Actress and activist Viola Davis named Harvard Artist of the Year
Viola Davis, the popular actress, producer, director, activist, businesswoman, and philanthropist, has been named the 2017 Artist of the Year. She will be awarded the Harvard Foundation’s arts medal at a ceremony on March 4 during the 32nd annual Cultural Rhythms Festival in Memorial Hall’s Sanders Theatre. “The students and faculty of the Harvard Foundation are delighted to present the acclaimed television and film artist Viola Davis with the 2017 Artist of the Year award,” said S. Allen Counter, director of the Harvard Foundation. “Our student committee praised her outstanding contributions to American and international film and theater. She recently received the Critics’ Choice, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and British Academy of Films and Television Arts awards, as well as an Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of Rose Maxson in the film adaptation of August Wilson’s play ‘Fences.’” Davis co-starred in the play’s 2010 Broadway revival opposite Denzel Washington, who also joined her in...