Following
the theme of our 44th Anniversary Season, the season’s theme will
be ART IS…."
explains Producing Artistic Director Tim Dang. "EWP and the APA performing arts community have established a larger
presence on the national landscape. We recognize these individuals who have
utilized performance through music, dance, acting, voice, design and
literature and have showed us the value of art and what it means to our
community as a source of entertainment, education, civic pride, celebration
and social consciousness."
Award-winning composer Nathan Wang (Beijing Olympics/Shaolin Monks,
Steven Spielberg's The Last Days) will lead the orchestra for the 8th
year as the evening's Musical Director. The orchestra will be a combination
of professional studio musicians and teenage students of the Olympia Youth
Orchestra in San Gabriel Valley.
2010
VISIONARY AWARD HONOREES will include:
Wenda Fong,
a well-respected producer and director of television and live events with a
remarkable track record as an executive and community force. Wenda can claim
credit on over 200 television programs ranging from all-star variety
specials, award shows, live spectaculars, sitcoms, talk shows to
documentaries. Wenda is co-founder and Chairperson of the Coalition of Asian
Pacifics in Entertainment and has served as President of East West Players.
She is a member of the Directors Guild of America and is founding
co-chairperson emeritus of the DGA Asian-American Committee. Wenda joined
FOX as its first Vice President of Creative Diversity Development Department
in 2001 where she created and launched its successful diversity initiatives.
In 2003, she was promoted to Vice President of
Alternative Entertainment
and presently oversees American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance,
Hell’s Kitchen and the NAACP Image Awards.
Michael Kenji Shinoda,
a Japanese American musician, record producer and artist from Agoura Hills,
California – best known for his vocal and musical endeavors with two-time
Grammy-winning, multi-platinum rock band Linkin Park. He has a hand
in most artistic facets of Linkin Park’s imagery, including album artwork,
band merchandise, web design and on-stage production art. Shinoda is also
involved in other projects including Fort Minor, non-profit organization
Music For Relief, and Projekt Revolution. Shinoda was the youngest of his
graduating class from Art Center College of Design in 1998 with a B.A. in
Illustration, where he has created a fund in his name to benefit promising
illustration and graphic design students with financial need. His museum
shows Glorious Excess (Born) and Glorious Excess (Dies) opened
at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles in 2008 and 2009,
and this year he'll curate a collaborative group show in New York City. For
more information, please visit
mikeshinoda.com.
Additional honorees will
be announced.
Current major sponsors include: The Walt Disney Company, CBS, NBC Universal,
and FOX as the evening’s Platinum Circle sponsors and T. Rodd Bancroft as a
Gold Circle sponsor.
East West Players' 44th Anniversary Visionary Awards Dinner
and Silent Auction will be held on Monday, April 19, 2010 at the Hilton
Universal City, 555 Universal Hollywood Drive, Universal City, CA 91608. The
no-host reception and silent auction will start at 6pm. The dinner and
awards program will start at 7pm. Tickets are $175 - $1,250. Full table
sponsorship packages are also available. For more information on East West
Players' 44th Anniversary Visionary Awards Dinner and Silent
Auction, please visit www.EastWestPlayers.org or contact Development
Manager Lisa Tang at (213) 625-7000 x17 or
LTang@EastWestPlayers.org.
As the event draws closer, special celebrity appearances, additional
honorees, and performances will be announced.
