The Rockefeller Foundation earlier this week held a ceremony at the Langham Hotel in London to honor the 2008 recipients for its inaugural Bellagio Center Creative Arts Fellowship. The three are Mona Hatoum, Kofi Setordji, and Shahzia Sikander (Season 1).
The award includes 12000 euros and a three-month residency with private apartment and studio on the idyllic grounds of the Bellagio Center, adjacent to Lake Como. The fellows were selected by a distinguished advisory panel of curators, artists, and scholars from around the world.
According to Judith Rosen, the foundation’s president, “the fellowships serve a dual mission: they help groundbreaking artists reach their full potential and they enable the arts to inspire our shared creativity and imagination. There is a deep and timeless connection between cultural advances and social progress. This new program will help strengthen both.”