NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) – The American Academy of Arts and Letters will induct 18 new members and three honorary members during its annual Ceremonial on May 18.
Membership in the Academy is limited to 300, those of which are elected for life and pay no dues. The new members were elected by vote of the existing membership and the honor of election is considered the highest form of recognition of artistic merit in the United States.
Along with their regular membership, the Academy’s American Honorary membership recognizes up to twenty Americans of extraordinary artistic achievement whose work falls outside of or transcends the fields of architecture, art, literature, and music composition, while Foreign Honorary membership celebrates up to seventy-five distinguished architects, artists, writers, and composers from other countries whose work the Academy’s membership greately admires.
Current academy members include Wynton Marsalis, David Lang, Terry Riley, Ned Rorem and Tania Leon (music); David Sedaris, Stacy Schiff, Henri Cole, Annie Dillard, and Rita Dove (literature); Toshiko Mori, Nader Tehrani, Billie Tsien and Tod Williams (architecture); and Mary Frank, Robert Irwin, Glenn Ligon, Red Grooms, and Ann Hamilton (art), among many others.
The 2022 newly elected members are:
Architecture
DEBORAH BERKE
THOMAS PHIFER
MICHAEL VAN VALKENBURGH
MABEL O. WILSON
Art
SUZAN FRECON
CHARLES GAINES
ARTHUR JAFA
Literature
LYDIA DAVIS
TERRANCE HAYES
N. SCOTT MOMADAY
TIM O’BRIEN
ELIZABETH STROUT
AMY TAN
Music
JOHN LUTHER ADAMS
JENNIFER HIGDON
ANNEA LOCKWOOD
DAVID SANFORD
CHRISTOPHER THEOFANIDIS
American Honorary
JONI MITCHELL
Foreign Honorary
KAZUO ISHIGURO
BRIDGET RILEY
About the The American Academy of Arts and Letters
The American Academy of Arts and Letters was founded in 1898 as an honor society of the country’s leading architects, artists, composers, and writers. The Academy’s 300 members are elected for life and pay no dues. In addition to electing new members as vacancies occur, the Academy seeks to foster and sustain an interest in Literature, Music, and the Fine Arts by administering over 70 awards and prizes totaling more than $1 million, exhibiting art and manuscripts, funding performances of new works of musical theater, purchasing artwork for donation to museums across the country, and presenting talks and concerts.
