On Monday afternoon, President Obama will award the 2011 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal in the East Room of the White House. The First Lady will also be present.
This presentation will be live streamed at www.WhiteHouse.gov/Live, starting at 1:45 Eastern time.
Mark di Suvero was the 2010 honoree. Previous art-world recipients have included Maya Lin (2009), Jesús Moroles (2008), Philippe de Montebello (2002), Helen Frankenthaler (2001) and Louise Bourgeois (1997).
Established by Congress in 1984, the National Medal of Arts is managed by the National Endowment for the Arts. Nominations for the recipients are solicited each year, and the National Council on the Arts reviews the nominations and provides recommendations to the President, who selects the honorees.
UPDATE: At 5:30 on Friday, the NEA announced the recipients. Artist honorees will be Will Barnet, painter and printmaker, and Martin Puryear, sculptor. Other recipients include actor Al Pacino and arts patron Emily Rauh Pulitzer.
