The Herb Alpert Award in the Arts was established in the 1994 by The Herb Alpert Foundation in collaboration with the California Institute of the Arts. The Herb Alpert Foundation, which included then-present Kip Cohen, and benefactors Herbert and Lani Alpert, approached then-CalArts president Steven Lavine with the proposition of providing opportunities for young artists studying at the institute to engage with current American artists. By facilitating this forum for student artists, it would provide them with the best possible professional training. CalArts previously established a relationship with Herb Alpert from his support of the jazz program at the School of Music.
Initially, the Alpert Foundation provided a $50,000 award to five early mid-career artists. Artist are selected in the disciplines of dance, film and video, music, theatre, and visual arts, each representative of five of the six schools at CalArts. In order to be selected for the award, there is a two-tier process of nominators and panelists. Each year, the CalArts faculty determines fifty artists and art professionals as nominators to select two artist each. 100 artists are then invited to apply to award, which will be judged by panel of three experts in each discipline (15 total). According to the foundation, the awards are chosen by a panel of experts and are given to risk-taking artists typically in their mid-careers. The foundation attempts to identify artists who were sensitive to the artist's potential contribution to society. Awardees spend a week at CalArts, lecturing, offering classes, and meeting individually with current students. In addition to the residency, recipients have also shown or performed their work at CalArts' professional arts theater, REDCAT, in downtown Los Angeles.
In 2010, the foundation in increased its annual fellowship to $75,000. In 2021, the Foundation increased the number of recipients to two in each discipline, comprising with a total of ten awardees each year.
In 2026, the Herb Alpert Foundation created a new prize named the Herb Alpert Honor, whose first recipient is Gustavo Dudamel and the Dudamel Foundation. The award consists of a 1‑million‑dollar grant, aimed at supporting Dudamel’s work in music education and youth-focused programs through his foundation.
YearFilm/VideoVisual ArtsTheatreDanceMusic1995Leslie ThorntonMel ChinReza AbdohAnn CarlsonJames Carter1996Su FriedrichCarrie Mae WeemsSuzan-Lori ParksDavid RoussèveAnne LeBaron1997Craig BaldwinKerry James MarshallLisa KronVictoria MarksChen Yi1998Jeanne C. FinleyRoni HornDanny HochJoanna HaigoodPamela Z1999Lourdes PortilloPepon OsorioBrian FreemanRalph LemonGeorge Lewis2000Peggy AhweshShirin NeshatW. David HancockMark DendySteve Coleman2001Ellen BrunoCai Guo-QiangErik EhnJohn KellyZhou Long2002RTMarkChristian MarclayDavid GreenspanLisa NelsonLaetitia Sonami2003Coco FuscoCatherine OpieCarl Hancock RuxRennie HarrisVijay Iyer2004Renee Tajima-PeñaCatherine SullivanDan HurlinStephan KoplowitzMiya Masaoka2005Jem CohenHarrell FletcherNaomi IizukaDonna UchizonoDavid Dunn2006Bill MorrisonJim HodgesDaniel Alexander JonesSarah MichelsonLawrence D. Morris2007Jacqueline GossWalid RaadCynthia HopkinsJeanine DurningMark Feldman2008Bruce McClureByron KimLisa D'AmourPat GraneyDerek Bermel2009Paul ChanPaul PfeifferRinde EckertReggie WilsonJohn King2010Jim TrainorRachel HarrisonBill TalenSusan RethorstLukas Ligeti2011Natalia AlmadaEmily JacirMarc Bamuthi JosephJess CurtisNicole Mitchell2012Kevin EversonMichael SmithEisa DavisNora ChipaumireMyra Melford2013Lucien Castaing-TaylorSharon HayesPavol Liska & Kelly CopperJulia RhoadsAlex Mincek2014Deborah StratmanDaniel Joseph MartinezAnnie DorsenMichelle DorranceMatana Roberts2015Sharon LockhartTania BrugueraTaylor MacMaria HassabiJulia Wolfe2016Cauleen SmithSimone LeighAnne WashburnIshmael Houston-JonesDohee Lee2017Kerry TribeAmy FranceschiniDaniel Fishluciana achugarEve Beglarian2018Arthur JafaMichael RakowitzRobert O'HaraOkwui OkpokwasiliCourtney Bryan2019Beatriz Santiago MuñozCecilia VicuñaLloyd SuhPam TanowitzMeshell Ndegeocello2020Sky HopinkaFirelei BáezPhil Soltanoff Karen ShermanChristian Scott2021Kahlil Joseph, Adam KhalilTanya Lukin Linklater, Steffani JemisonKimber Lee, Kaneza SchaalBeth Gill, Will RawlsDavid Virelles, Toshi Reagon2022Bani Khoshnoudi, Terence NanceGuadalupe Maravilla, Martine SymsVirginia Grise, Aleshea HarrisNia Love, Yanira CastroTomeka Reid, Cory Smythe 2023Christopher Harris, Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich American Artist, Park McArthurWhitney White, Tania El KhouryMakini [jumatatu m. poe] and Jermone Donte Beacham, Ayodele CaselErin Gee, Linda May Han Oh2024Lucy Raven, Nuotama Bodomo Marie Watt, Marina RosenfeldCannupa Hanska Luger, Robin FrohardtMariana Valencia, Jonathan GonzálezHuang Ruo, Anna Webber2025Nazli Dinçel , Ja'Tovia GaryAzza El Siddique, Sondra PerryHansol Jung, Becca BlackwellDavid Thomson, Paloma McGregorMikel Patrick Avery , Yvette Janine Jackson
References
External links