Performance Artist Laurie Anderson to Receive 2015 Yaddo Artist Medal; Steve Buscemi to Host Benefit

Yaddo has announced that the second annual Yaddo Artist Medal will be presented to influential avant-garde composer and performance artist Laurie Anderson at its New York City Benefit on Monday, June 1, 2015. The event at the Tribeca Rooftop (2 Desbrosses St.) will be hosted by actor/director Steve Buscemi and Kate Valk of The Wooster Group. Pulitzer Prize winner Ayad Akhtar, Obie Award winner Eisa Davis, and Obie Award winner Young Jean Lee-all Yaddo Artists-will perform.

Anderson had residencies at Yaddo, the nation's pre-eminent retreat for writers and artists, in 2011, 2012, and 2014. Of her time there, she says, "Each time I spent at Yaddo was way too short. It wasn't just a refuge or an interlude. It helped me to reset my work habits and schedules. It reminded me that I love to work and can work for longer stretches and with more intensity than I thought. I also made some real friends there."

A leading figure in New York's Downtown Scene, Anderson was instrumental in establishing performance art as a discipline. She was also a pioneer in integrating music and technology, and boasts a list of collaborators that includes Philip Glass, Frank Zappa, and Peter Gabriel. Emerging artists in residence with her at Yaddo were inspired by her presence and found her a gracious mentor. In recognizing Anderson, Yaddo reinforces its commitment to, and capacity to support, multidisciplinary and multimedia contemporary art, collaboration, and performance. In the words of Yaddo President Elaina Richardson, "Anderson embraces camaraderie while at the very top of her field and art making, and embodies the nonhierarchical spirit we so cherish."

The Yaddo Artist Medal recognizes individuals who have sustained a high level of achievement in their artistic discipline and who have reinforced the sense of community that is central to Yaddo's residency program. The award was designed by artist James Siena, himself a Yaddo Artist. The first recipient was Philip Roth, in 2014.

Yaddo's New York City Benefit will take place on Monday, June 1, 2015. Tickets, starting at $400, and table sponsorships, starting at $5,000, can be purchased via www.yaddo.org/gala2015 or by calling (212) 307-7685. The benefit is produced by Tanya Selvaratnam with THE OFFICE (Rachel Chanoff and Nadine Goellner). The committee includes Ayad Akhtar, Deborah Berke, Bill Bragin & Lisa Philp, Blair Brown & Dwight Lee, Linda Brumbach, Peter Cameron, Ann & Paul Chen, Jennifer Egan, Gail Gregg, Mary Stewart Hammond & Arthur Yorke Allen, A.M. Homes, Vincent Katz, Christopher K. Kay, Peter Kayafas & Dorothy Blackmun, Joni & Kevin Kimberlin, Katy Lederer & Ben Statz, Gardner McFall & Peter Olberg, Nion McEvoy, Tim McHenry, Joseph V. Melillo, Hans & Kate Morris, Don & Genie Rice, Katherine Rosman & Joe Ehrlich, Diana & Jonathan Rose, Clifford Ross, Benjamin Taylor, Ann Tenenbaum & Thomas H. Lee, Joe Thompson & Jennifer Trainer Thompson, Susan Unterberg, Jill Viney, Margo & Anthony Viscusi, Hal Wilner & Sheila Rogers, Douglas Wright & David Clement, and Andrew Wylie.

Laurie Anderson was born in 1947 in Illinois. Trained in classical violin and educated at Barnard and Columbia, she established her reputation in the New York avant-garde art world with Duets on Ice in the late 1970s, a performance piece in which she played a duet with her own preprogrammed violin while standing on a melting block of ice. She recorded seven albums of experimental music and spoken-word poetry for Warner Brothers. Known for her interest in technology, she was appointed NASA's first artist-in-residence in 2002. She has performed before national and international audiences, and her works have been part of exhibitions held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Honors and awards include residencies at the American Academy in Rome and Yaddo; a Guggenheim Fellowship; and a Lillian Gish Award.