Amazingly, more laurels are being piled at the feet of choreographer Liz Lerman. Yesterday, United States Artists, a relatively new foundation, announced this year’s recipients of its annual grants of $50,000 each. Lerman was one of the 50 winners, together a wide variety of artists that included choreographers Donald Byrd and John Jasperse.

Lerman, who founded the Takoma Park-based Liz Lerman Dance Exchange (now called the Dance Exchange) in 1976 and now works on independent projects, was cited by the group as “a pioneer in making site-specific dances and including various communities in artistic and civic engagement projects that often mix dance with spoken word, imagery, and music.”

The grant is pretty nifty: That 50 large can be used however the recipient deems fit, whether it’s on a new project or simply to pay down bills. Kind of like the MacArthur Foundation’s “genius” grants of $250,000, when you think of it—which Lerman also won in 2002.

No cynicism here: Lerman does great work and deserves the award.

Photo by J.S. Rosenthal