President Barack Obama will present the 2014 National Medal of Arts ceremony next week to a total of 11 individuals or groups, including novelist Stephen King and Oscar-winning actress Sally Field, at an event in the East Room of the White House.
The president will present the medals during a joint ceremony for the recipients of the National Humanities Medals on Thursday, September 10 at 3 p.m. ET.
Aside from the celebrity honorees, those being recognized for their contributions to the arts include visual artists John Baldessari and Ann Hamilton, theater director Ping Chong, actress Miriam Colón, tenor George Shirley, musician Meredith Monk, and author and educator Tobias Wolff.
The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is being honored for “supporting creative expression across the country,” while the University Musical Society will be cited for “presenting the performing arts to communities in Michigan for the last century.
Sally Field is being honored for “the dignity, empathy, and fearlessness of her performances have touched audiences around the world, and she has deployed those same qualities off-screen in her advocacy for women, LGBT rights, and public health,” according to arts.gov.
Stephen King is being recognized as “one of the most popular and prolific writers of our time.”
“Mr. King combines his remarkable storytelling with his sharp analysis of human nature. For decades, his works of horror, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy have terrified and delighted audiences around the world,” according to the president’s planned remarks.
King took to Twitter Thursday to express his excitement over receiving the award:
The National Medal of Arts was established by Congress in 1984, following a recommendation by President Ronald Reagan and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities for the purpose of honoring artists and patrons of the arts, and gives the president the authority to award no more than 12 medals per year.
The awards go 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.”