Robert De Niro Sr., Inka Essenhigh and Will Ryman Artworks Donated to Tribeca Film Fest

The Chanel-sponsored Artists Awards Program of the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival has its first set of donating artists.

As part of the fest's annual program, works by Robert De Niro Sr., Inka Essenhigh, Stephen Hannock, Mark Innerst, Tom Otterness, Will Ryman, Clifford Ross, Taryn Simon and Nate Lowman will be awarded to the filmmakers who win jury prizes at the fest's awards ceremony April 28. More artists will be named in the coming weeks.

“When we started Tribeca we decided to award original artwork to the winning filmmakers in lieu of a trophy because we felt that one artist giving to another demonstrated the importance of artists supporting each other in their work,” said fest co-founder Jane Rosenthal. “We are so pleased to have these nine talented artists continue this tradition.”

The Tribeca fest runs April 20 to May 1, but the artwork will be publicly exhibited beforehand.