Americans for the Arts, an organization that aims to advance the arts and arts education in the United States, announced the recipients of its 2012 National Arts Awards this week. The National Arts Awards are given annually to recognize artists and arts leaders who exhibit exemplary national leadership and whose work demonstrates extraordinary artistic achievement.
Tony-winning Broadway veteran Brian Stokes Mitchell is being honored with the Outstanding Contributions to the Arts Award. In addition to concerts, TV and film appearances, and performances in stage musicals like "Man of La Mancha," "Ragtime," and "Kiss Me, Kate," he has also worked with numerous charitable organizations and has been the Chairman of the Board of The Actors Fund for nine years. According to Americans for the Arts, "Mitchell is being recognized not only for his stellar career as an artist, but for his commitment to advocacy and artists' rights."
Lin Arison, who has dedicated her life to the advancement of the arts and supporting young and developing artists, will be honored with the Arts Education Award. Among her many accomplishments, Arison established the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (NFAA) and its core program YoungArts with her late husband.
Singer, songwriter, and actor Josh Groban will receive the Bell Family Foundation Young Artist Award. Philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen will receive the Eli & Edythe Broad Award for Philanthropy in the Arts. American painter, printmaker, and sculptor James Rosenquist, one of the early leaders of the Pop Art movement, will receive the Isabella and Theodor Dalenson Lifetime Achievement Award.
The awards will be presented Monday, Oct. 15 at a benefit at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City. Dancer and choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov and American sculptor Richard Serra will be among the presenters.
Past honorees include Edward Albee, Dame Julie Andrews, Alec Baldwin, Martha Graham, Jake Gyllenhaal, Helen Hayes, Angela Lansbury, Joseph Papp, Natalie Portman, Martin Scorsese, Anna Deavere Smith, Stephen Sondheim, Paul Taylor, and more.
