With a $30 Million Commitment, the Doris Duke Foundation Announces Largest Award for Performing Artists

Last night, the Doris Duke Foundation celebrated 10 years of innovation and artistry made possible by the prestigious Doris Duke Artist Award. This year’s awardees each received a life-changing $550K—a doubling of the prize amount, with the award having formerly been $275K—and all previous recipients were honored with a gift of $20K.

The tenth-anniversary class of Doris Duke Artists are Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah and Somi in the Jazz category; Charlotte Brathwaite and Kristina Wong in the Theater category; and Ayodele Casel and Rosy Simas in the Dance category.

An additional $30M commitment was also announced, supporting the continuation of the program for coming years and guaranteeing its lasting impact across the drastically underfunded fields of dance, jazz, and theater.

The evening also included performances by six members from the inaugural class of Doris Duke Artists: Vijay Iyer, Marc Bamuthi, Joseph, Bebe Miller, Nicole Mitchell, Eiko Otake and Basil Twist.

“What a decade of this award has revealed to us is that if you trust extraordinary artists like the ones here tonight and give them the conditions to thrive, they will go beyond the boundaries and expectations that you or anyone else could set for them,” said Maurine Knighton, chief  program officer at the Doris Duke Foundation. “They will open doors to worlds previously unimagined and unlock new levels of creativity.”