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HERB ALPERT AWARD IN THE ARTS CELEBRATES 20 YEARS |
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Los Angeles, California — April 1, 2014. Celebrating 20 years, 100 awardees and over $6 million in grants, the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts has announced this year’s selection of five mid–career, risk–taking artists in dance, film/video, music, theatre, and visual arts. The $75,000 prize per artist is unique among established arts awards in recognizing the past performance and future promise of experimental artists. Since 1995 the distinguished Herb Alpert Award in the Arts panelists have selected numerous artists who have gone on to extraordinary careers. Past winners include Zhou Long, a 2011 Pulitzer Prize winner in Music, Suzan–Lori Parks, a 2002 Pulitzer winner for Drama, as well as four MacArthur fellows and 22 Guggenheim fellows. |
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Herb Alpert, the legendary musician, philanthropist and artist who created the Herb Alpert Foundation with his wife, Grammy–winning singer Lani Hall Alpert, took the opportunity to announce this year’s winners during his March 15th performance at the annual REDCAT CalArts gala where Alpert was being honored. Reflecting on the awards and their impact on experimental artists, Alpert said, “what happens when you support artists with that special spark? You don’t know — and that’s exactly part of the magic. Over the last twenty years we’ve been lucky enough to have given a boost to choreographers, musicians, visual and media artists, and theatre makers, those who keep on searching, and making powerful, spirited work. For all of us to enjoy…or not.” “The Foundation is committed to supporting art making in many realms, beginning with early childhood arts exposure through higher education and onto professional development,” added Rona Sebastian, President of the Herb Alpert Foundation. “We are delighted to have touched the lives of so many exceptionally talented and committed artists.” The California Institute of the Arts, more commonly referred to as CalArts, has administered the awards since their inception. CalArts President Steven Lavine said, “the Herb Alpert Awards give the gift of time to artists who have the potential to renew our culture. And year after year the awardees have gone on to do exactly that. During the CalArts residency that comes with the Award, these artists have coached and inspired the next generation of artists to dig deeper and reach further in their work.”
Irene Borger, who has overseen the awards for 20 years as Director of the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, describes the reasons the 2014 winners were selected. “The Dance panel chose choreographer and virtuoso tap dancer Michelle Dorrance for her inventive sophistication and transporting the field into radically new places. The Film/Video panel honors artist and experimental documentary filmmaker Deborah Stratman for her important body of films, and the ways she grapples with tough issues. Visionary composer, avant–garde saxophonist, and sound artist Matana Roberts was chosen as the winner in Music for her charismatic, powerful renderings of sound. Theatre artist Annie Dorsen was selected by the Theatre panel for her audacious investigations, unrelenting pursuit of ideas, and new theatrical forms. Post–conceptual artist Daniel Joseph Martinez was named the Visual Arts prize winner for his fearless, continually evolving practice, unwavering commitment to art and politics, to the field, and to Los Angeles.” On May 9th, the five Herb Alpert Award in the Arts recipients will receive their awards at a private celebratory luncheon at the Herb Alpert Foundation in Santa Monica. Herb Alpert and his wife Lani Hall Alpert will be present at the awards along with the panel judges and noted supporters of the arts. For more information about the Awards, please visit: www.herbalpertawards.org. The 2014 HERB ALPERT AWARD PANELISTS: DANCE PANEL FILM/VIDEO PANEL MUSIC PANEL THEATRE PANEL VISUAL ARTS PANEL |
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