(MENAFN- Arab Times) President Barack Obama honored 21 individuals and organizations on Thursday for works that he says have helped Americans connect and understand each other a little better through the arts and humanities.
The honorees included actress Sally Field, author Stephen King and chef Alice Waters. And to paraphrase one of Field's most famous lines, when she accepted her second Oscar for best actress, the president told the group: "We like you. We really like you."
Field received the 2014 National Medal of Arts for showing dignity, empathy and fearlessness in performances that have touched audiences worldwide, as well as for showing those same qualities in her off-screen advocacy for women, LGBT rights and public health.
King also received an arts medal for combining storytelling with analysis of human nature. His works include "Christine," "Cujo" and "The Shining."
Waters, chef-owner of the organic restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, received a National Humanities Medal for her work as a champion of a holistic approach to eating and health.
The National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities were created by Congress in 1965 to provide grants to support artistic excellence and creativity, and to advance the understanding and appreciation of history, literature, philosophy and language. Both independent agencies are celebrating their 50th anniversaries this year.
Obama said he loves to celebrate the brilliance of artists, innovators and thinkers.
"They deepen and broaden our great American story and the human story," Obama said.
In all, Obama awarded the National Medal of Arts to 11 people and organizations. He awarded the National Humanities Medal to 10 people and groups.
The remaining recipients included:
National Medal of Arts:
* John Baldessari, visual artist, Venice, California
* Ping Chong, theater director, choreographer and video and installation artist, New York City
* Miriam Colón, actress, theater founder and director, New York City
* The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, New York City
* Ann Hamilton, visual artist, Columbus, Ohio
* Meredith Monk, composer, singer and performer, New York City
* George Shirley, tenor, Ann Arbor, Michigan
* University Musical Society, Performing Arts Presenter, Ann Arbor, Michigan
* Tobias Wolff, author and educator, Stanford, California
National Humanities Medal:
* Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, historian, Auburndale, Massachusetts
* Annie Dillard, author, Key West, Florida
* Clemente Course in the Humanities, Annandale-On-Hudson, New York
* Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, novelist and philosopher, Boston
* Larry McMurtry, novelist, essayist and screenwriter, Archer City, Texas
* Everett L. Fly, architect, San Antonio
* Jhumpa Lahiri, author, New York City
* Fedwa Malti-Douglas, professor and scholar, Rhinebeck, New York
* Vicki Lynn Ruiz, historian, Irvine, California
Also:
LOS ANGELES: Francis Ford Coppola will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from PEN Center USA, the organization announced Thursday. The literary nonprofit will honor the filmmaker for his career spanning five decades in the industry as a director, producer and screenwriter, as well as publisher of Zoetrope: All-Story literary magazine.
"The highest goal I ever had throughout my life was to become a writer and participate in literature - I'm not entirely sure if the work I have done over the years qualifies as achieving that goal but certainly this PEN award is a step in that direction," said Coppola.
PEN will also recognize the winners of the 2015 Literary Awards, whose works were selected by a panel of writers, editors, critics and journalists.
Among other award winners are Graham Moore, who will receive the Screenplay Award for "The Imitation Game," and Noah Hawley, who will be honored with the Teleplay Award for his work on "Fargo."
PEN Center USA will also highlight the winners of the 25th Annual Literary Awards Festival.
The awards ceremony will be held on Nov. 16 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills. Aisha Tyler will host for the second consecutive year.
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