One Nation/One Project's Arts for EveryBody Co-Leader Nataki Garrett Awarded Doris Duke Award

Nataki Garrett has received the prestigious and coveted 2024 Doris Duke Arts Award, the largest prize in the United States specifically dedicated to individual performing arts. Garrett, who received the grant for theater, is only one of six artists to receive the award, and will receive $525,000 in unrestricted funds and an incentive of up to $25,000 to save for retirement.

“Nataki is someone who not only believes in the power of the arts but also finds ways to innovate and employ this power in meaningful and impactful ways,” says deBessonet and Valentin. “This is why we are incredibly fortunate and proud to have her co-leading the Arts for EveryBody initiative and why she is so incredibly deserving of this award.”

Garrett joined as co-artistic leader of ONOP and helped launch Arts for EveryBody in September 2023—a groundbreaking national campaign aimed at using art as a catalyst for building community health and well-being.

She is a critically acclaimed film and theater maker. Her vision is to support artists; to manifest innovation; to inspire creativity and to ensure the future of the theater industry by centering artists as thought leaders and change makers who transform culture. Garrett was the 6th Artistic Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the first woman of color to lead a $44mil theater. She created and led a coalition of major regional theaters across the country to advocate for $15B in SVOG federal funding. Her accomplishments in theatre and her ongoing contributions to the arts have led to her recognition from the Doris Duke Foundation and will enable her to continue work that benefits the industry and society as a whole. 

“The Doris Duke Artist Award is more than an award—it is a platform to fight for the future of all performing artists,” said Doris Duke Foundation President and CEO Sam Gill. “In illuminating the full range of human possibility, these six remarkable artists show us why that struggle is so important.”

For more information on the Doris Duke Awards, visit dorisdukeartistawards.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.