American Academy in Rome - The Rome Prize

AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME ANNOUNCES
WINNERS OF THE 2001-2002 ROME PRIZE

29 Americans Awarded Fellowships to Study and Work in Italy

New York, NY -- The American Academy in Rome announced the winners of the 105th annual Rome Prize Competition on Thursday, April 19, 2001 in New York City. The prestigious Rome Prize provides fellowships for American artists and scholars to live and work at the Academy's twelve-building, eleven-acre site atop the Janiculum hill in Rome, Italy.

The announcement was made by the Academy's Chairman, Michael I. Sovern, at a ceremony that included the presentation of the "Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World" by Prof. Richard J. A. Talbert, a Resident Scholar at the Academy in 1991, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The ceremony was held at The Metropolitan Club, 1 East 60 Street, in New York City.

This year 28 Rome Prizes were awarded by the Academy in the fields of architecture, design, historic preservation and conservation, landscape architecture, literature, musical composition, visual arts, archaeology, classical studies, history of art, modern Italian studies and post-classical humanistic studies. The prizewinners range in age from 26 to 57 and come from every region of the country, including California, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington. (Click here for a list of the names, academic or professional affiliations and cities of residence of all prizewinners.) These newly announced winners will join art historian Jennifer Bethke and classicist John Curtis Franklin, who will be at the Academy next year completing the second year of their two-year Rome Prize fellowships, as well as 50 other artists and scholars resident in Rome for briefer periods of time.

The Rome Prize is awarded through an annual, open competition and each year, distinguished artists and scholars volunteer their time as jurors for this award. This year's jurors included, among others, landscape architect Michael R. Van Valkenburg; composer Melissa Hui; David I. Kertzer of Brown University; architect Billie Tsien; Professor John Bodel of Rutgers University; artist Janine Antoni; conservator Shelley Fletcher; Agnes Gund, President of MOMA; Professor Bettina Bergmann of Mount Holyoke College; and artist Glenn Ligon. (Click here for a complete list of jurors and their academic or professional affiliations.)

The Rome Prize winners receive stipends, and living and working accommodations at the American Academy in Rome for terms that range from six months to two years. Additionally, they have the opportunity to present their work in exhibitions, performances, concerts and lectures in Rome, at the Academy's headquarters in New York City, and elsewhere throughout the U.S.

Founded in 1894 and chartered by an Act of Congress in 1905, the American Academy in Rome is the oldest American overseas center for independent study, advanced research and creative work in both the arts and the humanities. More than 1,500 American men and women have been Fellows or Residents of the American Academy in Rome, and thousands more have served as Visiting Artists and Scholars or participated in the Academy's summer programs that serve middle and high school teachers, college professors and graduate students.

Unlike the 23 other foreign academies in Rome, which are government-supported, the American Academy in Rome is supported entirely by private contributions from foundations, corporations and individuals. The Academy also receives fellowship funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and project grants from the U.S. Department of Education and the National Endowment for the Arts.

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For further information, contact the Programs Department in New York at (212) 751-7200 or contact Caroline Howard in Rome at (39) (06) 58461.