Kristy Edmunds, executive and artistic director of UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance, has been named the inaugural recipient of the Berresford Prize for her work as a thoughtful and groundbreaking cultural producer and advocate for artists.
Founded by United States Artists, the Berresford Prize is a $25,000 award that will be given annually to honor a cultural practitioner who has significantly contributed to the advancement, wellbeing and care of artists in society. The prize is named for Susan Berresford, former president of the Ford Foundation, who co-founded United States Artists and is still an active trustee. Founded in 2006 by the Ford, Rockefeller, Rasmuson and Prudential Foundations, United States Artists is among the largest providers of unrestricted support to artists and cultural practitioners working and living in the United States.
“I was astonished in every sense of the word to learn that I was being named the inaugural Berresford Prize awardee and continue to be,” Edmunds said. “The fact that this award was initiated by artists and named after a woman who is held in such high esteem makes the honor a truly staggering one. I now know how acutely humbling it is to experience that your life’s work has been seen — and not only through the lens of where you work, but perhaps from how you do the work.”
Since joining CAP UCLA in 2012, Edmunds has established it as one of the leading presenters of contemporary performance on the West Coast. Before coming to UCLA, Edmunds was the founding executive and artistic director of the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art in Portland, Oregon, and inaugural consulting artistic director for the Park Avenue Armory in New York.
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