Americans for the Arts today announced that urban designer Paola Aguirre Serrano has been awarded the 2022 Jorge and Darlene Pérez Prize in Public Art & Civic Design. A first-of-its-kind national recognition program established by the Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation, the prize includes a cash stipend of $30,000 plus opportunities for Aguirre Serrano to participate in discussions about her work with national leaders in the arts and other allied fields.

The World Design Organization recognized the cities of San Diego in the United States and Tijuana in Mexico as a result of their commitment to human-centered design and legacy of cross-border collaboration to transform the region’s natural and built environments.

Artist director Patricia Barker embarked on planning this season to challenge the narrative that an all-women-choreographer year was rare. Barker wants to normalize this, showcasing that it is “just as easy to hire a woman as a man.”

The awards, initiated in 2011, aim to promote the best practices of public art construction from across the world and enhance urban art and culture standards. The awards ceremony collects the world's best practices and opinions for the reference of Shanghai's development. 

Facebook is one of many large businesses that sees the value of investing in the global community’s arts ecosystem and is increasing its commitment to visual art and public art installations worldwide. To date, Facebook has commissioned 500 art installations, with 200 more planned this year, and has hired a new head of the company's artist-in-residency program.

Ambitious new art and cultural projects are opening in Qatar as the country gears up to welcome a flood of visitors for the FIFA World Cup in 2022.The newly opened national museum, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, is a national project which hosts immersive art to provide a space for the past and the future to meet.

Abreu, the founder of El Sistema, was a professional musician, economist, and one-time cabinet minister, but his life’s mission was to democratize and universalize music education.

Americans for the Arts releases a statement in response to the executive order signed by President Trump that denies entrance into the U.S. by immigrant and non-immigrant visitors from seven Muslim-majority nations.

The Los Angeles Youth Orchestra will be included in the half-time show of this year’s Super Bowl.  Music Director, Gustavo Dudamel of the Los Angeles Philharmonic will conduct a group of students from this El Sistema inspired program.

Earlier this month, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray announced that the city’s first Civic Poet will be Claudia Castro Luna. The new Civic Poet position will serve as “an ambassador for Seattle’s rich literary landscape and represents the city’s diverse cultural community.” The Civic Poet program will be administered by the city’s Office of Arts & Culture.

British theater company Little Earthquake gave 100 primary school children the creative reins for a recent original production, granting them the opportunity to be centrally involved in the play’s development, creation, and promotion. The Young Producers project, in partnership with Black Country Touring, Arts Connect West Midlands, and Wolverhampton’s Arena Theatre, placed the children at the center of the creative process in commissioning and creating a brand-new piece of theater for family audiences.

Composer Jimmy López will make his operatic debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago this winter, largely thanks to the decision to upload his vocal music onto YouTube. After an extensive quest for a composer to musically adapt Ann Patchett’s novel Bel Canto to the operatic stage, Lyric Opera came across Lopez’s samples on YouTube and immediately contacted him.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, recently announced a major new initiative that will see thousands of London schoolchildren being given the chance to participate in and learn about dance. The initiative is backed by award-winning choreographer Wayne McGregor and leading dance organizations.