ELLEN STEWART WINS PRAEMIUM IMPERIALE ARTS AWARD

Staff Report

PARIS, 20 SEPTEMBER 2007— Ellen Stewart, the American Founder and Director of the La MaMa Experimental Theater in New York has won the prestigious and rather conservative Praemium Imperiale arts award. The other 2007 Praemium Imperiale Laureates are: Painting Daniel Buren France, Sculpture Tony Cragg U.K., Architecture Jacques Herzog & Pierre de Meuron Switzerland and Music Daniel Barenboim.

The winners of the Japanese prize were officially announced today at the Japanese Cultural Center in Paris. Carrying prizes of 15 million yen (approximately $125,000) each, the awards recognize lifetime achievement in the arts in categories not covered by the Nobel Prizes.

Ellen Stewart founded the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in downtown New York in 1961. Since then, her groundbreaking vision as a creator, director and producer has encouraged some of the most important performing art talents in the world. Born in Alexandria, Louisiana in 1919, Stewart came to New York in 1950, aspiring to be a fashion designer, and became the first African American executive designer at Saks Fifth Avenue. With her earnings as a designer, she committed to making an environment for struggling playwrights to fully develop their talents. In a period of strong racial prejudice, she had to defend the theater space she created and frequently had to change its location after being accused of operating without a license. Some of the artists she supported include Robert de Niro, Sam Shepard, and Andy Warhol. She has also been a champion of Asian artists, and in the 1970s, Shuji Terayama and his troupe and Tokyo Kid Brothers under Yutaka Higashi performed at La MaMa. Recently she has extended her activities, developing theater pieces based on folklore and classic tradition.

Among many other distinctions, Ellen Stewart has been the recipient of the MacArthur "Genius" Award and was appointed an "Officier" in the "Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" of the French Republic.

Last year, the Praemium Imperiale was awarded to Yayoi Kusama (painting), Christian Boltanski (sculpture), Frei Otto (architecture), Steve Reich (music) and Maya Plisetskaya (theatre/film). Previous Laureates have included Ornette Coleman, Leonard Bernstein, Ingmar Bergman, Willem de Kooning , Frank Gehry, Arthur Miller, Akira Kurosawa, Robert Rauschenberg, Jean-Luc Godard, Rem Koolhaas, Mstislav Rostropovich, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Norman Foster and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.

The Praemium Imperiale was created in 1988 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Japan Art Association and to honor the late Prince Takamatsu, who served as the association's honorary patron for 58 years.

La MaMa Theatre
74A E. 4th Street
New York City, NY 10003

Related CK Archives

Interview with Ornette Coleman, Winner of the Japanese "Praemium Imperiale"

Book Review: I, Maya Plisetskaya

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