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In 1961, John D. Rockefeller became the Chairman of Lincoln Center, an important urban renewal project launched by controversial architect Robert Moses. David Geffen Hall, David H. Koch Theater, and the Metropolitan Opera House make up the center’s buildings and are home to a diverse range of resident performing arts organizations.
Leading citizens from the business and financial industries have always provided support for Lincoln Center. These men and women appreciate talent and commitment to hard work. To show their commitment to the organization people like Beth Dozoretz, Vice Chair of First Hospital Corporation Health Systems; Bill E Ford, Chief Executive Office at General Atlantic; and John Thain, Chief Executive Officer at CIT Group serve on Lincoln Center’s Board of Directors. They use their business experience to support the programs and individual artists who work, study, and perform at the Center.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts includes eleven resident art organizations including these six much-loved groups:
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Film Society of Lincoln Center
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Over the years, the Juilliard School has been referenced in movies and television programs that portray a stereotypical vision of the lives of performing artists and art students. Even today it’s not uncommon for the school’s name to appear in at least one storyline when autumn arts and entertainment programs are announced.
Fictional stories about the lives of struggling artists have been a favorite subject for art at all levels—from sentimental melodrama to majestic and moving masterpieces like the opera La Bohème.
But the real life stories of emerging artists are far more compelling than any script a screenwriter might dream up.
The problem shared by emerging artists and the general public is that these two groups rarely meet. This problem is going to be solved on March 2 when the Lincoln Center presents the 2016 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award winners. Hosted by Emmy Award-winner Wayne Brady, the event promises to be a talent-studded affair.
Each of the award winners receives a $7,500 scholarship for career advancement and future study. Here are the emerging artists honored with this compelling designation:
- Julia Adolphe, Composer | nominated by the New York Philharmonic
- Ben Bliss, Tenor | The Metropolitan Opera
- Jon Viktor Corpuz, Actor | Lincoln Center Theater
- Mati Diop, Filmmaker | Film Society of Lincoln Center
- Dover Quartet | Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts/Hunt Family Award
- Sullivan Fortner, Jazz Pianist and Composer | Jazz at Lincoln Center
- Ethan Fuller, Dancer | School of American Ballet
- Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Playwright | The Juilliard School/Martin E. Segal Award
- Nellie McKay, Singer/Songwriter and Actress | The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
- Alexander Sitkovetsky, Violinist and Wu Qian, Pianist | Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
- Indiana Woodward, Dancer | New York City Ballet/Martin E. Segal Award