On Monday, October 21st, anyone who’s anyone in the art world shuffled down to the grand Cipriani at 42nd Street to celebrate The Americans for the Arts 2015 National Arts Awards (now in it’s 55th year!), first with cocktails then a dinner and an awards presentation. This evening in particular featured visual arts by Kerry James Marshall, an american painter.
The awards recognize artists and art leaders who exhibit leadership and work is of extraordinary quality and achievement. Above all, they believe in the power of the arts and education in arts to enrich lives and communities. The award recipients are as follows:
- Carolyn Clark Powers Lifetime Achievement Award: Sophia Loren
- Young Artist Award: Lady Gaga
- Outstanding Contributions to the Arts Award: Herbie Hancock
- Arts Education Award: Alice Walton
- Philanthropy in the Arts Award: Joan and Irwin Jacobs
- Legacy Award: Maria Bell
It was a delightfully chic event and we spoke exclusively with Lady Gaga, who told us she was wearing Marc Jacobs and feeling wonderful to be part of the effort for the arts. Other guests included Tony Bennett, who posed with Lady Gaga on the Red Carpet, Wendi Murdoch, Lady Gaga’s parents, Paula Abdul, Salman Rushdie, Jeff Koons, among others.
Finally, we had the pleasure to chat with Carolyn Clark Powers, the event chair, and her first AFTA in this position. Her commitment to the arts is commendable: “I love the arts, particularly music arts. I’m on board for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, I work with the Kennedy Center, I’m on the board at the Thelonious Monk Institute, which is devoted to music education and I run a personal family foundation called the Dockery Farms Foundation, it’s the birthplace of blues music, and I do music education programs through the Thelonious Monk Institute, from New Orleans to Memphis, the Mississippi Delta to Chicago, educating children in schools that can’t afford music and art programs.” She is a natural fit in the context of what the Americans for the Arts is all about, and we congratulate her on this position, and congratulate all the recipients of awards!
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Photo Credit: BFA NYC