State Champ Radio philanthropy
Grammy-winning jazz artists Esperanza Spalding and Miguel Zenón are among six recipients of the 2024 Doris Duke Artist Awards. This honor comes with a significant monetary reward. Each of the six honorees is being awarded $525,000 in unrestricted funds and up to $25,000 in retirement funds. It’s billed as the largest prize in the U.S. specifically dedicated to individual performing artists.
The Doris Duke Artist Award, established in 2012, recognizes artists for their record of achievement within the disciplines of contemporary dance, jazz and theater. This year’s four other honorees are Nataki Garrett and Chay Yew (both from theater) and Shamel Pitts and Acosia Red Elk (both from dance).
The unrestricted nature of the award allows artists to use the funds for either personal or professional needs and enjoy the freedom to pursue projects of their choosing. Last year, the foundation doubled the amount of the award. Including the 2024 recipients, the foundation to date has provided 135 artists with $38.8 million through the Doris Duke Artist Award program.
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On Friday April 26, the Doris Duke Foundation will host a symposium in New York about the future of the performing arts entitled Creative Labor, Creative Conditions: A Symposium and Celebration of the Doris Duke Artist Awards. The foundation will also inaugurate an annual retreat for Doris Duke Artist awardees at Duke Farms, its 2,700-acre environmental center. This year’s retreat runs from April 29 to May 2.
Spalding, 39, has won five Grammys. The bassist and singer famously won best new artist in 2011, prevailing over a red-hot field that also included Justin Bieber, Drake, Florence + the Machine and Mumford and Sons. She has since won three Grammys for best jazz vocal album for Radio Music Society, 12 Little Spells and Songwrights Apothecary Lab and one for arrangement accompanying vocalist(s) for “City of Roses.”
Zenón, 47, won his first Grammy this year for best Latin jazz album for El Arte del Bolero, Vol. 2, a collab with Luis Perdomo. The alto saxophonist had previously gone 0-11 at the Grammys, so this year’s win was a breakthrough.
Duke, a tobacco heiress, socialite and philanthropist, died in 1993 at age 80. Her philanthropic work in AIDS research, medicine, and child welfare continued into her old age. Her estimated $1.3 billion fortune was largely left to charity.
The Doris Duke Foundation is one of only two foundations to have received the National Medal of the Arts from the National Endowment for the Arts. The foundation’s mission “is to build a more creative, equitable and sustainable future by investing in artists and the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research, child well-being and greater mutual understanding among diverse communities,” according to a statement. Visit www.dorisduke.org to learn more.
Ron Perry, chairman/CEO of Columbia Records, will receive the 2024 Music Visionary of the Year Award at the UJA-Federation of New York’s luncheon this spring. The award recognizes Perry’s professional accomplishments and commitment to philanthropy.
“We are thrilled to honor Ron as our 2024 UJA Music Visionary of the Year,” Daniel Glass, founder/CEO of Glassnote Records, chair of UJA’s music division and co-chair of UJA’s overall entertainment division, said in a statement. “Ron is one of the new leaders of our industry. Throughout his career, Ron stays close to songwriters and artists. He has proven himself to be a true trailblazer and ‘song person’ — the greatest compliment a music executive can get.”
Recent honorees include Sony Music Group CEO Rob Stringer; Amazon Music vp Steve Boom; SiriusXM president/chief content officer Scott Greenstein; and Universal Music Group executive vp Michele Anthony, as well as Doug Davis; Avery and Monte Lipman; Bob Pittman, Rich Bressler, John Sykes and Tom Poleman; Troy Carter and Daniel Ek; Fred Davis and Daniel Glass; Tom Corson and Peter Edge; Jody Gerson and Jon Platt; Julie Greenwald and Craig Kallman; Charles Goldstuck and Kevin Liles; Barry Weiss; and Clive Davis.
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As chairman and CEO of Columbia Records since 2018, Perry oversees a diverse roster of artists including AC/DC, Adele, Beyoncé, Barbra Streisand, Billy Joel, Blink-182, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Central Cee, Depeche Mode, Halsey, Harry Styles, The Kid LAROI, Lil Nas X, Miley Cyrus, Pharrell Williams, Rosalía and Tyler the Creator.
Prior to Columbia Records, Perry was the president and partner of SONGS Music Publishing, where he signed The Weeknd, XXXtentacion, Lorde, Diplo and others before the company’s sale to Kobalt in December 2017.
Funds raised at the luncheon will go toward UJA’s annual campaign supporting the year-round work of confronting antisemitism, promoting inclusion and caring for New Yorkers of all backgrounds. A portion of the proceeds will also support UJA’s Music for Youth, which helps thousands of young people connect to life-changing music programs.
Working with a network of hundreds of nonprofits, UJA extends its reach from New York to Israel to nearly 70 other countries around the world, touching the lives of 4.5 million people annually. Every year, UJA-Federation provides approximately $180 million in grants.
Nile Rodgers is one of three recipients of the 30th annual Crystal Award, the World Economic Forum announced on Monday (Jan. 8). The others are Michelle Yeoh, who last year became the first performer of Asian descent to win a best actress Oscar for her role in Everything Everywhere All at Once, and architect and educator Diébédo Francis Kéré.
The winners will be honored at the opening session of the Forum’s annual meeting in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, on Jan. 15. The award celebrates “the achievements of leading artists who are bridge-builders and role models for all leaders of society,” according to a statement.
Rodgers receives the 2024 Crystal Award for his efforts to make the world a more peaceful, equal and inclusive place through his music, his commitment to fighting systemic racism, inequality and injustice, and by championing innovative youth voices.
Rodgers’s activism began as a teen Black Panther in New York. He participated in Live Aid in 1985 and the Concert for Ukraine in 2023. After 9/11, he co-founded the We Are Family Foundation (named after the 1979 classic that he and Bernard Edwards wrote and produced for Sister Sledge), promoting cultural diversity while empowering young people to change the world.
“My parents socialized me to care about people and give to others though we were ourselves financially poor,” Rodgers said in a statement. “When music gave me the opportunity to reach hearts the world over, I realized I’d been given a priceless gift. When I give that gift to others, I get back more than the wealthiest person on earth.”
Rodgers has received numerous prestigious awards in the past decade. In 2016, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. The following year, he received the award for musical excellence from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2023, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy. He is an Apple Music producer-in-residence, Songwriters Hall of Fame chairman, and Hipgnosis Songs co-founder.
With CHIC, Rodgers pioneered a musical language with “Le Freak” and “Good Times,” both of which topped the Billboard Hot 100. The latter was later interpolated in The Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight,” which in January 1980 became the first rap track to make the top 40 on the Hot 100.
Rodgers’ work in The CHIC Organization – including Sister Sledge, Diana Ross (“I’m Coming Out”), David Bowie (“Let’s Dance”) and Madonna (“Like a Virgin”) – led to a string of top-selling albums and singles. He has won four Grammys in the past decade for collaborations with Daft Punk (Random Access Memories and its smash single “Get Lucky”) and Beyoncé (“Cuff It” from Renaissance).
The Crystal Award is presented at Davos each year by Hilde Schwab, chairwoman and co-founder of the World Economic Forum’s World Arts Forum.
Taylor Swift doesn’t exactly need another award, but she’s a finalist for one that would probably mean a lot to her. She is a finalist for a 2024 Anthem Award, in tandem with Vote.org, for their work on National Voter Registration Day. Launched in 2021 by The Webby Awards, The Anthem Awards honor the purpose […]
UPDATE (Nov. 13): Marc Cohn and Bettye LaVette have been added to the lineup for the 43rd annual John Lennon Tribute on Saturday, Dec. 2, at Town Hall in New York. Rosanne Cash and Judy Collins were already announced as performers at the event, where Graham Nash will become the ninth recipient of the John Lennon Real Love Award.
LaVette will sing a stripped-down version of “Watching the Wheels,” a song from the 1980 Lennon/Yoko Ono album Double Fantasy that became a top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1981. She will also perform “It’s So Hard” from Lennon’s 1971 album Imagine. LaVette is making her seventh appearance at the annual tribute event.
Cohn will be making his second tribute appearance and his first in five years.
PREVIOUSLY (July 10): Graham Nash will become the ninth recipient of the John Lennon Real Love Award at the 43rd annual John Lennon Tribute on Saturday, Dec. 2, at Town Hall in New York. Previous recipients include Natalie Merchant, Patti Smith, Ani DiFranco, Donovan and Rosanne Cash.
The event, staged by the nonprofit Theatre Within, will be held days before the 43rd anniversary of Lennon’s murder on Dec. 8, 1980. The award draws its name from The Beatles’ 1996 hit “Real Love,” which Lennon wrote and recorded in the 1970s.
Nash will play some of his favorite Lennon/Beatles classics and will be joined by such artists as Cash, Judy Collins and Rita Coolidge. Drummer/percussionist Rich Pagano, a founding member of the Fab Faux, will serve as music director for the 15th consecutive year.
“This is a very special award,” Nash said in a statement. “I thank Yoko [Ono] and the Theatre Within for thinking of me. Over many years, I watched John and Yoko ‘fight the good fight’ for many whose voices were not being heard, a fight that Yoko continues to this day. I’m proud to be associated with the many fine artists who were previously honored with the John Lennon Real Love Award.”
In a statement, Ono said, “With its joyful annual John Lennon Tribute and John Lennon Real Love Project, Theatre Within is furthering the vision that John and I shared for a better world.”
Nash, 81, won a Grammy in 1970 as part of Crosby, Stills & Nash, which were voted best new artist. He is a two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was inducted as a member of CSN in 1997 and as a member of The Hollies in 2010.
Proceeds from the Tribute support Theatre Within’s ongoing free workshops in creative expression and mindfulness, including the John Lennon Real Love Project songwriting program.
In 2023, for the fourth consecutive year, Theatre Within is providing 200 free workshops for children and adults impacted by cancer through the Red Door Community (formerly Gilda’s Club NYC) and other regional cancer support communities.
Since the John Lennon Real Love Project’s elementary and middle school program launched in the spring of 2021, Theatre Within has brought the program to 17 schools.
Tickets for Theatre Within’s 43rd Annual John Lennon Tribute will go on sale on July 22 at 12 p.m. ET at LennonTribute.org. Fans are invited to join “Friends of the Annual John Lennon Tribute” at LennonTribute.org/join-friends, where VIP packages are available.
The annual tribute is produced in association with Music Without Borders. It remains the only Lennon tribute concert in the world that is sanctioned by Ono.
Alicia Keys, Swizz Beatz, the late Richard Roundtree and more are set to be honored at the 2024 Gordon Parks Foundation Awards. The annual awards dinner and auction celebrating Parks’ legacy and continuing his commitment to advancing social justice will be held on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, at Cipriani 42nd St. in New York City.
Keys and Kasseem Dean (aka Swizz Beatz) are set to receive the patrons of the arts award. The couple married in 2010 and have two children. Both are Grammy winners. Moreover, both have won for collaborations with Jay-Z. “Empire State of Mind,” Keys’ Billboard Hot 100-topping collab with Hova, won two Grammys in 2011. Jay-Z’s “On to the Next One,” on which Swizz Beatz was featured, won best rap duo/group performance that same year.
“We have co-chaired the Gordon Parks Foundation Awards Gala for a decade now — and we are deeply honored to be receiving the Gordon Parks Patrons of the Arts Award in 2024,” Keys and Dean said in a joint statement. “We truly appreciate the foundation’s work providing scholarships and fellowships to the next generation of students and artists whose creative work reflects and extends Gordon’s important legacy.”
The evening will also posthumously honor Roundtree, who starred in Parks’ groundbreaking 1971 film Shaft; mixed-media artist Mickalene Thomas; and civil rights activist and former chairwoman of the NAACP, Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of civil rights activist Medgar Evers. Along with the honorees and the Gordon Parks Foundation Fellows (to be announced in early 2024), the evening will pay tribute to Roundtree, who died on Tuesday (Oct. 24) at age 81, and highlight the enduring cultural impact of Shaft on both film and music. This event had been in the planning stages for months when Roundtree died.
“We learned the sad news that Richard Roundtree passed away this week just as we were set to announce him as one of our 2024 Gordon Parks Foundation honorees,” Peter W. Kunhardt, Jr., executive director of The Gordon Parks Foundation, said in a statement. “Richard was a real cultural force and a supporter of the important work that the foundation does year-round. We look forward to celebrating his legacy and his iconic portrayal of Shaft in Parks’ 1971 film, along with our other esteemed honorees, at our awards dinner next year.”
“Earlier this year when Richard learned that he would be honored at the Gordon Parks Foundation Awards event he was thrilled,” said Patrick McMinn, Roundtree’s longtime manager. “Working with Gordon was a highpoint in his long career. He often spoke about the lasting influence Gordon had on him not only as an actor in Shaft but as a man. His family and I will be working closely with the foundation to plan a memorable tribute to him that evening.”
Shaft is best remembered for two things — Roundtree’s strong, confident, assertive portrayal of a Black man, which was groundbreaking at the time, and Isaac Hayes’ brilliant scoring work. Hayes’ funky yet classy “Theme From Shaft” spent two weeks atop the Hot 100 and received a Grammy nod for record of the year. It also won an Oscar for best original song, making Hayes the first Black songwriter to win in that category, and also the first African-American to win a non-acting award.
Hayes’ score for Shaft was also Oscar-nominated for best original score. The Shaft soundtrack reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and wound up with a Grammy nod for album of the year.
Hayes died in 2008 at age 65. Parks died in 2006 at age 93.
The gala will include a live auction of Parks’ photographs. Co-chairs for the 2024 Gordon Parks Foundation Awards Dinner & Auction are Kathryn and Kenneth Chenault; Agnes Gund; Judy and Leonard Lauder; Tonya and Spike Lee; Carol Sutton Lewis and William M. Lewis, Jr.; Crystal McCrary and Raymond McGuire; and Clara Wu Tsai and Joseph Tsai.
All proceeds from the evening will support year-round educational programming as well as the fellowships, prizes and scholarships provided by The Gordon Parks Foundation to the next generation of artists, writers and students whose work follows in Parks’ footsteps.
Tickets are available starting at $2,000. They can be purchased on the Gordon Parks Foundation website, or by contacting Buckley Hall Events at gpfgala@buckleyhallevents.com or 914-579-1000.
Sheila E. is set to perform at the sixth annual CARE Impact Awards, which are set for Wednesday, Nov. 8, at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City. The percussionist is a four-time Grammy nominee. Broadcast journalists Al Roker and Deborah Roberts (a married couple since 1995) will host the event, which will help raise […]
This year’s edition of the long-running Cool Comedy • Hot Cuisine, a fund-raiser for the Scleroderma Research Foundation (SRF), will be a tribute to comedian Bob Saget, who was a long-time SRF board member and co-host of this event.
Saget died in January 2022 at age 65 after suffering blunt head trauma from an accidental blow to the back of his head.
The event will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 6:30 p.m. at the Edison Ballroom in New York City as part of the 19th annual New York Comedy Festival. Adam Duritz and David Immerglück of Counting Crows are scheduled to perform.
Comedian Jeff Ross will host the event, which will also feature comedians Michael Che and Nikki Glaser. Cool Comedy • Hot Cuisine is co-chaired by celebrity chef Susan Feniger, actress Regina Hall (whose mother was diagnosed with the disease in 2006), and Saget’s widow, Kelly Rizzo.
“I am honored to continue the legacy that Bob built, by working with his closest friends to create an unforgettable night with the same goal that Bob had—to raise as much money as possible for scleroderma research,” Rizzo said in a statement. “Laughter was at the heart of everything Bob did, and Cool Comedy • Hot Cuisine is no exception. We look forward to filling the room full of laughter, all in the spirit of finding a cure.”
At this year’s event, the SRF will debut the Bob Saget Legacy Award, which will honor individuals who have followed in his footsteps by helping raise awareness about scleroderma and funds to find a cure. The inaugural award will be presented to Caroline Hirsch, founder and owner of Carolines and the New York Comedy Festival.
Saget championed the SRF since losing his sister Gay to the disease in 1994. He joined the organization’s board of directors in 2003. However, his involvement actually began in 1991 through the SRF’s annual signature event, Cool Comedy • Hot Cuisine — as an attendee, then the next year as a performer, and ultimately as a key figure in organizing and producing the event.
The SRF has presented Cool Comedy • Hot Cuisine since 1987. The event has been a cornerstone of the SRF’s fundraising efforts, raising more than $29 million to fund research.
Sponsorships starting at $1,000 are now available. A limited number of individual tickets at $750 are also available. For more information, visit www.srfcure.org/cchc.
The Scleroderma Research Foundation (SRF), a 501(c)(3) organization, was established in 1987. Scleroderma is a rare and often life-threatening autoimmune disease that can cause fibrosis in the skin and other vital organs.
Launched in 2004, The New York Comedy Festival is the largest comedy festival in the U.S. This year’s edition will take place from Nov. 3 to 12.
David Foster is set to host and perform at the 37th annual Carousel Ball on Saturday, Oct. 28, at the Hyatt Regency Denver. Counting Crows and Foster’s wife, singer Katharine McPhee, are also set to perform. Foster is a 16-time Grammy winner, including three wins for producer of the year, non-classical. He also won a […]
Jewel is set to perform at the Angel Awards Gala on Saturday, Sept. 23. The event will be held in the parking lot at Project Angel Food’s Hollywood kitchen, which will be transformed into a “ballroom under the stars.” Project Angel Food prepares and delivers more than 1.5 million meals each year to more than 4,000 individuals living with a wide range of critical illnesses in Los Angeles County.
Jewel, who has reached the top 10 on the Billboard 200 with six albums, is a singer-songwriter, actress, author and long-time mental health advocate. For 21 years, her Inspiring Children Foundation and Jewel Inc. have been bringing mental health programs to at-risk youth and to corporations. Jewel also created SELLA, a language arts curriculum for schools that incorporates social and emotional learning and mental health practices. She recently co-founded the virtual mental health platform Inner.world.
Jewel may be best known for her double-sided smash “Foolish Games”/“You Were Meant for Me,” which rode the Billboard Hot 100 for 65 weeks in 1996-97, peaking at No. 2. Her other hits include “Who Will Save Your Soul” and “Hands.” Jewel has received four Grammy nominations.
Sheryl Lee Ralph will receive the inaugural Sheryl Lee Ralph Legacy Award. Ralph won a Primetime Emmy last year for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for Abbott Elementary. She is nominated in that category again this year. She received a Tony nomination for best actress in a musical in 1982 for Dreamgirls.
Ralph’s commitment to Project Angel Food spans three decades. In a statement, Project Angel Food CEO Richard Ayoub explained why the organization created the Legacy award that will bear Ralph’s name in perpetuity. “When no one and I mean NO ONE would stand up for people living with AIDS, Sheryl Lee Ralph risked her career and her livelihood to do what was right. She had seen too much suffering and wanted to help. That commitment to those in need has not wavered in 34 years! This new Sheryl Lee Ralph Legacy Award is long overdue.”
AIDS activist, artist and author Mary Fisher will receive the 2023 Angel Award, a distinction previously bestowed on Judith Light, Elizabeth Taylor, George Michael, Sharon Stone and Whoopi Goldberg, among others. Fisher may be best known for a pair of bridge-building speeches she delivered at the Republican National Conventions in Houston in 1992 and San Diego in 1996. Fisher serves on Project Angel Food’s board of directors.
The Angel Awards are presented by naming sponsor Wells Fargo, with Glamazon L.A., Amazon’s LGBTQ+ Affinity Group, joining as a principal sponsor.
