The Vanguard Award is an award and yearlong residency that celebrates the career of a singular artist who has contributed to American life and pop culture and is a part of the Joe’s Pub family of artists. This artist also sustains and leads their own artistic community while creating a body of work that stands apart from their peers. Additionally, the award answers to the music industry’s widening gaps in funding.
The 2023-2024 Joe’s Pub Vanguard artist is five-time GRAMMY Award-winner Angélique Kidjo. Kidjo has cross-pollinated the West African traditions of her childhood in Benin with elements of American R&B, funk and jazz, as well as influences from Europe and Latin America.
The Angélique Kidjo Vanguard Residency series:
Michael Olatuja & Lagos Pepper Soup | September 27, 2023
Magatte Fall | February 17, 2024
2024 Annual Joe's Pub Gala | April 8, 2024
The 2018 Vanguard Award recipient was Nona Hendryx. In 2019, the Vanguard Award recipient was Judy Collins. In 2020, the Vanguard Award recipient was Laurie Anderson, whose residency was interrupted by the global COVID-19 pandemic and continued until 2022. In our 2022-2023 season, The Vanguard Award was awarded posthumously to Barbara Maier Gustern.
Nona Hendryx
Grammy Award-nominated funk, art rock and new wave pioneer Nona Hendryx was the inaugural recipient of the Joe’s Pub Vanguard Award. Joe’s Pub honored her career as a performer, producer, writer, curator, innovator and mentor, with a year of monthly programming in 2018. From January through December, Hendryx curated and/or performed in shows that featured not only her body of work, but those of the many multidisciplinary artists who she has influenced (and who continue to influence her).
Photo credit: Alaric Campbell
Judy Collins
Judy Collins has inspired audiences with sublime vocals, boldly vulnerable songwriting, personal life triumphs, and a firm commitment to social activism. In the 1960s, she evoked both the idealism and steely determination of a generation united against social and environmental injustices. Five decades later, her luminescent presence shines brightly as new generations bask in the glow of her iconic 55-album body of work, and heed inspiration from her spiritual discipline to thrive in the music industry for half a century. Collins was the 2019 recipient of the Joe's Pub Vanguard Award.
Photo credit: Alaric Campbell
Laurie Anderson
Laurie Anderson is one of America’s most renowned and daring creative pioneers. She is best known for her multimedia presentations and innovative use of technology. As writer, director, visual artist, and vocalist, she has created groundbreaking works that span the worlds of art, theater, and experimental music. Anderson has published seven books and her visual work has been presented in major museums around the world. She was the 2020 recipient of the Joe's Pub Vanguard Award.
Photo credit: Alaric Campbell
Barbara Maier Gustern
"Barbara Maier Gustern exerted an improbable influence over New York’s overlapping music scenes, guiding cabaret performers, stage actors and rock stars to get the most out of their voices. [She was] the grandmother who wore dominatrix gear to perform as a go-go dancer at a playwright’s birthday party; who left her friends in the dust as she ran to catch a subway; who danced on top of a table at the cabaret theater Joe’s Pub."
-- The New York Times
Illustration: Leeza Joneé
Angélique Kidjo
Five-time Grammy Award winner Angélique Kidjo is a creative force with sixteen albums to her name. Time Magazine has called her "Africa's premier diva”, and named her one of the most influential people in the world for 2021. As a performer, her striking voice, stage presence and fluency in multiple cultures and languages have won respect from her peers and expanded her following across national borders. Kidjo has cross-pollinated the West African traditions of her childhood in Benin with elements of American R&B, funk and jazz, as well as influences from Europe and Latin America. She is the recipient of the 2023-2024 Vanguard Award.
Photo credit: Alaric Campbell