Jazzgrants-DUKE

Doris Duke Artist and First-Ever Impact Awards Announced

Doris Duke Artist Award recipients receive $275,000, and Doris Duke Impact Award recipients receive $80,000. Since commencing in April 2012, the program has awarded a total of $18.1 million to artists in the fields of jazz, dance, and theater.

Written By

NewMusicBox Staff

Doris Duke Artist and Impact Award recipients

Top (l to r): Oliver Lake, Steve Lehman, Roscoe Mitchell, Zeena Parkins, Craig Taborn, and Randy Weston. Bottom (l to r): Muhal Richard Abrams, Ambrose Akinmusire, Steve Coleman, Ben Monder, Aruán Ortiz, Matana Roberts, and Jen Shyu

The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation has announced the first-ever recipients of the Doris Duke Impact Awards and the third group of individuals to receive Doris Duke Artist Awards. Both awards are part of the Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards, a special, ten-year initiative of the foundation to empower, invest in, and celebrate artists by offering flexible, multi-year funding in response to financial challenges that are specific to the performing arts.

Doris Duke Artist Award recipients receive $275,000, and Doris Duke Impact Award recipients receive $80,000. Since commencing in April 2012, the program has awarded a total of $18.1 million to artists in the fields of jazz, dance, and theater.
American jazz trumpet player Ambrose Akinmusire, a recipient of the Doris Duke Impact Award, said, “I was shocked and grateful to be recognized by my peers for my work, which is so personal to me. There is a lot of pressure to be commercial and not to take risks. This award will allow me to take more risks in my work, and to embark on collaborations that I’ve long wanted to do with other artists but that wouldn’t otherwise be financially possible for me.”
This year’s recipients in jazz are:
2014 Doris Duke Artist Awards in Jazz

  • Oliver Lake
  • Steve Lehman
  • Roscoe Mitchell
  • Zeena Parkins
  • Craig Taborn
  • Randy Weston

2014 Doris Duke Impact Awards in Jazz

  • Muhal Richard Abrams
  • Ambrose Akinmusire
  • Steve Coleman
  • Ben Monder
  • Aruán Ortiz
  • Matana Roberts
  • Jen Shyu

Each recipient of a Doris Duke Artist Award receives $275,000—including an unrestricted, multi-year cash grant of $225,000, plus as much as $25,000 more in targeted support for audience development and as much as $25,000 more for personal reserves or creative exploration during what are usually retirement years for most Americans. Artists will be able to access their awards over a period of three to five years under a schedule set by each recipient. Creative Capital, DDCF’s primary partner in the Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards, will also offer the awardees the opportunity to participate in professional development activities, financial and legal counseling, and regional gatherings—all designed to help them personalize and maximize the use of their grants.

Each recipient of a Doris Duke Impact Award receives $80,000–including an unrestricted, multi-year cash grant of $60,000, plus as much as $10,000 more in targeted support for audience development and as much as $10,000 more personal reserves or creative exploration during what are usually retirement years for most Americans. Artists will be able to access their awards over a period of two to three years under a schedule set by each recipient. Like the Doris Duke Artists, Doris Duke Impact Award recipients have the opportunity to participate in professional development activities, financial and legal counseling, and regional gatherings through Creative Capital, DDCF’s primary partner in the Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards. By the end of the ten-year awarding cycle, 100 artists will have received Doris Duke Impact Awards.

Doris Duke Impact Award recipients were nominated by previous Doris Duke Artist Award recipients. Nominators were required to identify multiple artists who have influenced and are helping to move forward the fields of dance, jazz and/or theatre—but may or may not be artists in one of these particular fields. In addition to these criteria, they were encouraged to consider artists, including dancers, actors, and non- composing musicians, who are not eligible for the Doris Duke Artist Awards. A separate anonymous panel of artists then selected artists from this larger nomination pool.

More information about the awards and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is available here.

(from the press release)