AWARDS

John D. Rockefeller 3rd Award

Each year the ACC presents the John D. Rockefeller 3rd Award of the Asian Cultural Council to an individual from Asia or the United States who has made a significant contribution to the international understanding, practice, or study of the visual or performing arts of Asia. This $35,000 award for outstanding professional achievement commemorates the deep and long standing interest of John D. Rockefeller 3rd in Asian art and culture.

Candidates for the John D. Rockefeller 3rd Award must be nominated by artists, scholars, and others professionally involved in Asian art and culture. Recipients are selected by the trustees of the Asian Cultural Council in consultation with various specialists in the candidates’ fields as well as with qualified individuals having firsthand knowledge of the nominees’ professional activities and accomplishments. The award enables recipients to pursue work in some aspect of the arts of Asia through international travel and research. Individuals from Asia and the United States who are active in any field of the visual or performing arts of Asia, whether affiliated with an institution or working independently, are eligible for award consideration. Funds for the Award are made possible by an endowment gift to the Asian Cultural Council from The JDR 3rd Fund.

John D. Rockefeller 3rd Award Recipients
1986
John M. Rosenfield
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller
Professor of Fine Arts
Harvard University 1987
José Maceda
Chairman
Department of Music Research
College of Music
University of the Philippines1988
James R. Brandon
Professor
Department of Drama and Theatre
University of Hawai’i at Manoa1990
Sherman E. Lee
Former Director
The Cleveland Museum of Art

1991
Chou Wen-chung
Director
Center for U.S.-China Arts Exchange
Columbia University

1992
Kapila Vatsyayan
Director
Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts
New Delhi

1993
Donald Richie
Film critic and writer
Tokyo

1995
Setsu Asakura
Stage designer
Tokyo

1996
Ma Chengyuan
Director
Shanghai Museum of Art

1997
Beate Gordon
Arts consultant and writer
New York

1998
Nguyen Van Huy
Director
Vietnam Museum of Ethnology
Hanoi 1999
Proeung Chhieng
Dean, Faculty of Choreographic Arts
Royal University of Fine Arts
Phnom Penh2000
Ellen Stewart
Founder and Artistic Director
La MaMa Experimental Theater Club
New York2002
Yang Meiqi
Founder
Guangdong Modern Dance Company
Guangzhou

2003
Judy Mitoma
Director
Center for Intercultural Performance
University of California, Los Angeles

2005
Mella Jaarsma
Nindityo Adipurnomo

Founders
Cemeti Art House
Yogyakarta

2006
Lin Hwai-min
Artistic Director
Cloud Gate Dance Theater
Taipei

2007
Nestor O. Jardin
President
Cultural Center of the Philippines
Manila

2008
Ratan Thiyam
Founder and Director
Chorus Repertory Theatre
Manipur

Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Award

The Asian Cultural Council (ACC) established the Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Award in 2009. The award recognizes individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to international cultural exchange and to the program of the ACC. Since 1980 when the Asian Cultural Council became a publicly-supported institution to supersede the John D. Rockefeller 3rd Fund, the ACC has built partnerships with individuals, foundations and corporations in Asia that have sought to provide more opportunities for their local arts professionals to take advantage of ACC programs. Increased participation by business leaders and arts professionals in Asia has also enhanced the quality of the ACC’s work and made it possible to evolve into a truly international organization and global family. The Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Award has been established to recognize the generosity of these enlightened individuals who believe in the ACC’s mission of supporting the arts by bringing together creative people through the unique channel of cultural exchange.

Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Award

2009
Dr. Deanna Ruth Tak Yung Rudgard, O.B.E.
Non-executive Director
Hysan Development Company Limited