Princess Grace Award Winners Announced

The Board of Trustees of the Princess Grace Foundation-USA and its Chairman, Hon. John F. Lehman, announced today the recipients of 2008 Princess Grace Awards.  The Awards for theater, dance/choreography and film continue the legacy of Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, who anonymously helped emerging artists pursue their goals throughout Her lifetime.

The Princess Grace Foundation-USA, a public charity, was formed after the death of Princess Grace in 1982. They award scholarships, apprenticeships, and fellowships to assist artists with career development.

The Foundation cultivates a diverse group of nearly 500 artists to date who continue to advance the spectrum of performing arts with innovative, cutting-edge, vibrant theater, dance, film, playwriting and design.  Among some notable Princess Grace Awards recipients in Theater are 2008 Tony Award winner for Best Direction of a Play, Anna D. Shapiro; Pulitzer and Tony Award winning playwright Tony Kushner and Academy Award winner Eric Simonson. Film recipients include Stephen Hillenburg, creator of SpongeBob SquarePants; Eric Darnell, director of Madagascar 1 and 2 and Antz and Greg Mottola, director of Superbad. Recipients of Princess Grace Dance Awards include ballet dancers Maria Kowroski and Ethan Stiefel, and choreographers Robert Battle and Dawn Stoppiello.

STATUE AWARDS

Past winners of the Awards who distinguish themselves in their artistic disciplines since receiving their initial Princess Grace Awards are eligible to win the coveted Princess Grace Statue. It includes a $25,000 unrestricted cash gift and a special Bronze Statue of Princess Grace created by Monegasque artist Kees Verkade.  The 2008 Statue Awards winners are Rose Bond and Alexander (Alec) T. Hammond.

Rose Bond is a media artist whose short films have screened in international competitions including Sundance and the New York Film Festival. Although her roots are in frame-by-frame, hand drawn or direct animation, her current work is produced using digital animation technology. Ms. Bond teaches animation and Time Arts at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon. Her direct animation films are held in the Film Collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Alec Hammond is a Yale-educated production designer and art director. In 1995, he was honored with the first Princess Grace Fabergé Theater Award. His most recent work includes creating a next-generation Jumbo Jet from nose to tail for the film Flightplan, starring Jodie Foster.  His production design can also be seen in the acclaimed film Donnie Darko, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and written/directed by Richard Kelly; The Contender for director Rod Lurie and First Daughter for director Forrest Whitaker.

PRINCESS GRACE AWARDS

Each year, the Foundation announces a select group of Princess Grace Awards for distinction in the areas of theater, dance, and film.  Students are eligible for scholarships; emerging artists working in companies qualify for apprenticeships and fellowships.  A playwriting fellowship is available for individual artists through a residency at New Dramatists in New York City.  In addition to these, the Foundation also gives honorable mention grants to applicants through Honoraria.

Special Project Awards are available to previous Princess Grace Awards winners and Honoraria recipients for uniquely significant projects that advance a previous winner's artistic development.

This year, the Princess Grace Foundation-USA Arts Advisory Board announced a partnership with the Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC) to provide further support for Princess Grace Awards winners. The aim of this alliance is to provide previous Awards winners the opportunity for creative experimentation without the pressure to produce a final, finished product. This aligns seamlessly with the mission of BAC, which serves as "an international center for artistic experimentation and collaboration, providing unique opportunities for the professional development of emerging and mid career artists from around the world and across disciplines."

In addition to the Awards, the Princess Grace Foundation-USA supports the nominating organizations' fund raising efforts by extending general operating monies to companies hosting a recipient.

The 2008 Princess Grace Awards winners (listed below) represent various colleges, universities, and not-for-profit theater and dance companies throughout the United States. This year's winners hail from 16 states and represent twelve organizations that are new to partnering with the Foundation. The Awards winners exemplify both classical and alternative artistic disciplines and, while still considered emerging talent, they are already distinguished in their areas of expertise. All of this year's Awards winners will travel to New York City as guests of the Princess Grace Foundation-USA, where they will receive their Awards at a black-tie Gala, held in the presence of HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco on October 15, 2008 at Cipriani 42nd Street.

To find out more about each 2008 Princess Grace Awards winner or to learn more about past recipients and the Foundation, please visit us at www.pgfusa.org.

PRINCESS GRACE STATUE AWARD

Alec Hammond
Original Award, 1995, Fabergé Award for Scenic Design, Yale School of Drama
Rose Bond
Original Award, 1989, Graduate Film Scholarship, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

 
THEATER AND PLAYWRITNG

Arin Arbus, Los Angeles, CA
Grace LeVine Theater Award Directing Fellowship, Theatre for a New Audience

Jaime Castañeda, San Antonio, TX
Gant Gaither Theater Award

Directing Apprenticeship, American Theater Company
Ben Gunderson, Morrhead, MN

Robert and Gloria Houseman Theater Award
Acting Scholarship, North Carolina School of the Arts

Patrick Kennelly, Evanston, IL
Pierre Cardin Theater Award
Directing Scholarship, University of California, Los Angeles

Arnulfo Maldonado, Eagle Pass, TX
Fabergé Theater Award
Costume Design Fellowship, Diverse City Theater

Kaneza Schaal, Freestone, CA
Acting Apprenticeship, The Wooster Group, Inc.

Kara Lee Corthron, Cumberland, MD
Playwriting Fellowship, New Dramatists

Maureen C. Huskey, Denver, CO
Directing Honoraria, California Institute of the Arts

Thomas Pasculli, Newton, NJ
Acting Honoraria, Double Edge Theatre Productions, Inc.

Ashley Sparks, Stuarts Draft, VA
Directing Honoraria, ArtSpot Productions

Damon E. Williams, Havertown, PA
Acting Honoraria, Temple University

DANCE AND CHOREOGRAPHY
Thang Dao, Montclair, CA
Choreography Fellowship, Ballet Austin

Blaine Hoven, Mobile, AL Chris Hellman Dance Award
Ballet Fellowship, American Ballet Theatre

Jermel Johnson, Baltimore, MD
Ballet Fellowship, Pennsylvania Ballet

Alexander Peters, State College, PA
Ballet Scholarship, School of American Ballet

Lucien Postlewaite, Santa Cruz, CA
Ballet Fellowship, Pacific Northwest Ballet

Spenser Theberge, Vancouver, WA
Ballet Scholarship, The Juilliard School-Dance Division

Dominic Walsh, Elgin, IL Choreography Fellowship, Sarasota Ballet of Florida
Nelja Y. Yatkin, Washington, DC Choreography Fellowship, Cleo Parker Robertson Dance Theater

Elisa Clark, St. Louis, MO
Modern Dance Honoraria, Mark Morris Dance Group

Leah Morrison, Bethesda, MD
Modern Dance Honoraria, Trisha Brown Dance Company

SPECIAL PROJECT AWARDS

 Rosemary Newcott, Theater

Chi Wang Yang, Theater

Eric Kupers, Dance

Drew Jacoby, Dance

Ilya Chaiken, Film

Miwa Materyek, Film

Julie Wyman, Film

WORKS IN PROGRESS AWARDS

Nancy Bannon, Dance
Shelia Callaghan, Playwriting
Maureen Towey, Theater

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