The annual Hermitage Greenfield Prize Dinner in April honored visual artist Charisse Pearlina Weston and raised $400,000 in support of the Hermitage’s mission.
Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg served as master of ceremonies with co-chairs Ellen and Richard Sandor, who also announced a commitment of $250,000 to underwrite the “Sandor Residency at the Hermitage.”
As this year’s HGP recipient, Weston receives a $35,000 commission, along with an extended residency at the Hermitage Artist Retreat. Sandberg announced that Weston will also receive a world premiere in 2028 at The Ringling Museum of Art, presented in collaboration with the Hermitage.
The event included performances from Tony Award-nominated Broadway star Will Swenson, accompanied by pianist Joseph Holt; original songs performed by Hermitage Fellow and 2024 Hermitage Greenfield Prize-finalist Britton Smith, accompanied by AJ Jagannath; and a performance of hit song “Golden,” written by Academy Award-winning Hermitage Fellow Mark Sonnenblick and sung by Maicy Powell.
Co-founder of ARTNOIR and 2026 HGP juror Larry Ossei-Mensah described Weston’s singular artistic style as having “rigor, curiosity, and imagination.”
“I didn’t quite realize what I was walking into this weekend, but I can honestly say that I have never felt so welcomed,” said Weston. “Thank you to the Greenfield Foundation, Andy and the Hermitage team, this wonderful community, and all of you. It is an amazing honor to be here.”
“This was a truly remarkable evening and a joyful celebration of visual art and this incredible prize,” Sandberg said. “It was an honor to celebrate Charisse Pearlina Weston, and we can’t wait to introduce her original commission to our Gulf Coast community. It was thrilling to hear unforgettable live performances from Will Swenson and original songs by Britton Smith, along with inspiring performances from AJ Jagannath, Maicy Powell, Joe Holt, and more.”
The Hermitage Greenfield Prize is presented in partnership with the Philadelphia-based Greenfield Foundation, which launched the initiative with the Hermitage in 2009. The Community Foundation of Sarasota County once again served as the lead community sponsor for this year’s festivities.
Weston will create a new body of work examining specters of desire, control, and recognition through the phenomenon of so-called “zombie laws” – legal statutes that persist beyond their supposed obsolescence. The project draws on Zora Neale Hurston’s ethnographic writing on zombies in Haiti, where the zombie emerges not as spectacle, but as a social figure shaped by unmet desires for recognition, care, and belonging.
Past winners of the Greenfield Prize include Rucyl Mills, composer/sound artist (2025); Deepa Purohit, playwright (2024); Rennie Harris, choreographer (2023), Sandy Rodriguez, visual artist (2023), Angélica Negrón, composer (2022); Aleshea Harris, playwright (2021); Helga Davis, composer (2019); Martyna Majok, playwright (2018); David Burnett, photojournalist (2017); Coco Fusco, visual artist (2016); Bobby Previte, composer (2015); Nilo Cruz, playwright (2014); Trenton Doyle Hancock, visual artist (2013); Vijay Iyer, composer (2012); John Guare, playwright (2011); Sanford Biggers, visual artist (2010); Craig Lucas, playwright (2009); and Eve Beglarian, composer (2009).
To learn more about the Hermitage or to register for upcoming Hermitage programs, visit HermitageArtistRetreat.org.
Submitted by Candi Adams
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Hermitage gala honoring Greenfield Prize winner raises $400,000
Reporting by Special to the Herald-Tribune, Sarasota Herald-Tribune / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
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