The Vilcek Foundation

Vilcek Prizes

The Vilcek Prizes are awarded to foreign-born individuals residing permanently in the United States, with a legacy of outstanding achievement in the arts and sciences. The Foundation awards two Vilcek Prizes annually, one in biomedical science and the other in the arts and humanities; the latter in a field designated annually by the Foundation, such as fine arts, architecture, music, filmmaking, culinary art, literature, dance, contemporary music, design, and fashion. Each prize consists of a $100,000 cash award and a commemorative sculpture designed by Austrian-born Stefan Sagmeister.

Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise

The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise are awarded to foreign-born individuals who have demonstrated outstanding achievement during the early stages of their careers. Like the Vilcek Prize, the Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise are awarded each year in the field of biomedical science and a selected art field. Creative Promise applicants are required to submit essays, personal statements, and examples of their work. To be eligible for the prize, applicants must have been born abroad, reside permanently in the United States, and be within the specified age limit. As of 2013, three prizes each will be awarded in biomedical science and a designated art field. Each recipient is awarded a $50,000 cash prize and a commemorative plaque.

New American Filmmakers

Since 2007, the Vilcek Foundation has been a proud sponsor of the New American Filmmakers program. Curated and presented in collaboration with the Hawaii International Film Festival, the program seeks out the most talented foreign-born filmmakers currently contributing to American cinema. The result is a diverse program that draws upon cinematic genres and traditions from around the world.

Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise

In 2013, the Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise were changed from recognizing one winner and four finalists to recognizing three winners in each category. The past finalists are listed below.

Art Collections

The Vilcek Foundation holds several art collections that are promised gifts from founders Jan and Marica Vilcek. These collections include the Contemporary Art Collection, a small but growing collection of works by contemporary immigrant artists; the American Modernism Collection, which traces the development of artists such as Oscar Bluemner, Ralston Crawford, Stuart Davis, and Marsden Hartley, as well as the movement as a whole; and the Native American Pottery Collection, which consists primarily of objects by Acoma, Hopi, Cochiti, Kewa, Tesuque, Zia, and Zuni potters, dating from the 19th and 20th centuries; and the Pre-Columbian Collection, which features objects from across the pre-Columbian world, with an emphasis on the art of Mesoamerica.

Past events and exhibitions

The Vilcek Foundation is located in a landmark, Beaux Arts-style renovated carriage house in New York City's Upper East Side, which serves as both its headquarters and gallery space. The Foundation hosts exhibitions and events featuring the work of immigrant artists, designers, filmmakers, and others, many of whom have yet to achieve critical or financial success.

dARTboard

The dARTboard was an online art space developed to celebrate the achievements of foreign-born artists working in the realm of digital art, running from 2012 to 2014.

Each year’s featured artist was chosen from a pool of applicants for the annual dARTboard Call for Entries in Digital Art, first opened in July 2011. Every cycle, applicants were invited to submit their digital artworks for consideration. Eligible applicants must be foreign-born and reside permanently in the U.S. The chosen artist, selected by an expert juror, was invited to exhibit his or her work on the dARTboard at the start of the following year. Each featured artist received a $5,000 honorarium. In 2014, three artists were chosen for a three-way tie, and each artist was awarded a $5,000 honorarium.

American Odysseys: Writings by New Americans

American Odysseys is an anthology of twenty-two novelists, poets, and short story writers. Among the featured writers are Ethiopian-born Dinaw Mengestu, the recipient of the 2011 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Literature; Yugoslavian-born Téa Obreht, the youngest author to receive the Orange Prize in Fiction; and Chinese-born Yiyun Li, a MacArthur Genius grantee. The foreword is by U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Simic, the winner of the 2011 Vilcek Prize for Literature. A private, hard copy edition was first published in January 2012, and a trade paperback edition was released by Dalkey Archive Press on May 2, 2013.

Masterpieces of American Modernism: From the Vilcek Collection

Masterpieces of American Modernism: From the Vilcek Collection, features ninety-eight paintings, works on paper and sculptures by twenty artists - including Stuart Davis, Arthur Dove, Marsden Hartley, Georgia O'Keeffe and Max Weber. William C. Agee contributed the book’s introduction and Lewis Kachur wrote individual entries on each work. In addition to tracing the evolution of individual artists and the movement as a whole, the book explores developments within American Modernism, such as Synchromism and Color Abstraction, American Cubism, and the influence of the landscape and culture of the Southwest (an issue that is explored in depth in the book’s Illustrated Timeline). The Collection also highlights the contributions of immigrant artists – eight of the twenty artists were born outside the United States. The book is prefaced by a collector's statement from Ján Vilček and Marica Vilcek and has contributions by The Vilcek Foundation’s President, Rick Kinsel, and Associate Curator, Emily Schuchardt Navratil.