April 24, 2024 — New York – The Doris Duke Foundation today announced the recipients of the 2024 Doris Duke Artist Awards, the largest prize in the United States specifically dedicated to individual performing artists. This year’s honorees are Nataki Garrett (theater), Shamel Pitts (dance), Acosia Red Elk (dance), esperanza spalding (jazz), Chay Yew (theater) and Miguel Zenón (jazz), each of whom is being awarded $525,000 in unrestricted funds and an incentive of up to $25,000 to save for retirement.
The Doris Duke Artist Award was established in 2012 to unlock the power of creativity and to shape our society for the better. The award and associated programming are designed to create conditions in which artists can thrive. In addition to providing a cash prize, the foundation also gives the award winners support including professional development, financial planning and management services, enhanced networking and performance opportunities.
In conjunction with the 2024 Awards, the Doris Duke Foundation will further expand its support of the community of award winners, some of society’s greatest living theater, dance and jazz artists. In April, the foundation will host the first in a series of annual convenings in New York that will feature a marquee symposium about the future of the performing arts entitled “Creative Labor, Creative Conditions: A Symposium and Celebration of the Doris Duke Artist Awards” and will inaugurate an annual retreat for Doris Duke Artist awardees at Duke Farms, the foundation’s 2,700-acre environmental center.
The award program recognizes artists for their established record of achievement within the disciplines of contemporary dance, jazz and theater. The unrestricted nature of the award allows artists to use the funds for either personal or professional needs and enjoy the freedom to pursue projects of their choosing. Last year, the foundation doubled the amount of the award to signal the power of sustained support for individual performing artists and to celebrate the immense shared benefits to society when artists are invested in as whole people and as creative laborers. Including the 2024 recipients, the foundation to date has provided 135 artists with $38.8 million through the Doris Duke Artist Award program.
Doris Duke Foundation President and CEO Sam Gill said, “The Doris Duke Artist Award is more than an award—it is a platform to fight for the future of all performing artists. In illuminating the full range of human possibility, these six remarkable artists show us why that struggle is so important.”
Doris Duke Foundation Arts Program Director Ashley Ferro-Murray added, “With the 2024 Artist Awards, we are excited to introduce a platform to advocate and fight for the future of artists, including more opportunities for award winners such as the retreat at Duke Farms. This allows all award winners to come together to build community, exchange ideas and collaborate as they tackle some of the most pressing issues affecting artistic industries today.”
For more information about the Doris Duke Artist Awards, visit dorisdukeartistawards.org.
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ABOUT THE DORIS DUKE FOUNDATION
The mission of the Doris Duke Foundation (DDF) is to build a more creative, equitable and sustainable future by investing in artists and the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research, child well-being and greater mutual understanding among diverse communities. DDF focuses its support to the performing arts on contemporary dance, jazz and theater artists, and the organizations that nurture, present and produce them. The Doris Duke Foundation is one of only two foundations in history to have received the National Medal of the Arts from the National Endowment for the Arts, presented by President Barack Obama, in special recognition of DDF's support of creative expression across the United States and bold commitment to artistic risk, helping artists, musicians, dancers and actors share their talents and enrich the cultural life of the nation. Visit www.dorisduke.org to learn more.