Obama to award arts medals to Sally Field, Stephen King
| WASHINGTON
Actress Sally Field and author Stephen King are among the luminaries set to receive a National Medal of Arts or a National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama.
Obama will bestow the honors on 18 people and three institutions during a White House ceremony Thursday.
Field, of Los Angeles, is receiving an arts medal for showing dignity, empathy and fearlessness in performances that have touched audiences worldwide, as well as for showing those same qualities in her off-screen advocacy for women, LGBT rights, and public health.
King, of Bangor, Maine, is also receiving an arts medal for combining storytelling with analysis of human nature, and for thrilling readers through decades of work.
Alice Waters, chef-owner of the organic restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, is receiving a National Humanities Medal for her work as a champion of a holistic approach to eating and health.
The National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities were created by Congress in 1965 to provide grants to support artistic excellence and creativity, and to advance the understanding and appreciation of history, literature, philosophy, and language. Both independent agencies are celebrating their 50th anniversaries this year.
The remaining recipients are:
National Medal of Arts:
鈥擩ohn Baldessari, visual artist, Venice, California
鈥擯ing Chong, theater director, choreographer and video and installation artist, New York City
鈥擬iriam Col贸n, actress, theater founder and director, New York City
鈥擳he Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, New York City
鈥擜nn Hamilton, visual artist, Columbus, Ohio
鈥擬eredith Monk, composer, singer and performer, New York City
鈥擥eorge Shirley, tenor, Ann Arbor, Michigan
鈥擴niversity Musical Society, Performing Arts Presenter, Ann Arbor, Michigan
鈥擳obias Wolff, author and educator, Stanford, California
National Humanities Medal:
鈥擡velyn Brooks Higginbotham, historian, Auburndale, Massachusetts
鈥擜nnie Dillard, author, Key West, Florida
鈥擟lemente Course in the Humanities, Annandale-On-Hudson, New York
鈥擱ebecca Newberger Goldstein, novelist and philosopher, Boston
鈥擫arry McMurtry, novelist, essayist and screenwriter, Archer City, Texas
鈥擡verett L. Fly, architect, San Antonio
鈥擩humpa Lahiri, author, New York City
鈥擣edwa Malti-Douglas, professor and scholar, Rhinebeck, New York
鈥擵icki Lynn Ruiz, historian, Irvine, California
