(Corrected, 1 p.m.)
PROVIDENCE – Liza Minnelli, jazz impresario George Wein and AS220 co-founder Umberto “Bert” Crenca will be honored at the 14th annual Pell Awards Gala in June, Trinity Repertory Company announced Tuesday.
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Minnelli, 64, who won an Oscar in 1972 for “Cabaret,” will receive the Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts. Wein will receive the Pell Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Arts and Crenca will receive the Pell Award for Excellence in the Arts.
“We could not be more delighted to present the [Lifetime Achievement Award] to Liza Minnelli, star of stage and screen,” Curt Columbus, Trinity’s artistic director, said in a statement. “Her passion for the arts and brilliant career continue to inspire thousands of artists, and her philanthropic efforts dedicated to education and AIDS research are equally commendable.”
Columbus added: “I find it exceptionally fitting, in light of the fact that we kicked off this year’s season with ‘Cabaret,’ that we will close the season in celebration of the one actress whose iconic performance in ‘Cabaret’ continues to thrill generation after generation.”
Columbus also offered praise for Wein, 84, who founded and continues to oversee the famed Newport jazz and folk festivals, saying he “has had a profound impact on local and national music landscape.”
And of Crenca – a successful artist in his own right, apart from his leadership at AS220 – Columbus said: “It was as an artist first and foremost that Crenca first created AS220’s mission, fueled by his personal belief that art should be cultivated in an unjuried and uncensored space.”
The Pell Awards were created in 1997 to benefit Trinity Rep and to honor the late U.S. Sen. Claiborne de Borda Pell, D-R.I., who died in January 2009. Pell sponsored the legislation that created the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities in 1965 and served on Trinity’s board.
Mary and Ellicott Wright, and Michael and Bonnye Young will serve as co-chairs for the 2010 fundraising gala, to be held Saturday, June 19, from 6 to 10 p.m., at The Foundry’s Sharpe Building, 25 Holden St., Providence.
Individual tickets are $500 and $1,000; corporate sponsorships are available. Proceeds will benefit Trinity Rep. For tickets, or more information, call the theater at (401) 521-1100, ext. 237.
Minnelli performs “Theme from ‘New York, New York’” in the film of the same name, directed by Martin Scorsese, in 1977:
Additional information is available at trinityrep.com.
An earlier version of this article gave an incorrect date for this year’s Pell Awards Gala; it is scheduled for June 19, not June 20.
