Culturefix Awardees

The Meridian Cultural Diplomacy Awards are bestowed on artists and leaders who demonstrate an ongoing commitment to using the arts and culture to unite people around the world through shared values and interests and contribute to greater international cooperation on shared challenges.

2022 Awardees

Juanma Barrientos

Michelin Star and glory chef Juan Manuel Barrientos, known in the gastronomic globe as "Juanma", was born in Medellín on June 16, 1983. He

is a father, cook, businessman, entrepreneur, lecturer and peace leader with more than thirteen restaurants, bars and a hotel. He is the creator and founder of Elcielo Restaurants in Medellín, Bogotá, Miami and Washington, D. C., Elcielo luxury boutique hotel in Medellín, too as other prominent eateries and bars such as La sere, Cuon, Kaime, Elcielo Classic, Aguafresca, Shibari Bar, El Navegante Bar and Syrenka Bar all in Medellin, and AO in Bogotá.

Juanma studied at Colegiatura Colombiana in Medellín, and at Mariano Moreno in Buenos Aires. He began his career in 2005 aslope renowned chefs such equally Iwao Komiyama (Argentine republic) and Juan Mari Arzak (Spain).He currently runs a creative workshop in Medellín. This workshop is a creativity lab, an atelier under the direction of chef Juanma, where chefs, designers and creatives from different disciplines create dishes, concepts and experiences for Elcielo Hospitality Group.

Juanma is a highly decorated chef and has been awarded prestigious accolades over the years. On Apr 22, 2021, Juanma and his team at Elcielo Restaurant located in Washington D. C., obtained the offset Michelin Star in history for a Colombian restaurant. This is the greatest recognition achieved in Colombian gastronomy.

In 2019 he won the award for Ibero-American businessman of the yr by CEAJE in Spain.In 2018, he published his first and best seller volume titled "The Recipe for Success," where he outlines his experiences in the culinary world and what steps he took to notice business organization and personal success. Juanma has been recognized as the youngest chef in Latin America'south 50 All-time for three sequent times, and in 2016 he was role of the exclusive listing of The World'south Best Chef.

In 2016 Juanma was invited equally a lecturer to the Globe Entrepreneurship Superlative (1 of the about important entrepreneurship conferences in the earth), by onetime President of the Usa, Barack Obama. Until this twenty-four hour period, Juanma continues providing his expertise to companies on creativity and innovation, supporting the redesign of the Deoxyribonucleic acid of important companies.

Y'all can follow Juanma on all major social networks equally @juanmaelcielo.

Jenny Holzer

Jenny Holzer has presented her severe ideas, arguments, jokes, and sorrows in public places and international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale, the Guggenheim Museums in New York and Bilbao, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Her medium, whether a T-shirt, plaque, or LED sign, is writing, and the public dimension is integral to her piece of work. Starting in the 1970s with her New York City street posters and continuing through her low-cal projections on landscape and architecture, her exercise has rivaled ignorance and violence with sense of humor and kindness.

Photo by Nanda Lanfranco. Portrait of Jenny Holzer.

Shigeru Ban

Ban Shigeru, (born August five, 1957, Tokyo, Nippon), Japanese builder who employed elements of both Japanese and American design in his projects and who was known for his pioneering use of cardboard tubes in edifice construction. In 2014 he was awarded the Pritzker Prize. In its commendation the Pritzker jury noted his creatively designed structures, such as temporary shelters, for areas devastated by natural disasters. "When tragedy strikes, he is often at that place from the beginning."

Ban studied at the Southern California Institute of Architecture from 1977 to 1980 and subsequently moved to Cooper Union in New York City because he wanted to study under architect John Hejduk. Afterwards working for Japanese builder Isozaki Arata for two years, Ban received a degree in architecture from Cooper Marriage in 1984, and the following year he opened his own practice in Tokyo.

Ban developed a style known for its blend of traditional Japanese architecture with elements of American Modernism. He was most recognized for his innovative use of paper-thin tubes as construction materials. He first used paper tubes in 1985–86, notably in a gallery for fashion designer Issey Miyake. Ban suggested to the United Nations Loftier Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 1994 that shelters made of paper be constructed for Rwandan refugees; he was made a consultant to the agency in 1995, and 50 such structures were built in 1998.

The versatility and worth of the inexpensive tubes were beginning proved to the world in 1995, post-obit the January 17 Kōbe earthquake that devastated the Kōbe area in due west-cardinal Japan. Ban went to the metropolis in February, and past the end of the summer his relief piece of work had brought 22 paper-tube cabins to shelter some of those who had lost their homes and a "paper dome" to temporarily supercede a ruined Roman Catholic church. The recycled, durable, potent, and environment-friendly newspaper material was used to construct the dome on the grounds where the church building had stood before it was leveled by the earthquake. Ban designed the construction so that it could be easily constructed and dismantled, and then used once more. His service was best-selling with an honour from a Japanese architecture association, which praised him for displaying an architect's sense of mission based on deeply rooted man love.

Ban continued to utilize the tubes to create structures such equally the Paper Curvation, a decorative lattice congenital in 2000 and displayed in the gardens of New York City'southward Museum of Modern Fine art. He later designed (with Jean de Gastines of France) the Pompidou Middle—Metz, a regional branch of the famed arts centre. The avant-garde edifice, which opened in 2010, featured an undulating roof that was inspired by a Chinese bamboo hat. In add-on to his architecture work, Ban held a number of professorships, including those at Yokohama National Academy (1995–99) and Keiō University (2001–08) in Tokyo. From 2006 to 2009 he served on the jury of the annual Pritzker Prize.

2021 Awardees

Teresita Fernández

Teresita Fernández'south experiential, awe-inspiring works are oft inspired by a rethinking of landscape and identify, as well as by diverse historical and cultural references. Oftentimes drawing inspiration from the natural world, Fernández's conceptual practise emphasizes the connection betwixt place and materials that accept loaded historical ties to colonization and the violence embedded in the landscape. She is a 2005 MacArthur Foundation Fellow and the recipient of numerous awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship, an NEA Artist's Grant, and a Louis Comfort Tiffany Biennial Award. Appointed by President Obama, she was the first Latina to serve on the U.Due south. Committee of Fine Arts, a 100-year-old federal panel that advises the President and Congress on national matters of design and aesthetics. In 2016, Fernández initiated and directed the U.South. Latinx Arts Futures Symposium at the Ford Foundation.

Fernández's works have been exhibited both nationally and internationally at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; The Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.; MASS MoCA, Northward Adams, MA; and Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy, amongst others. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Photo by Natalia Mantini. Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul, and London.

Jean-Yves Thibaudet

For more than than 3 decades, Jean-Yves Thibaudet has performed globe-broad, recorded more than l albums, and built a reputation as one of today's finest pianists. From the outset of his career, he delighted in music across the standard repertoire, from jazz to opera, which he transcribed himself to play on the piano. His profound professional friendships crisscross the globe and have led to spontaneous and fruitful collaborations in film, mode, and visual fine art. Thibaudet has a lifelong passion for education and fostering young musical talent. He is the first-ever Artist-in-Residence at the Colburn Schoolhouse in Los Angeles, where he makes his dwelling. In 2017, the school appear the Jean-Yves Thibaudet Scholarships, funded by members of Colburn's donor community, to provide aid for Music Academy students, whom Thibaudet will select for the merit-based awards, regardless of their instrument pick.

Thibaudet'due south recording catalogue has received two Grammy nominations, the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, the Diapason d'Or, the Choc du Monde de la Musique, the Edison Prize, and Gramophone awards. He is the soloist on Wes Anderson's upcoming picture show The French Dispatch; his playing can as well be heard in Pride and Prejudice, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Wakefield, and the Oscar-winning and critically acclaimed motion-picture show Atonement. His concert wardrobe is designed by Dame Vivienne Westwood.  In 2010 the Hollywood Basin honored Thibaudet for his musical achievements by inducting him into its Hall of Fame. Previously a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Thibaudet was awarded the title Officier by the French Ministry of Culture in 2012. In 2020, he was named Special Representative for the promotion of French Creative and Cultural Industries in Romania.

Photo by Andrew Eccles.