Last month City of Trees' producer Lance Kramer was awarded the 29th Annual Mayor’s Arts Award in the Innovation in the Arts category. The Mayor’s Arts Awards are “the highest honors conferred by the District of Columbia in recognition of artistic excellence and service."

On Wednesday, October 29, 2014, Mayor Vincent Gray and DCCAH hosted a special ceremony for awards nominees and recipients. The event featured performances from local artists and musicians. Several of Meridian Hill Pictures’ neighbors in the Josephine Butler Parks Center were also recognized during the ceremony, including special recognition for GALA Hispanic Theater founders Rebecca and Hugo Medrano and the Young Playwrights Theater nominated for their Outstanding Contribution to Arts Education. 

Lance is thrilled that the city offers this kind of support for individual artists, further reinforcement that “DC is a city that has offered endless inspiration, a world-class, supportive arts and social justice community, and exceptional source of stories,” he says.

Lance plans to use this grant to further his own creative development as a nonfiction filmmaker outside of his regular responsibilities at MHP:

“Opportunities to spend time working on personal films will allow me the time and space to continue cultivating my artistic voice, process and mission. I see the space for advancing my own craft as essential in order to be an effective leader of an arts organization that serves other artists.”

About the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities
The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities provides grants, professional opportunities, education enrichment, and other programs and services to individuals and nonprofit organizations in all communities within the District of Columbia.
The Arts Commission is supported primarily by District government funds and in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.