Sigma Alpha Iota

SAI DISTINGUISHED MEMBERS Ruth David/ National Endowment for the Arts Pianist and music educator Van Cliburn receives the 2010 National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama at an East Room ceremony at the White House on March 2. Managed by the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Medal of Arts is the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the United States Government. Van Cliburn Receives Medal of Arts O n March 2, President Barack Obama honored pianist and SAI National Arts Associate Van Cliburn with the National Medal of Arts in the East Room of the White House. The National Medal of Arts is the highest honor given to artists and art patrons by the United States Government. The award is presented by the President to those who have exhibited a commitment to the excellence, growth, and availability of the arts in the U.S. During the past 26 years, more than 250 extraordinary patrons and artists in the fields of visual, performing, and literary arts have been honored. Both the National Medal of Arts and the National Humanities Medal were presented to twenty recipients in the ceremony. "One of the great joys of being President is getting a chance to pay tribute to the artists 10 PAN PIPES SPRING 2011 sai-national.org and authors, the poets and performers, who have touched our hearts and opened our minds," President Obama said during the ceremony. "The fact is that works of art, literature, works of history, they speak to our condition and they affirm our desire for something more and something better. … Time and again, the tools of change, and of progress, of revolution, of ferment -- they're not just pickaxes and hammers and screens and software, but they've also been brushes and pens and cameras and guitars. "It's why we have to remember that our strength as a people runs deeper than our military might; it runs deeper than our GDP -- it's also about our values and our ideals that each generation is called to uphold, and that each artist helps us better understand." For Cliburn, the award recognizes his lifelong mission of effectuating cultural diplomacy through classical music. He rose to worldwide fame following his historic victory at the First International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958. With his top-prize win in the USSR at the height of the Cold War, Cliburn tore down cultural barriers years before glasnost and perestroika, underscoring the universality of classical music and its ability to transcend political and cultural boundaries. Returning home from Moscow, Cliburn received a tickertape parade in New York City, the only time a classical musician was ever honored with the highest tribute possible by the City of New York. He has toured widely and frequently, performing with every major conductor and orchestra in the world's prominent concert halls. He has performed for royalty and heads of state in Europe, Asia, and South America, and has been invited to the White House under every

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