United States. Looking at the list of those honored over more than 20 years, one can see the breadth of artistic endeavors in this country. From writers such as Saul Bellow, Richard Wilbur, and Ralph Ellison to visual artists such as Georgia O'Keeffe, Romare Bearden, and Roy Lichtenstein to musicians Dave Brubeck, Aaron Copland, and Ray Charles, the map of American artistic achievement is clearly drawn. We at the Arts Endowment strive to support artistic excellence in the United States, and the National Medal of Arts recipients demonstrate that the arts are continuing to thrive. Dynamic, diverse, and original, the arts are an essential part of our American identity and civilization. As President Reagan stated at the 1987 ceremony, "The arts and humanities teach us who we are and what we can be. They lie at the very core of the culture of which we are a part, and they provide the foundation from which we may reach out to other cultures so that the great heritage that is ours may be enriched by — as well as itself enrich — other enduring traditions." £j£ua& V^(^ Dana Gioia Chairman National Endowment for the Arts National Council on the Arts NATIONAL MEDAL OF ARTS Brief History o/the National Medal of Arts In 1983, prior to the official establishment of the National Medal of Arts, President Ronald Reagan presented a medal to the following artists and patrons at a White House luncheon arranged by the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities: (artists) Pinchas Zukerman, Frederica Von Stade, Czeslaw Milosz, Frank Stella, Philip Johnson, and Luis Valdez; (patrons) The Texaco Philanthropic Foundation, James Michener (considered a patron for the award), Philip Morris, Inc., The Cleveland Foundation, Elma Lewis, and The Dayton Hudson Foundation. This was the beginning step in creating a Presidential award for those who significantly contributed to the cultural life of our nation. On May 31, 1984, President Reagan signed legislation creating the National Medal of Arts, authorizing the President to award up to 12 medals a year to "individuals or groups who in the President's judgment are deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support, and availability of the arts in the United States." The National Council on the Arts, the advisory board for the National Endowment for the Arts, is responsible for recommending candidates for the medal to the President. Unlike other arts awards, the National Medal of Arts is not limited to a single field or area of artistic endeavor. It is designed to honor exemplary individuals and organizations that have encouraged the arts in America and offered inspiration to others through their distinguished achievement, support, or patronage. I The National Medal of Arts was designed by internationally renowned sculptor Robert Graham, whose design was chosen by a special committee of the National Council on the Arts from among 31 designs submitted in a national competition. Mr. Graham is known for creating the Gateway for the XXIII Olympiad in Los Angeles, California. For more than 20 years, the recipients of the National Medal of Arts have touched every aspect of artistic life in the United States, from the fine arts to popular culture. The award has honored not only those whose vision and creativity provided the American public with their art work, but also those whose support of the arts has been crucial to its development. President Ronald Reagan at the 1987 National Medal of Arts reception with (clockwise from President's left) William Schuman, Isamu Noguchi, Alwin Nikolais, Howard Nemerov, and Ella Fitzgerald. White House photo by Pete Souza PM • *- ■ * §£ W !■ |t W' ' ^W * k A wz x How to Submit Nominations for the National Medal of Arts Annually, the National Endowment for the Arts initiates the selection process for the National Medal of Arts by soliciting nominations from the public. The National Council on the Arts reviews the nominations and draws up a list of recommendations that it submits to the President. Typically, the announcement of the year's awardees is made by the White House in the fall. The period of nomination for the National Medal of Arts is January through March 15. To submit a nomination, please complete a nomination form, which includes a one-page biography of the nominee's accomplishments. Because of difficulties with the receipt of mail, nominations are only accepted online at the Arts Endowment's Web site: www.arts.gov. More information on the nomination process can be found on the Web site as well. }\\ I V x M MB Hi \ ' Frequently Asked Questions: Who is eligible to receive the National Medal of Arts? Nominees must be living U.S. citizens or permanent residents who have filed for naturalization and who are eligible to become U.S. citizens. Nominated organizations must be established or incorporated in the United States. Can I submit more than one nomination? Yes, but you must complete separate nomination forms for each nominee. Where do I find detailed information to submit about my nominee? If you do not personally know the nominee (or wish to keep your nomination a surprise), you may find information at your local library in the reference section. Who's Who in America and other biographic reference books are often good sources of information. Internet searches may also turn up good material. Ask your librarian for other suggestions. Check the list of previous awardees to ensure that your nomination has not already received a National Medal of Arts. What information must I submit for my nomination? Career highlights, not comprehensive biographies, are requested. Provide the source of the information if possible. This award is bestowed only to US. citizens who have made exceptional contributions to the arts so the most competitive nominees will be familiar to the reviewers. The purpose of your nomination is to present reasons why your nominee is deserving of this high honor. The information requested on the "For All Nominations" section is the most important; any critical biographical material must be provided here. Brochures, books, or music samples will not be accepted. NEA Chairman Gioia (back center) with 2005 National Medal of Arts recipients: (clockwise from left back) Wynton Marsalis, Paquito D'Rivera, Robert Duvall, Louis Auchincloss, Derek Gil/man for the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, James DePreist, Leonard Garment, Tina Ramirez, and Ollie Johnston. Photo by Christie Bow National Council on the Arts The National Council on the Arts (NCA) advises the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, who also chairs the Council, on agency policies and programs. It reviews and makes recommendations to the Chairman on applications for grants, funding guidelines, and leadership initiatives. The NCA was established by the National Arts and Cultural Development Act of 1964, a full year before the federal agency was created by Congressional legislation. The National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 established the National Endowment for the Arts and provided that private citizens serve as advisors to the NEA Chairman as members of the National Council on the Arts. Members are appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate for six-year terms. Since 1997, the Council has consisted of 14 private citizens and six members of Congress, who serve in an ex officio, non-voting capacity for two-year terms. NCA members as of January 2007: Dana Gioia urman James K. Ballinger Museum Director Phoenix, AZ Ben Donenberg Theater Producer/Arts Educator Los Angeles, CA Makoto Fujimura Visual Artist New York, NY David H. Gelernter Author/Critic/Educator Woodbridge, CT Chico Hamilton NEA Jazz Master Percussionist New York, NY MarkHofflund Theater Administrator Boise, ID Joan Israelite Local Arts Agency Executive Lee's Summit, MO Charlotte Power Kessler Arts Patron New Albany, OH Bret Lott Author Baton Rouge, LA Jerry Pinkney Artist/Illustrator Croton-on-Hudson, NY Frank Price Film Industry Executive New York, NY Gerard Schwarz Symphony Orchestra Conductor Seattle, WA Terry Teachout Critic/Author New York, NY Dr. Karen Lias Wolff Music Educator Ann Arbor, MI Ex Officio Members United States Congress The appointment of the six ex officio Congressional members is pending until the 110th Congress convenes in 2007. National Medal of Arts Recipients 1985-2006 2006 William Bolcom, composer Cyd Charisse, dancer Roy R. DeCarava, photographer Interlochen Center for the Arts, school of fine arts Erich Kunzel, conductor Preservation Hall Jazz Band, jazz ensemble Gregory Rabassa, literary translator Viktor Schreckengost, industrial designer, sculptor Dr. Ralph Stanley, bluegrass musician Wilhelrnina Holladay, arts patron 2005 Louis Auchincloss, author James DePreist, conductor Paquito D'Rivera, jazz musician, composer, writer Robert Duvall, actor Ollie Johnston, film animator and artist Wynton Marsalis, trumpeter, composer, Jazz at Lincoln Center artistic director Dolly Parton, singer, songwriter Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, school of fine arts, museum Tina Ramirez, choreographer, Ballet Hispanico artistic director Leonard Garment, arts patron and advocate President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush with 2006 Medalist Gregory Rabassa in the Oval Office. White House photo by Paul Morse 1 2004 Ray Bradbury, author Carlisle Floyd, opera composer Frederick Hart, sculptor Anthony Hecht, poet John Ruthven, wildlife artist Vincent Scullv, architectural historian and educator Twyla Tharp, contemporary dance choreographer Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, philanthropic foundation 200I Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, modern dance company and school Rudolfo Anaya, writer Johnny Cash, singer, songwriter Kirk Douglas, actor, producer Helen Frankenthaler, painter Judith Jamison, artistic director, choreographer, dancer Yo-Yo Ma, cellist Mike Nichols, director, producer 2003 Austin City Limits, PBS television program Beverly Cleary, writer Rafe Esquith, arts educator Suzanne Farrell, dancer, choreographer, company director, educator Buddy Guy, blues musician Ron Howard, actor, director, writer, producer Mormon Tabernacle Choir, choral group Leonard Slatkin, symphony orchestra conductor George Strait, countrv singer, songwriter Tommy Tune, dancer, actor, choreographer, director 2002 Florence Knoll Bassett, architect Trisha Brown, artistic director, choreographer, dancer Philippe de Montebello, museum director Uta Hagen, actress, drama teacher Lawrence Halprin, architect Al Hirschfeld, artist, illustrator George Jones, country music composer, performer Ming Cho Lee, theater designer William "Smokey" Robinson, songwriter, musician 2000 Maya Angelou, poet, writer Eddy Arnold, countrv singer Mikhail Baryshnikov, dancer, director Benny Carter, jazz musician Chuck Close, painter Horton Foote, plavwright, screenwriter National Public Radio, Cultural Programming Division, broadcaster Claes Oldenburg, sculptor Itzhak Perlman, violinist Harold Prince, theater director, producer Barbra Streisand, entertainer, filmmaker Lewis Manilow, arts patron 1999 Aretha Franklin, singer Michael Graves, architect, designer Odetta, singer, music historian The Juilliard School, performing arts school Norman Lear, producer, writer, director, advocate Rosetta LeNoire, actress, producer Harvey Lichtenstein, arts administrator Lydia Mendoza, singer George Segal, sculptor Maria Tallchief, ballerina Irene Diamond, arts patron President William J. Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham- Clinton with 1996 Medalist Edward Albee. White House photo by Sharon Farmer I998 Jacques d'Amboise, dancer, choreographer, educator Antoine "Fats" Domino, rock h' roll pianist, singer Ramblin' Jack Elliott, folk singer, songwriter Frank Gehry, architect Barbara Handman, arts advocate Agnes Martin, visual artist Gregory Peck, actor, producer Roberta Peters, opera singer Philip Roth, writer Steppenwolf Theatre Company, arts organization Gwen Verdon, actress, dancer Sara Lee Corporation, corporate arts patron 1997 Louise Bourgeois, sculptor Betty Carter, jazz vocalist Daniel Urban Kiley, landscape architect Angela Lansbury, actor James Levine, opera conductor, pianist Tito Puente, Latin percussionist, musician Jason Robards, actor Edward Villella, dancer, choreographer Doc Watson, bluegrass guitarist, vocalist MacDowell Colony, artist colony Agnes Gund, arts patron 1996 Edward Albee, playwright Sarah Caldwell, opera conductor Harry Callahan, photographer Zelda Fichandler, theater director, founder Eduardo "Lalo" Guerrero, composer, musician Lionel Hampton, musician, bandleader Bella Lewitzky, dancer, choreographer, teacher Robert Redford, actor, director, producer Maurice Sendak, writer, illustrator, designer Stephen Sondheim, composer, lyricist Boys Choir of Harlem, performing arts youth group Vera List, arts patron 1995 Licia Albanese, opera singer Gwendolyn Brooks, poet Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, actors David Diamond, composer James Ingo Freed, architect Bob Hope, entertainer Roy Lichtenstein, painter, sculptor Arthur Mitchell, dancer, choreographer William S. Monroe, bluegrass musician Urban Gateways, arts education organization B. Gerald and Iris Cantor, arts patrons 1994 Harry Belafonte, singer, actor Dave Brubeck, pianist, bandleader, composer Celia Cruz, singer Dorothy DeLay, violin teacher Julie Harris, actress Erick Hawkins, dance choreographer Gene Kelly, dancer, singer, actor Pete Seeger, composer, lyricist, vocalist, banjo player Wayne Thiebaud, artist, teacher Richard Wilbur, poet, teacher, critic, literary translator Young Audiences, arts presenter Catherine Filene Shouse, arts patron 1993 Cabell "Cab" Calloway, singer, bandleader Ray Charles, singer, musician Bess Lomax Hawes, folklorist Stanley Kunitz, poet, educator Robert Merrill, baritone Arthur Miller, playwright Robert Rauschenberg, artist Lloyd Richards, theatrical director William Styron, writer Paul Taylor, dancer, choreographer Billy Wilder, movie director, writer, producer Walter and Leonore Annenberg, arts patrons 1992 Marilyn Home, opera singer James Earl Jones, actor Allan Houser, sculptor Minnie Pearl, Grand Ole Opry performer Robert Saudek, television producer, Museum of Broadcasting founding director Earl Scruggs, banjo player Robert Shaw, orchestra conductor, choral director Billy Taylor, jazz pianist Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, architects Robert Wise, film producer, director AT&T, corporate arts patron Lila Wallace- Reader s Digest Fund, foundation arts patron 1991 Maurice Abravanel, music director, conductor Roy AcufF, country singer, bandleader Pietro Belluschi, architect J. Carter Brown, museum director Charles "Honi" Coles, tap dancer John O. Crosby, opera director, conductor, administrator Richard Diebenkorn, painter Kitty Carlisle Hart, actress, singer, arts administrator, dancer Pearl Primus, choreographer, anthropologist Isaac Stern, violinist R. Philip Hanes, Jr., arts patron Texaco Inc., corporate arts patron I 99° George Francis Abbott, actor, playwright, producer, director Hume Cronyn, actor, director Jessica Tandy, actress Merce Cunningham, choreographer, dance company director Jasper Johns, painter, sculptor Jacob Lawrence, painter Riley "B.B." King, blues musician, singer Ian McHarg, landscape architect Beverly Sills, opera singer, director David Lloyd Kreeger, arts patron Harris & Carroll Sterling Masterson, arts patrons Southeastern Bell Corporation, corporate arts patron 1989 Leopold Adler, preservationist, civic leader Katherine Dunham, dancer, choreographer Alfred Eisenstaedt, photographer Martin Friedman, museum director John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie, jazz trumpeter Walker Kirtland Hancock, sculptor Vladimir Horowitz, pianist Czelaw Milosz, writer Robert Motherwell, painter John Updike, writer Dayton Hudson Corporation, corporate arts patron Leigh Gerdine, arts patron 1988 Saul Bellow, writer Sydney J. Freedberg, art historian, curator Helen Hayes, actress Gordon Parks, photographer, film director I.M. Pei, architect Jerome Robbins, dancer, choreographer Rudolf Serkin, pianist Roger L. Stevens, arts administrator Virgil Thomson, composer, music critic (Mrs. Vincent) Brooke Astor, arts patron Francis Goelet, music patron Obert C. Tanner, arts patron 1987 Romare Bearden, painter Ella Fitzgerald, singer Howard Nemerov, writer, scholar Alwin Nikolais, dancer, choreographer Isamu Noguchi, sculptor William Schuman, composer Robert Perm Warren, writer, poet J. W. Fisher, arts patron Dr. Armand Hammer, arts patron Mr. and Mrs. Sydney Lewis, arts patrons President George H. W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush with 1990 Medalist Jacob Lawrence. Photo courtesy of the George Bush Presidential Library io86 1985 Marian Anderson, opera singer Frank Capra, film director Aaron Copland, composer Willem de Kooning, painter Agnes de Mille, choreographer Eva Le Gallienne, actress, author Alan Lomax, folklorist, scholar Lewis Mumford, philosopher, literary critic Eudora Welty, writer Dominique de Menil, arts patron Exxon Corporation, corporate arts patron Seymour H. Knox, arts patron Elliott Carter, Jr., composer Ralph Ellison, writer Jose Ferrer, actor Martha Graham, dancer, choreographer Louise Nevelson, sculptress Georgia O'Keeffe, painter Leontyne Price, soprano Dorothy Bufrum Chandler, arts patron Hallmark Cards, Inc., corporate arts patron Lincoln Kirstein, arts patron Paul Mellon, arts patron Alice TuUy, arts patron NOTE: Recipients are listed alphabetically, artists first and then arts patrons. President Ronald Reagan with 1987 Medalist Howard Nemerov. White House photo by Mary Anne Fackelman-Miner National Medal of Arts recipient Yo-Yo Ma performing with Dr. Condoleezza Rice at the 2001 Medals ceremony. Photo by Neshan Naltchayan ► i I ■ H I ■ I ffl H I -%A 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20506-0001 202.682.5400 www.arts.gov > ^^b