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Americans for the Arts presents:

Watch a recording of 35th Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts & Public Policy

2024 Lecture:

Jeffrey Wright is a Tony, Emmy, AFI, and Golden Globe Award-winning actor who has enjoyed an illustrious career spanning the worlds of theatre, film, and television. Wright can currently be seen giving one of the best performances of his career in Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios’ American Fiction, written and directed by Cord Jefferson. Thus far, Wright has received nominations from the Academy Awards, Gotham Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, Critics Choice Awards, SAG Awards and NAACP Image Awards for his wonderful performance as protagonist, “Thelonious ‘Monk’ Ellison.”

Wright was most recently seen in the critically acclaimed role of “Bernard Lowe” in HBO’s Westworld, for which he earned three Emmy nominations. He can currently also be seen in the George C. Wolfe-directed Civil Rights film, Rustin, in a supporting role portraying “Adam Clayton Powell.” Rustin is produced by Michelle and Barack Obama’s Higher Ground Productions.


In June 2023, Wright was part of the all-star ensemble cast in the Wes Anderson film Asteroid City. In March of 2022, Wright portrayed the iconic character, “Jim Gordon,” in the latest installment of The Batman franchise directed by Matt Reeves. In April 2021, Wright reprised his role of CIA agent “Felix Leiter” in the James Bond film, No Time to Die. In October 2021, he starred in another all-star ensemble cast in Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch. Other recent projects include lead roles in Netflix’s All Day and a Night (May 2020); HBO’s O.G., which premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, where Wright won the award for Best Actor in a U.S. Narrative Feature Film; and Netflix’s Hold the Dark (September 2018).


Wright is also highly acclaimed for his Emmy Awards-winning role as “Belize” in both HBO’s anthology series Angels in America (2004) and his Tony Awards-winning role on Broadway in Angels in America: Perestroika (1994) based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play written by Tony Kushner.

Jeffrey Wright

Jeffrey Wright

Honoree

Congressman James E. Clyburn

Recipient of the 2024 Congressional Arts Leadership Award

Rep. James E. Clyburn is the Assistant Democratic Leader in the United States House of Representatives and Chairman of the Democratic Faith Working Group. He previously served in the post from 2011 to 2018 and served as Majority Whip from 2007 to 2010 and 2019 to 2022, making him the first African American to serve multiple terms as Majority Whip. A native son of South Carolina, Clyburn has represented the state’s Sixth Congressional District since 1993.

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Symone Sanders-Townsend

Co-host of MSNBC's The Weekend

Symone Sanders Townsend is an author, seasoned democratic strategist and co-host of MSNBC’s The Weekend. Symone rose to prominence in 2016 as the national press secretary for U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders’s then-presidential campaign.
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Special Remarks

Congressman Hakeem Jeffries

House Democratic Leader, Presenter of the
2024 Congressional Arts Leadership Award

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries is the Democratic Leader, having been unanimously elected to that position by his colleagues in November 2022. In that capacity, he is the highest-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives. He is also the former Chair of the Democratic Caucus, Whip of the Congressional Black Caucus and previously co-chaired the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee where he helped develop the For The People agenda.

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Performance

ben folds

Ben Folds

Acclaimed musician and
Arts Action Fund Board Member

Ben Folds is widely regarded as one of the major music influencers of our generation.  The Emmy-nominated singer-songwriter-composer has created an enormous body of genre-bending music that includes pop albums with Ben Folds Five, multiple solo albums, and numerous collaborative records.  For the past three decades, he’s toured as a pop artist, while also performing with some of the world’s greatest symphony orchestras.

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Introduction Remarks

Tanya Lombard

Vice President of Global Public and External Affairs at AT&T

Tanya Lombard is a paragon of leadership in government relations, public policy, and corporate social responsibility. Her exceptional acumen and strategic foresight have established her as an indispensable asset in navigating the intricate dynamics between corporate innovation and social impact. Lombard’s career is distinguished by her adeptness in fostering meaningful change and building bridges between the corporate sector and community interests, positioning her at the vanguard of executives who not only envision but enact a more inclusive and sustainable future.
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The annual lecture honors the legacy of Nancy Hanks, the former president of Americans for the Arts and chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, who played a pivotal role in elevating the arts to the forefront of national awareness, leaving an indelible mark on the cultural landscape.

Nancy Hancks

History

Established by Americans for the Arts in 1988, the Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy is the leading national forum for arts leaders and political leaders from across the country, intended to stimulate dialogue on policy and social issues affecting the arts.

The annual lecture is named for the former president of Americans for the Arts and former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, Nancy Hanks, who devoted 15 years of her professional life to bringing the arts to prominent national consciousness.

For more than three decades, the lecture has featured the nation’s most preeminent voices in and outside the arts. Prior distinguished speakers have included Maya Angelou, Darren Walker, Billy Taylor, Norman Lear, Yo-Yo Ma, Rita Moreno, Alec Baldwin, and Robert Redford, among many others.

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Sponsors:

Americans for the Arts extends its gratitude to the sponsors of the
35th Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts & Public Policy.

The Rosenthal Family Foundation

(Jamie Rosenthal Wolf, David Wolf, Rick Rosenthal, and Nancy Stephens) 

Become a Sponsor

*The Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts & Public Policy is produced exclusively by Americans for the Arts. This program is an external rental presented in coordination with the Kennedy Center Campus Rentals Office and is not produced by the Kennedy Center.

Americans for the Arts is pleased to make this lecture accessible at no charge as well as offer nationwide livestreaming and ASL interpretation.

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