U of I receives National Medal of Arts 

The University of Idaho Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival is one of the nine recipients of the 2007 National Medal of Arts. President George W. Bush will award the medals in a special ceremony on Thursday.

The University of Idaho is the first public university to receive the award since it was created by Congress in 1984, according to a press release from the university.

Congress established the National Medal of Arts for the purpose of honoring artists and patrons of the arts. Congress authorized the president to award no more than 12 medals each year “to individuals or groups who, in the president's judgment, are deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support and availability of the arts in the United States.”

The 2007 recepients are:

• Morten Lauridsen, composer, Los Angeles, CA

• N. Scott Momaday, author, essayist, poet, professor, painter, Oklahoma City, OK/Santa Fe, NM

• Roy R. Neuberger, arts patron, New York, NY

• R. Craig Noel, Old Globe Theatre director, San Diego, CA

• Les Paul, guitarist, inventor, New York, NY

• Henry Steinway, arts patron, New York, NY

• George Tooker, painter, Hartland, VT

• University of Idaho Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival, music competition and festival, Moscow, ID

• Andrew Wyeth, painter, Chadds Ford, PA

The Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival began as the one-day University of Idaho Jazz Festival in 1967, and grew in presence and prestige through the decades. In 1984, the same year the National Medal of Arts was established, Lionel Hampton first performed at the University of Idaho Jazz Festival, along with Sarah Vaughan. In 1985, the festival was renamed the Lionel Hampton/ Chevron Festival in his honor, and rededicated as the Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival in 2006. Hampton died in 2002 at age 94. The festival now runs for four days, and includes four concerts by professional jazz musicians, three student concerts, and adjudicated student performances in more than 20 different sites on campus and throughout the community, and hosts a series of workshops.  

Also receiving an award from President Bush will be Erich Kunzel, conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and a 2006 National Medal of Arts recipient who was not able to attend last year’s event.

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