The Doris Duke Foundation has named theatre artists Nataki Garrett and Chay Yew winners of its 2024 Artist Awards, an honor that comes with an unrestricted cash prize of $525,000 and up to $25,000 in retirement funds. Garrett and Yew won alongside dance artists Shamel Pitts and Acosia Red Elk and jazz artists esperanza spalding and Miguel Zenón.
Established in 2012, the Doris Duke Artist Awards look to shape society by supporting creative artists. The award honors artists for an established record of achievements, with the unrestricted grants allowing winners to use the funds however they see fit. The amount of the award doubled last year, leading to $38.8 million being distributed through the program as of this year.
Garrett is the former artistic director of Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Her four-year tenure with the company was marked with efforts to expand the Festival's offerings, decisions that proved to be controversial with some members of the community. Garrett's work to program more diverse and contemporary plays in place of the company's predominately Shakespeare-exclusive seasons resulted in death threats and other harassment, along with critical op-eds in local papers. Garrett was forced to hire a security team, after which several theatrical organizations—including Dramatists Guild, Theatre Communications Group, and the Shakespeare Theatre Association—released a joint statement of solidarity supporting Garrett. Since then, Garrett has been instrumental in developing the STAGE Act, a piece of legislation recently introduced in Congress aimed at providing a financial lifeline to American non-profit theatres still struggling to recover from the losses of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yew is a director, playwright, producer, and a 2007 Obie Award winner for Durango at The Public Theater. His credits also include Cambodian Rock Band at Signature Theatre, Pulitzer finalist Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord at New York Theatre Workshop, Good Enemy, and The Light in the Piazza at New York City Center Encores! Yew is currently in rehearsals for the New York premiere of David Henry Hwang and Huang Ruo's opera An American Soldier, which begins performances at Perelman Performing Arts Center May 12.
“The Doris Duke Artist Award is more than an award—it is a platform to fight for the future of all performing artists. In illuminating the full range of human possibility, these six remarkable artists show us why that struggle is so important," says Doris Duke Foundation President and CEO Sam Gill in a statement.
“With the 2024 Artist Awards, we are excited to introduce a platform to advocate and fight for the future of artists, including more opportunities for award winners such as the retreat at Duke Farms," adds Foundation Arts Program Director Ashley Ferro-Murray. "This allows all Award winners to come together to build community, exchange ideas, and collaborate as they tackle some of the most pressing issues affecting artistic industries today.”
Visit DorisDukeArtistAwards.org for more.
