The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation has announced the recipients of the 2021 Doris Duke Artist Awards in the fields of contemporary dance, jazz, and theater.

Seven performing artists were each awarded unrestricted grants of $250,000 — as an investment in their artistic potential and celebration of their ongoing contributions to their respective disciplines — and an additional $25,000 dedicated to put toward their savings for retirement. Since the program began in 2012, the Doris Duke Artist Awards program has awarded more than $35.4 million in funding to 129 artists.

This year's recipients are choreographers and dancers Cynthia Oliver, whose work incorporates performance with African and American aesthetic sensibilities, and Dormeshia, who has been called "the queen of tap"; pianists and composers Kris Davis and Danilo Pérez and saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter, who were recognized for their ongoing innovation and impact in the field of jazz; and Lileana Blain-Cruz, Lincoln Center Theater's 2020 resident director, and Teo Castellanos, founder of the dance and theater company Teo Castellanos D-Projects.

"We are thrilled to award this year's cohort of exceptional artists with this support," said Maurine Knighton, program director for the arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. "With the knowledge that these performing artists excel in their forms, we recognize that they deserve funding that trusts them to best determine how to invest in their own futures. These awards are intended to enable artists with the freedom to create the way that artists are meant to create: freely, organically, and without restrictions."

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