Alanis Obomsawin Recipient of the 63rd Edward MacDowell Medal

July 23, 2023

FREE & OPEN to the PUBLIC
RAIN or SHINE
12:15 pm Ceremony
1:15 pm Picnic Lunch (scroll down to order baskets)
2:00 - 4:00 pm Open Studios

Come and join arts lovers from around the region on Sunday, July 23 as the 63rd Edward MacDowell Medal is presented to esteemed filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin during our free and open-to-the-public celebration. After a brief award ceremony, visitors will enjoy a picnic lunch before artists-in-residence open their studios to the public, giving attendees the unique opportunity to look behind the scenes of the nation’s oldest artist residency and speak with the creators about their work.

Obomsawin was selected by a panel chaired by Tabitha Jackson, former director of the Sundance Film Festival. Joining her on the panel are Bird Runningwater, who guides the Sundance Institute’s investment in Native American and Indigenous filmmakers; MacDowell Fellows and filmmakers Natalia Almada, Rodney Evans, and So Yong Kim; MacDowell Fellow and Board Member Julia Solomonoff, and board member Josh Siegel, film curator at The Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Award-winning speaker and best-selling author Jesse Wente will give the presentation speech on Obomsawin’s impact on the culture and her career in documentary filmmaking.

More information on picnic basket sales as well as individual and business sponsorships is below. The picnic basket purchase deadline is July 10.

If you are interested in volunteering to help us on Medal Day with parking, greeting, and more, please contact Dan Millbauer.

Read Our Press Release

Julie Artacho photo, courtesy National Film Board of Canada

Alanis Obomsawin, Recipient of the 63rd Edward MacDowell Medal

Alanis Obomsawin is an Abenaki filmmaker who was born in New Hampshire. Her landmark documentaries such as Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993) and Incident at Restigouche (1984) are some of the 56 films to her credit. Obomsawin began her career as a singer, writer, and storyteller, but came to the attention of Canada’s National Film Board and was appointed consultant for Indigenous filmmaking at the public production company. She began making her own films in 1971, has received numerous international honors, and her work was showcased in a 2008 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. She is a Companion of the Order of Canada (C.C.), Grande Officière of the Ordre national du Québec (G.O.Q.), and a member of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (C.A.L.Q.), and holds other distinctions and honorary degrees.

Learn more about Alanis Obomsawin

Please contact events@macdowell.org for more information on picnic basket sales and individual or corporate event sponsorship.

Picnic baskets will be catered by Fiddleheads Catering of Hancock, NH.