Rick Lowe

In 1993, moved by the imminent demolition of several blocks of shotgun-style houses in Houston's Northern Third Ward—one of the city's oldest African American communities—artist Rick Lowe came up with a plan to preserve the neighborhood's historic homes and provide essential services for its residents. The resulting initiative, Project Row Houses, continues to be one of the most important neighborhood-based, community-engaged art projects in the world.

This non-profit organization has been the catalyst for the creation of homes for single mothers and their children, residency spaces for artists to create new work with the local community, community gardens, health centers, and more. Originally occupying a group of twenty-two houses covering one-and-a-half city blocks, Project Row Houses has grown to include over forty renovated properties, containing exhibition spaces, a literary center, a multimedia performance art space, offices, low-income housing, and other amenities.

Project Row Houses emerged out of discussions with African-American artists who wanted to establish a positive, creative presence in their own community; to this day, it carries on this vision, proving that art—and the community it creates—can be the foundation for revitalizing depressed inner-city neighborhoods. Inspired by the principles of renowned artist John Biggers, who spoke of art as a way to create an effective community, the project seeks to integrate art into the fabric of everyday life, at once a space for producing and celebrating culture, a model for community revitalization, a forum for education, and a way to preserve the architecture and history of a neighborhood.

His groundbreaking vision and long-term commitment to this community has been influential worldwide. He was a Loeb Fellow at the Harvard School of Design and, in 2002, won the Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanities. In 2010, Lowe was an artist in residence at the Otis College of Art and Design, and received a Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement from the College Art Association. Lowe was selected by a jury including Michelle Coffey, Jeremy Deller, Dave Eggers, Charles Esche, Thelma Golden, Elizabeth Kabler and Chus Martinez.

www.projectrowhouses.org

The 2010 Award Ceremony

Anne Pasternak gives a welcome speech and introduction to the Annenberg Prize for Art and Social Change

Keynote Address by Wendell Pierce

Presentation of the Prize by Elizabeth Kabler

Presentation by Prize Recipient Rick Lowe