Awards
Special Award for Lifetime Achievement on Behalf of the Arts and Humanities
The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy, United States Senator from Massachusetts
CAA honors the Honorable Edward M. Kennedy, United States Senator from Massachusetts, for his career-long advocacy on behalf of the arts and humanities. Kennedy’s service on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee includes oversight of the nation’s two cultural agencies, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He was an original cosponsor of the legislation creating these agencies and remains one of their strongest advocates. Over the years, he has broadly supported First Amendment protections for creative artists; on the Judiciary Committee, he is a strong supporter of artists’ intellectual-property rights. He authored the Visual Artists Rights Act and backed the Copyright Term Extension Act, sponsoring the “Casablanca” amendment, to urge negotiations for creative artists to expand their economic interests for the extended term of copyright. He and Senator Michael B. Enzi are cochairs of the newly formed Senate Cultural Caucus. Kennedy is a member of the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
