United States Artists Announces 50 USA Fellowships for 2007

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- United States Artists (USA), a national organization that provides direct support for living artists, today announced the recipients of fifty USA Fellowships for 2007 totaling $2.5 million. This marks the second year of the USA Fellows program, which annually awards fifty $50,000 unrestricted grants to artists of all disciplines from across the country, in recognition of the caliber and impact of their work. Expert panels selected the 53 winning artists (including three collaboratives) from among 344 nominated applicants ranging from 23 to 97 years of age and hailing from 42 states. The USA Fellows for 2007 will be honored this Saturday, November 17, in a celebration at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles.

The USA Fellows program honors artists working in eight artistic disciplines and at all stages of their careers, from emerging artists to mid-career to those who have achieved master status in their fields. The USA Fellowships for 2007 include three in Architecture and Design; five in Crafts and Traditional Arts; six in Dance; nine in Literature (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, playwriting); five in Media (film, radio, video); six in Music; six in Theater Arts; and 10 in Visual Arts. The complete list of winners is provided below.

Collectively, this year's USA Fellows represent a diverse spectrum of geographic, cultural, and ethnic perspectives. Their influences range from science to hip-hop and from the newest musical forms to ancient tribal traditions. The youngest of the USA Fellows for 2007 is 30-year-old violinist Leila Josefowicz; the eldest, renowned dancer and choreographer Anna Halprin, is 87. The honorees include the distinguished visual artist Ann Hamilton and theater director Robert Woodruff, whose acclaimed bodies of work stretch over decades. Others, like jazz pianist and composer Jason Moran, Native American filmmaker Chris Eyre, and visual artist Edgar Arceneaux are newer talents of early achievement and great promise. One particularly fortuitous outcome of the panel review process resulted in the selection of two USA Fellows for 2007 from the same family. Choreographer and dancer Bill T. Jones is being honored alongside his sister, theater artist and writer Rhodessa Jones.

"In a climate of declining support for individual artists, USA is investing in the nation's creativity and shining a light on the important contributions of our finest artists," said Susan V. Berresford, USA board chair and president of the Ford Foundation.

"The USA Fellows for 2007 are dynamic artists whose unique visions and creative contributions are opening minds and enlivening communities across America," added USA Executive Director Katharine DeShaw. "On behalf of the many funders and arts advocates who helped to create USA, we are thrilled to recognize these artists' accomplishments and fuel their future creative endeavors."

This Saturday, the USA Fellows for 2007 will gather for a special event with USA supporters at Paramount Studios. USA Fellows Pat Bowie, Michael Doucet, Rennie Harris, Benjamin Millepied, Cherrie Moraga, Marilyn Chin, Helena Maria Viramontes, and Evan Ziporyn will make special appearances. Target has generously underwritten the event and has provided event and marketing expertise. American Airlines has offered airfare for the winning artists to attend the celebration, and Paramount Studios has donated important production assistance.

The founding of the Los Angeles-based USA in 2006 was prompted by the Urban Institute's breakthrough study, Investing in Creativity: A Study of the Support Structures for U.S. Artists. That research found that while 96% of Americans appreciate the arts, only 27% believe that artists contribute to the good of society. In addition, the study discovered that the median reported income for artists from their artistic work was only $5,000, and that more than half of America's two million artists pay for their own health insurance. Despite those economic challenges, artists contribute directly to advancements in the education of young people, the development of a competitive creative economy, and the revitalization of the nation's neighborhoods and urban centers.

In response to those findings, the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Prudential Foundation, and the Rasmuson Foundation contributed a total of $20 million to establish USA as a structure through which private philanthropists, corporate donors, and other foundations can support individual artists. Due to seed funding from its founders, 100% of current donor contributions directly support artists. USA supporters who have underwritten named USA Fellowships include Eli and Edythe Broad, Ella Fontanals-Cisneros, Agnes Gund, the Todd Simon Foundation, and Target, among others.

    USA Fellows for 2007

    Architecture and Design
    Benjamin Aranda and Christopher Lasch (Aranda/Lasch), USA Target Fellows,
     New York, New York
    Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues (Ball-Nogues Studio), USA Target Fellows,
     Los Angeles, California
    Monica Ponce de Leon and Nader Tehrani (Office dA), USA Target Fellows,
     Boston, Massachusetts

    Crafts and Traditional Arts
    Tommy Joseph, USA Kippy Stroud Fellow, Sitka, Alaska
    Gwendolyn Magee, USA Ford Fellow, Jackson, Mississippi
    Maggie Orth, USA Target Fellow, Seattle, Washington
    Virgil Ortiz, USA Target Fellow, Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico
    Susie Silook, USA Rasmuson Fellow, Anchorage, Alaska

    Dance
    Joanna Haigood, USA Glover Fellow, San Francisco, California
    Anna Halprin, USA Rasmuson Fellow, San Francisco, California
    Rennie Harris, USA Rose Fellow, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    Bill T. Jones, USA Eileen Harris Norton Fellow, New York, New York
    Benjamin Millepied, USA Wynn Fellow, New York, New York
    Shen Wei, USA Prudential Fellow, New York, New York

    Literature
    Marilyn Chin, USA Hoi Fellow, San Diego, California
    Henri Cole, USA Hildreth/Williams Fellow, Columbus, Ohio
    Charles D'Ambrosio, USA Rasmuson Fellow, Portland, Oregon
    William Gay, USA Ford Fellow, Hohenwald, Tennessee
    John Haines, USA Rasmuson Fellow, Fairbanks, Alaska
    Mat Johnson, USA James Baldwin Fellow, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    Cherrie Moraga, USA Rockefeller Fellow, Oakland, California
    Luis Valdez, USA Rockefeller Fellow, San Juan Bautista, California
    Helena Maria Viramontes, USA Ford Fellow, Ithaca, New York

    Media
    Julie Dash, USA Rockefeller Fellow, Los Angeles, California
    Chris Eyre, USA Rockefeller Fellow, Rapid City, South Dakota
    Judith Helfand, USA Simon Fellow, New York, New York
    Alex Rivera, USA Nimoy Fellow, New York, New York
    Susan Stone, USA Rasmuson Fellow, San Francisco, California

    Music
    Don Byron, USA Prudential Fellow, Boiceville, New York
    Michael Doucet, USA Collins Fellow, Lafayette, Louisiana
    Leila Josefowicz, USA Cummings Fellow, New York, New York
    Jason Moran, USA Prudential Fellow, New York, New York
    John Santos, USA Fontanals Fellow, Oakland, California
    Evan Ziporyn, USA Walker Fellow, Boston, Massachusetts

    Theater Arts
    Pat Bowie, USA Prudential Fellow, Boca Raton, Florida
    Rhodessa Jones, USA Prudential Fellow, San Francisco, California
    Tina Landau, USA Ford Fellow, Brooklyn, New York
    Elizabeth LeCompte, USA Rockefeller Fellow, New York, New York
    Michael Sommers, USA Ford Fellow, Minneapolis, Minnesota
    Robert Woodruff, USA Biller Fellow, New York, New York

    Visual Arts
    Edgar Arceneaux, USA Broad Fellow, Los Angeles, California
    Uta Barth, USA Broad Fellow, Los Angeles, California
    Paul Chan, USA Gund Fellow, New York, New York
    Charles Gaines, USA Broad Fellow, Los Angeles, California
    Ann Hamilton, USA Gund Fellow, Columbus, Ohio
    Daniel Joseph Martinez, USA Broad Fellow, Los Angeles, California
    Marcos Ramirez ERRE, USA Gund Fellow, San Ysidro, California
    Allan Sekula, USA Broad Fellow, Los Angeles, California
    Gary Simmons, USA Gund Fellow, New York, New York
    Zoe Strauss, USA Gund Fellow, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    For further information or images, please contact:

    Kristen Titus                       Martha Kang McGill
    Resnicow Schroeder Associates       Resnicow Schroeder Associates
    ktitus@resnicowschroeder.com        mmcgill@resnicowschroeder.com
    (212) 671-5173                      (212) 671-5169