Herb Alpert Awards Reward Risk-Taking Mid-Career Artists
Tom Teicholz, Contributor
There is a club in LA that has met every year for the last 23, filled with some of the most talented and creative people in the country – some might say the world. They are dancers, visual artists, playwrights, music-makers and filmmakers. The membership includes prize winners in every category including McArthur Grant recipients, Pulitzer Prize winners and Oscar and Tony award winners. I am referring, of course, to winners of the Herb Alpert Award for the Arts, an unrestricted $75,000 prize which is awarded to five artists each year, chosen in a rigorous application process by a trio of panelists in each discipline, themselves talented artists, teachers and cultural institution administrators.
This year’s winners are luciana achagar (Dance), Kerry Tribe (Film), Eve Beglerian (Music), Daniel Fish (Theater), and Amy Franceschini (Visual Arts). The awards were given in late May at a luncheon at the Herb Alpert Foundation’s offices in Santa Monica to recognize risk-taking mid-career artists for “past performance and future promise,” and carry an unrestricted $75,000 prize for each artist and a residency at CalArts.