Wallis Annenberg Honored with National Humanities Medal in Presidential Ceremony

Monday, October 21, 2024 — Pioneering female philanthropist Wallis Annenberg will receive one of the nation’s highest honors, White House officials announced today. Annenberg is among nine recipients of the 2022 National Humanities Medal. The Medal “honors an individual or organization whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the human experience, broadened citizens’ engagement with history or literature, or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to cultural resources.”

Annenberg has dedicated her philanthropic work for decades to addressing the critical needs of our time, evolving from traditional grant-making to pursue innovative and impactful solutions through place-based initiatives, support for emerging local and national leaders, and cross-sector convenings and communication that advance community-driven solutions to help the underserved. As Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Annenberg Foundation since 2009, she has directed support to a wide range of issues including preservation and promotion of the arts, conservation, affordable housing, food insecurity, aging and longevity, access to health care, animal welfare, education, and social justice.

Since assuming chairmanship, Annenberg’s robust philanthropy has impacted more than 2,800 nonprofits and other organizations and special projects, including training for nonprofit leaders. She has catalyzed an array of interventions and projects that reflect the Annenberg Foundation’s core values of community, compassion, diversity, and fairness. Some of her greatest contributions include:

• CONSERVATION: The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing — Wallis made possible the world’s largest urban wildlife crossing, being built in Southern California to preserve and protect animals and ecosystems along the heavily trafficked U.S. Highway 101.  Upon its completion, expected 2026, the wildlife bridge will revitalize local biodiversity and reconnect habitats in Southern California’s mountains and valleys. Wallis’s generous contribution and call-to-action kickstarted a campaign for wildlife bridges across the country.

   

• AGING AND LONGEVITY: GenSpace — In 2022, Annenberg opened a state-of-the-art community center for older adults in L.A.’s Koreatown. GenSpace was Wallis’s personal vision and she worked tirelessly to ensure it would be a unique place where older Angelenos could learn and thrive together. Through thought leadership, activities and events, GenSpace is helping redefine perspectives on aging in the 21st century.

   

• ANIMAL WELFARE: Wallis Annenberg PetSpace — Annenberg built in 2021 and continues to fund a safe-haven for animals, in response to overcrowding in animal shelters across Southern California following the pandemic and housing challenges. PetSpace trains veterinarians and physical therapists who work with animals, and offers ongoing programming to strengthen the human-animal bond.

   

• COMMUNITY ACCESS: The Annenberg Community Beach House — Annenberg initiated and funded the transformation of five acres along Pacific Coast Highway, refurbishing a long-shuttered, dilapidated beach club into a modern public beach house on the increasingly unaffordable Southern California coastline. The Annenberg Community Beach House opened in 2009 and provides public access to a pool, boardwalk and beach, children’s play areas, event space, classes and other recreational opportunities in partnership with California State Parks and the City of Santa Monica.

   

• ARTS AND CULTURE: The Wallis Annenberg Performing Arts Center — Recognizing the need for more performing arts venues in the L.A. area, Annenberg in 2004 funded the renovation of the historic Beverly Hills Post Office and established a performing arts center that offers world-class entertainment as well as a diverse arts curriculum and professional theater training for young people and the underserved.

   

• FREE PRESS: Fallen Journalists Memorial — Continuing its long history of supporting communications and journalism, the Foundation most recently provided seed funding to build the first memorial in the United States honoring journalists and photojournalists who died in the line of duty, located adjacent to iconic monuments on the National Mall.

   

• ACCESSIBILITY: Treehouse for All (2005) — The first universally-accessible treehouse in a public space in California, the Treehouse for All in Torrance, Calif. was created for children and adults of all ages and physical abilities — and inspired dozens of similar treehouses to be built nationally.

Wallis Annenberg is a life trustee of the University of Southern California and has been honored by numerous organizations, including the Kennedy Center, Americans for the Arts, the Shoah Foundation, and the California African American Museum. She serves on the boards of the California Science Center, the Music Center and the Performing Arts Center, the LA Philharmonic, the LA County Museum of Art, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, the Harlem Children’s Zone and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, among others.

With Wallis Annenberg’s recognition today, the Annenberg family has received three Presidential medals. Ambassador Walter H. Annenberg, the founder of the Annenberg Foundation, received the Medal of Freedom in 1986 and the Medal of Arts in 1993. 

Read more from our friends at the National Endowment for Humanities here →