29th Heinz Awards - Heinz Family Foundation Announces $1.5 Million in Awards

From Redefining Black Modernism and Championing Citizen Science to Empowering Women to Achieve Economic Stability and Address the Impacts of Climate Change, 2024 Heinz Awards Recipients Are Creating World-Changing Impact

PITTSBURGH, September 17, 2024 — The Heinz Family Foundation today announced the recipients of the 29th Heinz Awards, which will present unrestricted cash awards totaling $1.5 million to nine Americans for outstanding contributions in the categories of the Arts, the Economy and the Environment. Two Awards are given per category. As part of the accolade, each recipient or recipient pair receives an unrestricted cash prize of $250,000.

Created to honor the memory of the late U.S. Senator John Heinz, the Heinz Awards honors excellence and achievement in areas of great importance to him. The 29th annual Awards brings the total number of recipients to 180 and reflects $37 million in monetary awards given since the program was launched in 1993.

This year’s recipients by category are:

Arts

Jennie C. Jones, Sonic and Visual Artist, Hudson, New York, creates works of painting, collage, sculpture and sound that engage with the history of American modernism and minimalism while investigating avant-garde music of the same era. Through her innovative approach to object-making, she often paints on acoustic panels that in their industrial use are designed to absorb sound. These deeply contemplative, multidimensional compositions invite her audiences to be present for and sit with connections to sights, space, history and sound. Located conceptually where the visual and the sonic meet, her works bridge the gap between the white male-dominated movements of modernism and the cultural contributions of African Americans, specifically sonic practitioners. Ms. Jones’ work is found in collections ranging from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to the Studio Museum in Harlem.

Gala Porras-Kim, Visual Artist, Los Angeles, California, creates work spanning drawings, sculptures and installations that challenge institutions to reassess their role as stewards of history and culture. Through artworks that are often informed by direct engagement and exchanges with museums and their staff, she aims to shift policies regarding the ownership of objects, as well as their care and presentation, in a culturally sensitive way that also honors the intent of museums that serve as public archives of the human record. Ms. Porras-Kim’s works range from meticulous drawings to installations that morph through exposure to natural elements, echoing the physical transformation of museum objects that conservators diligently work to make immutable. Within the last few years, Ms. Porras-Kim has shown her celebrated work in a spate of exhibitions across the globe, including in Seoul, São Paulo, London, Mexico City, Los Angeles and New York.

Economy

Aisha Nyandoro, Ph.D., Founding CEO, Springboard to Opportunities, and Founder, Magnolia Mother’s Trust (MMT), Jackson, Mississippi, is a national leader in the guaranteed income movement and has developed programs that improve the quality of life for families and individuals as they work to exit poverty. Springboard to Opportunities uses a “radically resident-driven” approach to understand the challenges impacting families living in affordable housing and designs programs that help residents achieve their goals. In 2018, Dr. Nyandoro launched MMT, the first guaranteed income program for single Black mothers in the U.S. Her work is not only helping to alleviate economic injustices but is also reframing the narrative around poverty. Dr. Nyandoro co-founded and co-chairs the Guaranteed Income Community of Practice, which convenes policy experts, advocates, researchers, funders and elected officials to learn and collaborate on unconditional cash programs.

Jessica Sager and Janna Wagner, Co-Founders, All Our Kin, New Haven, Connecticut, train, support and sustain family child care educators, arming these home-based providers with the resources and community connections they need to create quality early childhood environments and run successful small businesses. Galvanized by the stringent conditions imposed on working parents by welfare reform in the 90s, Ms. Sager and Ms. Wagner founded All Our Kin as a laboratory school, providing an avenue for mothers to open licensed programs in their homes, allowing them to care for their own children and contribute to their communities. While the organization still provides comprehensive direct support to family child care educators, including licensing assistance, business courses and educational training, All Our Kin now has more than 95 state and local partners in 29 states and Washington, D.C. The organization reaches over 12,000 educators and 60,000 children nationwide through training and technical assistance. Studies show that All Our Kin not only raises the earning power of providers, but also raises the quality, availability and sustainability of child care in low-income communities.

Environment

Amira Diamond and Melinda Kramer, Co-Founders, Women’s Earth Alliance (WEA), Berkeley, California, are working to protect the environment, end the climate crisis and ensure a just, thriving world by empowering women-led climate initiatives and eco-enterprises. WEA’s programs provide women leaders — who are often most affected by environmental issues but underrepresented in decision-making processes — with mentorship, skills, business training, tools, funding and a global network of support. WEA has catalyzed the efforts of over 52,000 women leading environmental initiatives and enterprises in 31 countries, enabling women to reach more than 24 million people with clean water, energy access, regenerative farming practices and climate initiatives. WEA leaders are working to protect forests and rivers, save threatened Indigenous seeds, launch sustainable farms, conserve coral reefs, and protect land rights.

Scott Loarie, Ph.D., and Ken-ichi Ueda, Co-Organizers, iNaturalist, San Rafael, California, have galvanized millions of nature enthusiasts, researchers and conservation biologists to record and map nature observations across the planet through open-source technological platforms designed to maximize broad participation and data quality. Together, observers crowdsource one of the world’s largest biodiversity databases, logging more than 200 million verified observations that have contributed to thousands of publications on subjects including the discovery of new species, range shifts, the rediscovery of species, distributions of invasive species and species’ responses to climate change. In addition, photo submissions provide valuable insights into species traits and interactions, enabling the collection of extensive data that would be impossible to gather independently.

“Each year, the Heinz Awards recognizes individuals who demonstrate outstanding courage, compassion and tenacity in pursuit of social, economic and environmental change,” says Teresa Heinz, Chairman of the Heinz Family Foundation. “From connecting us to the diversity of the natural world and creating art that transforms our perspective to developing solutions that address poverty and enable economic stability, this year’s recipients exemplify the qualities that my husband, John Heinz, held in highest regard: intellectual curiosity, an informed optimism, a passion for excellence, a willingness to take risks and the joyous belief that individuals have the power and the responsibility to change the world for the better. At a time when our country is navigating tremendous division and strife, these nine Americans exemplify the best of what is possible, demonstrating the impact that one person can make and giving us much-needed hope for our future and our planet.”  

Recipients of the 29th Heinz Awards will be honored in October in Pittsburgh. For more information on the awardees, visit www.heinzawards.org.  

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About the Heinz Awards
Established by Teresa Heinz in 1993 to honor the memory of her late husband, U.S. Senator John Heinz, the Heinz Awards celebrates the accomplishments and spirit of the Senator by recognizing the extraordinary achievements of individuals in the areas of greatest importance to him. The Awards, administered by the Heinz Family Foundation, currently recognize individuals for their contributions in the areas of the Arts, the Economy and the Environment. Nominations are submitted by invited experts, who serve anonymously, and are reviewed by jurors appointed by the Heinz Family Foundation. The jurors make recommendations to the Board of Directors, which subsequently selects the Award recipients. For more information on the Heinz Awards, visit www.heinzawards.org.  

Contact:
Abby Manishor / 917-539-3308 / amanishor@burness.com