President Barack Obama presented the 2010 National Medal of Arts to eight recipients at a White House ceremony that took place on Wednesday, March 2. They are pianist/music educator Van Cliburn; theater critic/producer Robert Brustein; sculptor Mark di Suvero; poet Donald Hall; musician/music producer Quincy Jones; jazz musician Sonny Rollins; singer/songwriter James Taylor; and the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts. Two additional 2010 National Medal of Arts recipients, actress Meryl Streep and author Harper Lee, were not present at Wednesday’s ceremony and will receive their medals separately. The National Medal of Arts, a White House initiative established by Congress in 1984, is organized and overseen annually by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Posted March 3, 2011
