The President of the United States, Joe Biden, yesterday celebrated the contribution of figures such as Bruce Springsteen to the world of the arts with the delivery of the National Medal, a prestigious acknowledgment that twenty other personalities have also received.
The ceremony in the East Room of the White House made up for what the pandemic had prevented: that the 2021 laureates could receive the distinction designed to honor the work of people and organizations on behalf of the arts in the country.
“General George Washington knew that the greatness of a nation was measured not only by the strength of its military, the breadth of its geography and the size of its economy, but also by the vitality of its culture,” Biden said, paraphrasing the first President of the United States.
The 23 winners on this occasion, as he stressed, are “extraordinary”. An excellence that is reflected in the world of literature, music, poetry or fashion, and which this Tuesday was greeted with applause.
Springsteen in the White House
“The Boss is here,” Biden joked, jokingly introducing Springsteen by his nickname “The Boss,” described as one of the greatest artists and storytellers in the United States and whose work, according to the White House, has captured “the essence unwavering of what it means to be an American”
The 73-year-old singer and author of classics such as Born in the USA He kicked off his first tour with the E Street Band since 2017 on February 1 and received one of the most enthusiastic cheers of the day.
The most awarded
the actresses Mindy Kaling (The office) AND Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Seinfield, VEEP) are part of the list of winners, in their case for how they have inspired girls and women and for having paved the way for the creators of the new generations, the White House specified.
Also destined for the National Medal of Arts, the highest recognition that the United States Executive grants in this sector stylist Vera Wang for how he made beauty and style “accessible to all”. “Her clothes always look good on my wife,” Biden joked.
Puerto Rican singer-songwriter José Feliciano was unable to travel to the city of Washington DC because he was on tour, but his absence didn’t stop the president from praising him. Blind since birth, he began playing guitar at age 9, and his music has helped unite cultures and styles and opened doors for generations of Latino artists, Biden said.
Chicana artist Judith Francisca Baca, Puerto Rican painter and writer Antonio Martorell Cardona, businessman and philanthropist Fred Eychaner, singer Gladys Knight, and the Billie Holiday Theater were other honorees.
Biden also honored the work of those who have contributed to deepening understanding of this field and citizen engagement with history, literature, or philosophy, among other fields included in that discipline, with the National Medal of Humanities.
Singer Elton John had received that same medal last September, the one corresponding to 2022, in another act at the White House.
This time Cuban-born author and poet Richard Blanco was decorated for “powerful storytelling that defies the boundaries of culture, gender or class,” as were anthropologist Johnnetta Betsch Cole, historian Earl Lewis, and writer Colson Whitehead , two multiple Pulitzer Prize winners.
“They make this country a better country,” summed up Biden, who stressed that the White House, the scene of the ceremony, is “sacred” not only as the residence of the presidential family, but also for being “the home of the people”.
Source: Clarin
