09 November 2006

Bush Awards National Arts and Humanities Medals

Scholars, musicians, artists recognized for contributions to art and culture

 

President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush stand recipients of with National Endowment of the Arts 2006 Medal of Arts in the Oval Office Thursday, November 9. (White House photo)

George and Laura Bush with recipients of the National Endowment of the Arts 2006 Medal of Arts, Thursday, November 9(White House photo)

Washington – Two renowned scholars of Middle Eastern studies in the United States, a translator of Spanish and Portuguese literature and the famous Preservation Hall Jazz Band of New Orleans are among the recipients of the highest honors in the arts and humanities the U.S. government can bestow.

President Bush and first lady Laura Bush presented the National Humanities Medal and the National Medal of Arts at a White House ceremony November 9. The recipients were honored for their exemplary contributions to art, culture and scholarship. 

The honorees include 17 individuals as well the Interlochen Arts Center in Interlochen, Michigan; the Hoover Institution of Palo Alto, California, a public policy research center; and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, which has traveled worldwide spreading its mission to nurture and perpetuate the art form of New Orleans jazz.

Two of the recipients of the National Humanities Medal are Lebanese-born Fouad Ajami and British-born Bernard Lewis, both specialists in Middle Eastern studies.

Ajami is the Majid Khadduri Professor of Middle East Studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University in Washington.  He is considered to be “one of the most politically influential Arab-American intellectuals of his generation,” according to the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).  Ajami came to the United States in 1963 at the age of 17.

Lewis is considered one of the greatest living historians of the Muslim world, according to NEH.  He taught Near Eastern and Middle Eastern studies at the University of London and Princeton University, and has continued to write and teach since his retirement from Princeton in 1986. Both Lewis and Ajami are naturalized U.S. citizens.

Another humanities medal recipient is Nickolas Davatzes, the son of Greek immigrants, who is founder of the History Channel -- which is available in 145 countries -- and the Arts and Entertainment Network (A&E) cable channel.  He is one of the founders of Cable in the Classroom, the U.S. cable industry's education foundation.

Among the recipients of the National Medal of Arts are the sons of German and Cuban immigrants.

Erich Kunzel, whose parents came to the United States from Germany, has served as conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops orchestras for more than 40 years.  Kunzel was unable to accept his medal in person because he is conducting the Shenzhen Philharmonic in Shenzhen, China.  In 2005, Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra made history by becoming the first American pops orchestra to perform in China. A pops orchestra specializes in playing popular music and light classical works.

Among other arts medal recipients are Gregory Rabassa, of New York, the son of a Cuban expatriate sugar broker.  Rabassa has translated more than 40 works of Latin American literature from Spanish and Portuguese into English. 

Hollywood dancer Cyd Charisse and industrial designer Viktor Schreckengost, who turned 100 this past June, are also honorees.

The Interlochen Center for the Arts, a school of fine arts that educates more than 2,500 secondary school students drawn from the United States and more than 40 countries, also was recognized. 

The center is “dedicated to the promotion of world friendship through the universal language of the arts,” according to an inscription in its largest auditorium.  Among its programs are the World Youth Symphony, the annual Interlochen Arts Festival, and an annual summer arts camp that attracts students and faculty from around the world.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities were established in 1965 as independent agencies of the federal government. (See related article.)

NEA, the largest annual funder of the arts in the United States, has awarded more than 120,000 grants to help support the fine and performing arts since its inception.  NEH works to preserve the nation’s cultural treasures and make them accessible to the public.  Among its projects, the NEH has provided more than $2 million to help preserve the collections of libraries, museums and other cultural institutions that sustained damage in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. 

The full text of the White House press release, which includes a list of all the honorees, is available on the White House Web site.

More information about the National Endowment for the Arts and the winners of the National Medal of Arts is available on their Web sites.  See the Web site of the National Endowment for the Humanities for additional information on the National Humanities Medal winners.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)