On April 25, 2012, the American Academy in Rome will host a celebration of music and the visual arts as we honor the artist William Kentridge (2011 Resident), considered one of the most compelling and innovative artists of our day, as well as the theater, film, and opera director Peter Sellars, renowned worldwide for his groundbreaking treatments of classical material from western and non-western traditions, and for his commitment to exploring the role of the performing arts in contemporary society.

Dinner Chairman

Mercedes T. Bass

In celebrating these remarkable individuals, the Academy renews its commitment to the arts and humanities, intellectual and artistic freedom, innovation, and interdisciplinary and cultural exchange. Proceeds from the evening provide crucial support for the Academy in support of these endeavors.

Past honorees include:

2011

Frank O. Gehry, architect
Paul LeClerc, former president and CEO of the New York Public Library

2010

Larry Gagosian, art dealer
Robert Storr, artist

2009

Thom Mayne, architect
Bruce Nauman, artist
Jessye Norman, opera singer

2008

John Richardson, art Historian
The Honorable Ronald P. Spogli, former US Ambassador to Italy

2007

Bette Midler, Singer, actress and activist
Museum of Modern Art

2006

Joan Didion, writer
Barbara Goldsmith, writer
Mark Strand, poet and 1983 Resident

2005

Founders of the American Academy in Rome: Andrew Carnegie, the Carnegie Corporation, Henry Clay Frick, Charles Follen McKim, J. Pierpont Morgan, J. P. Morgan Jr., John D. Rockefeller Jr., the Rockefeller Foundation, William K. Vanderbilt, and Henry Walters