Nominations for Jane Jacobs Medal Now Being Accepted
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[email protected]Nominations for Rockefeller Foundation Jane Jacobs Medal
Being Accepted on Website Through February 1, 2008New York, NY, January 8, 2008 –The Rockefeller Foundation announced that it will be accepting nominations for the 2008 Jane Jacobs Medal on its website beginning today and through February 1, 2008.
The 2008 Rockefeller Foundation Jane Jacobs Medals will recognize two living individuals whose creative vision for the urban environment has significantly contributed to the vibrancy and variety of New York City.
The Jane Jacobs Medal was created by the Rockefeller Foundation in 2007 to honor activist, author and urbanist, Jane Jacobs, who died in April 2006 at the age of 89. The Foundation’s relationship with Jane Jacobs dates back to the 1950s, when it launched an Urban Design Studies program that helped foster the emergence of the new discipline of urban design and theory. As part of this initiative, one of the Foundation’s first grants was to the then-obscure writer from Greenwich Village, for the research and writing of her seminal book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities.
In September 2007, the inaugural Rockefeller Foundation Jane Jacobs Medals were awarded to: Barry Benepe, 80, for Lifetime Leadership and Omar Freilla, 34, for New Ideas and Activism.
The awarding of the inaugural Jane Jacobs Medals in September 2007 coincided with the opening of “Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York.” A partnership between the Rockefeller Foundation and the Municipal Art Society (MAS), the multi-faceted project (http://www.futureofny.org/) included a series of panel discussions throughout the fall, such as “Universities and Their Neighbors” and “An Activist Boot Camp”; a collection of essays by a diverse group of authors, including Tom Wolfe, Adam Gopnik and Tama Janowitz entitled Block by Block; and a multi-media exhibit that explores development in NYC—past and present—through a Jacobsean lens. The exhibit is on view at MAS’s Urban Center Galleries, at 457 Madison Avenue, through Saturday, January 26, 2008.
“There is a growing concern among New Yorkers about the development of their city,” said Darren Walker, Vice President of Foundation Initiatives for the Rockefeller Foundation. “Jacobsean principles, such as promoting dynamism and diversity, respect for neighborhood knowledge, and the importance of and generating creative use of the built environment, are as important today as they were at the height of Jane Jacobs’ activism 50 years ago. The Rockefeller Foundation is pleased to underwrite ‘Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York’ and the Jane Jacobs Medal as a means of celebrating and encouraging continued dialogue and civic action in our great city today.”
The 2008 Rockefeller Foundation Jane Jacobs Medal will be accompanied by prizes totaling $200,000. The selection of the Jane Jacobs Medal winners and allocation of the prize money will be determined by the members of the Jane Jacobs Medal Selection Jury (see complete list below). The Jury is co-chaired by George Campbell Jr., president of The Cooper Union, and arts patron and philanthropist Agnes Gund, and includes Rockefeller Foundation trustee David Rockefeller, Jr. The 2008 Jane Jacobs Medal is administered by the Municipal Art Society.
The 2008 Rockefeller Foundation Jane Jacobs Medal winners will be announced in May of this year. The Medals will be awarded to the recipients at a dinner in September 2008.
The Rockefeller Foundation 2008
Jane Jacobs Medal JuryBill Aguado
Executive Director, Bronx Council on the ArtsSayu Bhojwani
Philanthropic Consultant to the Carnegie Corporation and
former Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs for NYCGeorge Campbell, Jr. (Co-Chair)
President, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and ArtW. Paul Farmer
Executive Director and CEO, American Planning AssociationTom Finkelpearl
Executive Director, Queens Museum of ArtPaul Goldberger
Architecture Critic, The New Yorker
Joseph Urban Professor of Design, The New School, New YorkAgnes Gund (Co-Chair)
President Emerita, The Museum of Modern ArtChristopher Kui
Executive Director, Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE)David Rockefeller, Jr.
Director and former Chair, Rockefeller & Co., Inc.
Trustee of The Museum of Modern Art & The Rockefeller FoundationMarilyn J. Taylor
Partner-in-Charge of Urban Design and Planning, Skidmore, Owings and MerrillAlberto Vourvoulias-Bush
Executive Editor of El Diario/La PrensaMore information on the 2008 Jane Jacobs Medal is available on the Rockefeller Foundation website at http://www.rockfound.org/efforts/jacobs/janejacobs.shtml.
The Municipal Art Society of New York is a private, non-profit membership organization whose mission is to promote a more livable city. Since 1893, the MAS has worked to enrich the culture, neighborhoods and physical design of New York City. It advocates for excellence in urban design and planning, contemporary architecture, historic preservation and public art.The Rockefeller Foundation was established in 1913 by John D. Rockefeller, Sr., to “promote the well-being” of humanity by addressing the root causes of serious problems. The Foundation supports work around the world to expand opportunities for poor or vulnerable people and to help ensure that globalization’s benefits are more widely shared. With assets of nearly $4 billion, it is one of the few institutions to conduct such work both within the United States and internationally.