The 25th Anniversary Princess Grace Awards Gala

The 25th Anniversary Princess Grace Awards Gala

George Lucas Honored With Prince Rainier III Award For His Outstanding Contribution To The Arts

Auction Including Two Outfits Worn By Princess Grace Raises $500,000 for Princess Grace Foundation

NEW YORK, Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Last night, the Princess Grace Foundation-USA (PGF-USA) hosted the 25th Anniversary Princess Grace Awards Gala at Sotheby's New York and presented 22 Awards to emerging artists in theater, dance and film, as well as two Princess Grace Statue Awards to artists who have previously won Awards and have shown achievement and growth in their respective fields. Every year, PGF-USA proudly awards these prizes at its annual gala to support its mission of providing crucial support to emerging artists in America. Princess Grace Awards honorees came to New York City this week from around the country for two days of events including the gala, a special luncheon held in their honor and mentoring activities. PGF- USA also honored Indiana Jones and Star Wars creator George Lucas with the Prince Rainier III Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the arts. It was presented to him by none other than James Earl Jones, famed Darth Vader from Star Wars. The 25th Anniversary Gala took place in the presence of HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco and TRH The Prince and Princess of Hanover.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070827/NYM016-a )

Prince Rainier III Award honoree George Lucas has had an accomplished artistic career which spans almost 40 years and includes his work as a writer, director, producer and most significantly, creator of some of the most noteworthy movies of our generation, including the epic Indiana Jones and Star Wars series. In 2006, George Lucas' Lucasfilm Foundation donated $175 million to Lucas' alma-mater USC School of Cinematic Arts for the construction and renovations of educational buildings and to provide an endowment for the school. Two-time Tony Award winner and Academy Award nominee James Earl Jones introduced George Lucas who commented, "When they showed the film [Star Wars], some of the [20th Century Fox] film executives fell asleep, and others hated it. One of the people who stood up for me was Princess Grace -- a board member at 20th Century Fox -- I will always be thankful for that. This award is an especially exciting award. I am keen on education, film students and art students of all kinds."

The Princess Grace Awards has three categories of award recognition including: theater, dance and film. Honorees in film were presented with awards by Golden Globe Award winner Sir Roger Moore; theater by actor Anthony Rapp (who originated the role of Mark Cohen in RENT on Broadway and brother of 2006 Princess Grace Statue Award winner Adam Rapp); for dance Tony Award winning choreographer Susan Stroman and special guest host world-renowned opera singer Renee Fleming. During the evening, attendees were entertained by past Princess Grace Award winner Donna Lynne Champlin with a medley of songs from West Side Story. Notable attendees for the evening included: TRH The Prince and Princess of Hanover, H.E. Ambassador & Mrs. Gilles Noghes, Pamela Fiori, editor in chief of Town & Country, designers Ralph Rucci and Tommy Hilfiger, Lynn Wyatt, Phillip Bloch, Anne Randolph Hearst, Anne Hathaway, Renee Fleming, Amanda Hearst, Celeste Holm, Star Jones, Aerin Lauder, Chris Le Vine, Hon John F. Lehman, Robert O. Marx, Carolyn Murphy, Yves G. Piaget, Renny Reynolds, and Michael Smurfit.

Past winners of the Award are eligible to win the coveted Princess Grace Statue, which was presented at this year's Gala to Robert Battle for his accomplishments in dance and Michael John Garces for his accomplishments in theater. The Award includes a $25,000 unrestricted cash gift and a special limited edition Bronze Statue of Princess Grace created by Monegasque artist Kees Verkade. Robert Battle received his original Princess Grace Award in 1993 as a student at The Juilliard School and is Artistic Director of his NYC dance company, Battleworks, which he founded in 2002. In 2005, Battle was honored as a Master of African American Choreography at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Michael John Garces received his original Princess Grace Award in 1995 with INTAR Theatre and is the Artistic Director of Cornerstone Theater Company in Los Angeles, CA. Garces has been an award-winning freelance writer, director and performer for over sixteen years and is also a resident playwright at New Dramatists in NYC.

A highlight of the Gala included the sale of two one of a kind outfits worn by Princess Grace, with proceeds to benefit the Princess Grace Awards program of PGF-USA. William Doyle of Newbridge Silverware purchased both outfits for $355,000. The outfits were personally selected by Prince Albert and Princess Caroline and auctioned by long-time family friend and acclaimed Sotheby's auctioneer, James G. Niven.

The first outfit was sold for $135,000 -- a Givenchy-designed sleeveless dress with matching fringed bolero jacket in vivid green worn on an official 1961 visit to the White House for lunch with President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy. This outfit was also worn on an official visit to her ancestral Ireland, accompanied by Prince Rainier, in June 1961 and was sold with a coordinating hat (also worn by Princess Grace but not the one accompanying the original outfit).

The second dress was sold for $220,000 -- the beautiful Helen Rose ball gown worn by a young Grace Kelly in the 1956 musical comedy, High Society. The layered gray-over-rose chiffon gown is appliqued with rhinestones and pink and white embroidered flowers. Helen Rose was responsible for creating Princess Grace's iconic wedding dress, a gift from MGM studios, as well as the suit she wore to her civil marriage ceremony and her costumes for the films Mogambo and The Swan.

This year's 25th Anniversary Princess Grace Awards Gala marked the jubilant culmination of the ten-day Grace, Princess of Monaco: The Life and Legacy of Grace Kelly exhibition (October 15 - 26) at Sotheby's, presented by the Consulate General of Monaco and the Monaco Government Tourist Office in New York, in close collaboration with the Princely Palace, Sotheby's and the Princess Grace Foundation-USA.

"George Lucas and this year's Princess Grace Awards recipients are the embodiment of what Princess Grace wanted her legacy to the arts to be - creative, dynamic, passionate and generous. It is with great pleasure that we honor all of these incredible artists on the 25th Anniversary of her passing," said the Hon. John Lehman, Chairman of the Board, Princess Grace Foundation- USA.

In addition to the two historical outfits auctioned, the live auction included: "Your Weight in Chocolate" from the Chocolaterie de Monaco and a special suite of diamond and pearl jewelry by Van Cleef & Arpels that raised a total of $500,000 for the Princess Grace Foundation-USA to help it advance its mission of providing crucial support to emerging artists in America.

PGF-USA is also pleased to announce that their renowned silent auction will take place online this year, conducted by the leading online auction venue Charity Folks. The auction began on Monday, October 15 and will remain open for bids through Friday, November 9. Registration is free at www.charityfolks.com/princessgrace.

Presenting Sponsor of the 25th Anniversary Princess Grace Awards was Manhattan House. Platinum Sponsor was Noelle and Dick Wolf and Crown Sponsors include: American Airlines, Estee Lauder, Inc., Mrs. Edmond J. Safra and Van Cleef & Arpels. Other sponsors include the Chocolaterie de Monaco, Monaco Government Tourist Office, Yves G. Piaget and Sir Michael W.J. Smurfit.

Honorary Chairs for the 25th Anniversary Princess Grace Awards Gala were Celeste Holm, Nancy Reagan, Mrs. Frank Sinatra (Barbara) and Lynn Wyatt. The Gala Chairs were Tory Burch and Anne Hearst and the Gala Co-Chairs were Hon. Maguy Maccario Doyle, Consulate General of Monaco and Pamela Fiori, Town & Country.

For more information about the Princess Grace Awards, please visit www.pgfusa.org.

THE PRINCESS GRACE AWARDS AND 2007 RECIPIENTS

The first Princess Grace Awards winners were announced in 1984. To date, PGF-USA has awarded more than $5 million to support and continue excellence in the arts. The recipients are selected by a panel of experts in their respective fields - theater, dance, and film - and the prizes awarded are in the form of scholarships, apprenticeships and fellowships. This year, the Princess Grace Awards will be bestowed upon 24 artists total (see listing below) and give away more than $600,000.

   The 2007 Princess Grace Awards winners are:    THEATER   Oana Botez-Ban, Bucharest, Romania   Pierre Cardin Theater Award   Costume Design Fellowship, Classic Stage Company    Gisela Cardenas, Lima, Peru   Robert & Gloria Hausman Theater Award   Directing Fellowship, INTAR    Toccarra Cash, Dayton, OH   George C. Wolfe Theater Award   Acting Scholarship, University of Missouri-Kansas City    Laurie O'Brien, San Francisco, CA   Faberge Theater Award   Puppetry Arts Scholarship, CalArts    Alex Torra, Miami, FL   Grace Le Vine Theater Award   Directing Apprenticeship, Pig Iron Theatre Company    Scott Turner Schofield, Atlanta, GA   Gant Gaither Theater Award   Acting Fellowship, 7 Stages    Kara Manning, Philadelphia, PA   Playwriting Fellowship, New Dramatists    DANCE AND CHOREOGRAPHY   Andrew Bartee, Everett, WA   Dance Scholarship, Pacific Northwest Ballet School    Eric Ray Kupers, Los Angeles, CA   Choreography Fellowship, AXIS Dance Company    Brooklyn Mack, Elgin, SC   Dance Fellowship, Orlando Ballet    Sarah Kathryn Lane, Bloomfield, NY   Dance Fellowship, American Ballet Theatre    Rashaun L. Mitchell, Stamford, CT   Dance Fellowship, Merce Cunningham Dance Company    Darrell Grand Moultrie, Harlem, New York   Choreography Fellowship, Cincinnati Ballet; Cincinnati, OH    Christopher Vo, Dallas, TX   Dance Scholarship, The Juilliard School    Meredith Webster, Manitowoc, WI   Chris Hellman Dance Award   Dance Fellowship, LINES Ballet    Pavel Zustiak, Kosice, Slovakia   Choreography Fellowship, Laboratory Company Dance    FILM   Maru Buendia-Senties, Mexico   Cary Grant Film Award   Graduate Film Scholarship, University of Texas- Austin    Thomas Javier Castillo, Tucson, AZ   John H. Johnson Film Award   Graduate Film Scholarship, Northwestern University    Gonzalo Escobar, Bogota, Colombia   Undergraduate Film Scholarship, School of the Art Institute of Chicago    Robert M. Jones, Boston, MA   Graduate Film Scholarship, American Film Institute    Elyse T. Montague, Rockland, ME   Graduate Film Scholarship, UCSD    Max Winston, Sonoma, CA   Undergraduate Film Scholarship, CalArts    STATUE AWARDS   Robert Battle, Artistic Director, Battleworks Dance Company   Michael John Garces, Artistic Director, Cornerstone Theater Company    ABOUT THE PRINCESS GRACE FOUNDATION-USA  

The Princess Grace Foundation-USA, a public charity formed after the death of Princess Grace in 1982, awards scholarships, apprenticeships and fellowships to assist emerging theater, dance and film artists. Some past Award winners include Stephen Hillenburg, creator of Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants; Tony Kushner, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright; Gillian Murphy, principal dancer of American Ballet Theatre; and Eric Simonson, Academy Award winner. For more information about PGF-USA, please visit www.pgfusa.org.

ABOUT LUCASFILM

Lucasfilm is one of the world's leading film and entertainment companies. Founded by George Lucas in 1971, it is a privately held, fully integrated entertainment company. In addition to motion picture and television production, the company's global businesses include visual effects, sound, video games, licensing and online activity. Mr. Lucas has also taken a leadership role in applying his technical and storytelling expertise to the classroom, engaging students through interactive multimedia environments. He is chairman of the board of the George Lucas Educational Foundation and also serves on the board of the Film Foundation and is a member of the USC School of Cinema-Television Advisory Board.

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Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070827/NYM016-a
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

Source: Princess Grace Foundation-USA

CONTACT: Lauren Thayer of Lisa Lori Communications, +1-212-925-2300, or
thayer@lisalori.com, for Princess Grace Foundation-USA; or Awards Recipients
Press, Gail Parenteau of Parenteau Guidance, +1-212-532-3934,
gail@parenteauguidance.com, for Princess Grace Foundation-USA; or Christine
Kite of Princess Grace Foundation-USA, +1-212-317-1470, or ckite@pgfusa.org

Web site: http://www.pgfusa.org/
http://www.charityfolks.com/princessgrace

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Profile: International Entertainment