Meryl Streep, James Taylor Among Honorees of White House's National Humanities and Arts Medals

On Wednesday, President Obama will bestow the medals upon 20 American luminaries chosen to receive the U.S. government's highest honor given to artists.

Oscar winner Meryl Streep, music producer Quincy Jones, singer-songwriter James Taylor, To Kill a Mockingbird author Harper Lee and National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Oates are among this year's 20 recipients of the White House's 2010 National Humanities Medal and National Medal of Arts, it was announced Tuesday.

President Barack Obama is set to present the medals, which are the U.S. government's highest honors given to scholars and artists, on Wednesday at a White House ceremony in the East Room. First Lady Michelle Obama will also attend

In addition to Streep, Taylor and Jones, additional artists that will receive a National Medal of Arts include playwright Robert Brustein, poet Donald Hall and pianist Van Cliburn, among others.

Oates will accept a National Humanities Medal along with other celebrated luminaries, such as biographer Arnold Rampersad, cultural historian Jacques Barzun and novelist Wendell E. Berry, among others.

A complete list of honorees appears below.

2010 NATIONAL MEDAL OF ARTS

Robert Brustein

Van Cliburn

Mark di Suvero

Donald Hall

Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival

Quincy Jones

Harper Lee

Sonny Rollins

Meryl Streep

James Taylor

 

2010 NATIONAL HUMANITIES MEDAL

Daniel Aaron

Bernard Bailyn

Jacques Barzun

Wendell E. Berry

Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria

Stanley Nider Katz

Joyce Carol Oates

Arnold Rampersad

Philip Roth

Gordon Wood