In a ceremony at the White House on Monday, October 21, 2024, President Biden awarded recipients of both the National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medals for 2022 and 2023. Recipients included the cartoonist Roz Chast, the poets Joy Harjo and Juan Felipe Herrera, LeVar Burton, actor and literacy advocate, Aaron Sorkin, playwright, screenwriter and director Rosita Worl, anthropologist. Several important arts funders were also among the National Humanities Medals recipients, including the philanthropist Wallis Annenberg, the Mellon Foundation and the recently election president of the National Gallery of Art's board of trustees,Darren Walker.
The National Humanities Medals honor an individual or organization whose work has “deepened the nation’s understanding of the human experience, broadened citizens’ engagement with history or literature, or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to cultural resources.”
