Merce Cunningham - Honors & Awards

Honors & Awards

2009
Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award
Skowhegan Medal for Performance

2008
Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

2007
Nelson A. Rockefeller Award, Purchase College School of the Arts, State University of New York
Montgomery Fellow (Arts and Literature), Dartmouth College, Hanover NH

2006
Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle WA

2005
Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis MN
Praemium Imperiale, Tokyo

2004
Officier of the Légion d'Honneur, France

2003
Edward MacDowell Medal in interdisciplinary art, the MacDowell Colony, Peterborough NH

2002
Kitty Carlisle Hart Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts (Arts & Business Council), New York NY
MATA (Music at the Anthology) Award, New York NY
Medal of the City of Dijon, France

2001
Coat of Arms of the City of Mulhouse, France
La Grande Médaille de la Ville de Paris (echelon vermeil) from the Mayor of Paris
Career Transition for Dancers Award, New York NY
Herald Archangel Award, Glasgow, Scotland
Honorary degree from Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia

2000
Nijinsky Special Prize, Monaco
The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, New York NY
Named a “Living Legend” by the Library of Congress, Washington DC

1999
Premio Internazionale “Gino Tani,” Rome
Handel Medallion from the Mayor of New York City NY
Isadora Duncan Dance Award for Lifetime Achievement, San Francisco CA
Fellow of the Academy of Performing Arts, Hong Kong
The key to the City of Montpellier, France

1998
Bagley Wright Fund Established Artists Award, Seattle WA

1997
Barnard College Medal of Distinction, New York NY
Grand Prix of the Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques, France

1996
Nellie Cornish Arts Achievement Award from his alma mater, Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle WA

1995
Honorary degree from Wesleyan University, Middletown CT
Carina Ari Award (Grand Prix Video Danse with Elliot Caplan), Stockholm, Sweden
Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale, Italy

1993
Inducted into the National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, NY
Dance and Performance Award for Best Performance by a Visiting Artist, London, England
Medal of Honor from the Universidad Complutense of Madrid, Spain
(With John Cage, posthumously) the Wexner Prize of the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University, Columbus OH
New York Dance and Performance Award (“Bessie”), New York NY
Tiffany Award from the International Society of Performing Arts Administrators, New York NY

1990
National Medal of Arts, Washington DC
Porselli Prize, Italy
Digital Dance Premier Award, London, England
Award of Merit from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, New York NY

1989
Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur, France

1988
Dance/USA National Honor, New York NY

1987
Algur H. Meadows Award for Excellence in the Arts, Southern Methodist University, Dallas TX

1985
Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production (Pictures), London, England
Kennedy Center Honors, Washington DC
MacArthur Fellowship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Chicago IL

1984
Inducted as an Honorary Member into the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York NY

1983
The Mayor of New York’s Award of Honor for Arts and Culture, New York NY

1982
The Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award, Durham NC
Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France

1977
Capezio Award, New York NY

1975
New York State Award, Albany NY

1972
BITEF Award, Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Honorary degree from the University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana IL

1966
Gold Medal for Choreographic Invention at the Fourth International Festival of Dance, Paris

1964
Medal of the Society for the Advancement of Dancing in Sweden, Stockholm

1960
Dance Magazine Award, New York NY

1959 & 1954
Fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, New York NY