Arts and Culture

FORD FOUNDATION NAMES ANNA DEAVERE SMITH FIRST ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE

The Ford Foundation today announced the appointment of Anna Deavere Smith as its first artist-in-residence. The appointment is part of the Foundation's effort to strengthen the role of artists and cultural leaders in public dialogue on contemporary civic issues.

An acclaimed actor and playwright whose work explores the complexities of race, identity, and community in America, Smith is widely recognized for a series of one-woman theater pieces that combine journalistic interviewing techniques with the art of interpreting her subjects' words through performance.

"Anna Deavere Smith's work combines extraordinary artistry and creative social vision with a strong public voice. We feel confident that her stay at the Foundation will strengthen our ability to support outstanding artistic expression and to build understanding of complex social issues," said Susan V. Berresford, president of the Ford Foundation.

During her seven-month residency beginning January 1997, Smith will pursue her own projects as well as contribute to Foundation planning for a new initiative on the civic role of the arts. This effort will support the creation of artistic works and cultural programs that stimulate public dialogue on contemporary civic issues. In addition, Smith will help advance discussions within the Foundation on ways to integrate artistic and cultural perspectives across its program areas.

"The Foundation is adding a new approach to its arts and culture work, which currently includes support for artistic creativity and strengthening of arts organizations," said Alison Bernstein, vice president of the Education, Media, Arts and Culture Program, where Smith will be based. "We're adding support for cultural expression and artistic activities that complement our work to strengthen communities, expand opportunities, and improve inter-group relations. Anna Deavere Smith's residency will make an important contribution as we explore this new direction."

In addition to her work with Ford, Smith will devote time during the residency to her current project on the press and the presidency, commissioned by Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage, which will premiere in Fall '97. Smith's best-known previous works include Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn and Other Identities, which explores the 1991 clash between Jews and Blacks in Brooklyn; and Twilight, Los Angeles 1992, which examines the civil unrest following the Rodney King verdict.

As the Foundation's first artist-in-residence, Smith, the Ann O'Day Maples Professor of the Arts at Stanford University, follows Sir Brian Urquhart, United Nations expert, who served as scholar-in-residence from 1986 to 1996. In the future, the Foundation expects to explore other opportunities to provide residencies to artists and cultural leaders.

The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization. For more than half a century it has been a resource for innovative people and institutions worldwide, guided by its goals of strengthening democratic values, reducing poverty and injustice, promoting international cooperation and advancing human achievement. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has offices in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Russia.