Save the Date!

Monday, June 10, 2024

Join us June 10, 2024, at The Lindemann Performing Arts Center at Brown University for the 25th Pell Awards Gala. This celebratory event honoring artists and advocates supports artistic, educational, and community engagement programming at Trinity Rep.

We will announce the 2024 local and national honorees soon.


Supporting the Pell Awards

Trinity Rep’s Pell Award Gala provides unique visibility and access opportunities for sponsors. All proceeds from the event support artistic, education, and community engagement programming at Trinity Rep, the Tony Award-winning State Theater of Rhode Island.

We will announce opportunities for sponsorships, tickets, and program ads soon!

For more information, contact Jen Canole, director of institutional advancement, at (401) 453-9234 or jcanole@trinityrep.com


About the Pell Awards

Trinity Rep established the Pell Awards in 1997 to honor artists whose artistic careers exemplify the values of Senator Claiborne Pell, one of the principal founders of the National Endowment for the Arts. Throughout his life, Senator Pell worked to support the arts and provide new opportunities for artists. He sponsored the landmark legislation that established the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities in 1965 and chaired the Senate Education and Arts subcommittee. The Pell Awards honor Senator Claiborne Pell and recognize artistic excellence in Rhode Island, the New England region, and nationally.

The Pell Awards’ criteria include excellence in the artist’s chosen field, work that significantly advances their chosen art form, and contribution to the betterment of the community and the world at large through artistic presence and community service.


Past Pell Award Honorees

Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts

Jane Alexander; Kate Burton; Ruby Dee & Ossie Davis; Viola Davis; Olympia Dukakis; Oskar & Laurie Eustis; Indigo Girls (Amy Ray & Emily Saliers); Adrian Hall; Richard & Sharon Jenkins; Jessica Lange; Mary McDonnell; Arthur Miller; Liza Minnelli; Toni Morrison; Robert Redford; Chita Rivera; Jason Robards; Maurice Sendak; Beverly Sills; Stephen Sondheim; Mary Steenburgen & Ted Danson

Pell Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Arts

John Krasinski; Debra Messing; Amy Morton; Trinity Rep Resident Acting Company

New England Pell Award for Excellence in the Arts

Brian Dennehy; Julie Harris; Jeffrey Osborne; Lloyd Richards; Gunther Schuller; John Updike

Pell Award/Charles Sullivan Award for Distinguished Service in/to the Arts

​Elizabeth Z. Chace; Mayor Vincent A. Cianci, Jr.; Martha Douglas-Osmundson; Joe & Sally Dowling; Deloris Davis Grant; Adrian Hall; Mary Paula Hunter; P. William Hutchinson; Virginia Lynch; Suzanne Magaziner; Lowry Marshall; Jane S. Nelson; Elaine Foster Perry; Julie Strandberg

Pell Award for Outstanding Leadership in Arts Education

Ruth J. Simmons

Pell Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Arts

​Jeannine Chartier; Joseph A. Chazan M.D.; Trudy Coxe; Mihailo “Misha” Djuric; Michael Gennaro; Roger Mandle; Senator Claiborne Pell; Rhode Island State Council on the Arts; J.L. “Lynn” Singleton​; Rosanne Somerson; George Wein​

Rhode Island Pell Award for Excellence in the Arts

​John Benson; Howard BenTré; Dan Butterworth; Len Cabral; Charlene Carpenzano; John Chan; Bob Colonna; Robert Coover; Umberto “Bert” Crenca; Richard Cumming; Ruth Frisch Dealy; Tony Estrella; Barnaby Evans; Richard Fleischner; Peter Geisser; Malcolm Grear; Michael Harper; Bunny Harvey; Dorothy Jungels & the Everett Dance Theatre; George Kent; Eugene Lee; David Macaulay; Salvatore Mancini; Marta V. Martínez; Dave McKenna; Barbara Meek; Denny Moers; Morris Nathanson; Timothy Philbrick; Ricardo Pitts-Wiley; Duke Robillard; Thomas Sgouros, Sr.; Consuelo Sherba; Gretchen Dow Simpson; Maria Spacagna; Judith Lynn Stillman; Valerie Tutson; Chris Van Allsburg; Paula Vogel; Keith and Rosmarie Waldrop; William Warner; Rose Weaver; Steven Weinberg; Toots Zynsky