Mr. William H. Luers is currently Chairman and President of the United Nations Association of the USA, a leading center of policy research. Prior to joining the UNA-USA, Mr. Luers served for 13 years as President of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Prior to that Mr. Luers had a distinguished 31-year career in the Foreign Service, serving as U.S. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia and Venezuela, and in numerous posts in Italy, Germany, the Soviet Union, and in the Department of State, where he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and for Inter-American Affairs.

As an international advisor to the Praemium Imperiale, Mr. Luers will appoint and preside over a committee of art specialists to research and prepare annual recommendations to the Japan Art Association for the Praemium Imperiale art awards. Mr. Luers joins several former heads of state and prominent businessmen on the JAA advisory panel: Umberto Agnelli, Raymond Barre, Sir Edward Heath, Yasuhiro Nakasone, and Dr. Richard von Weizsäcker. Jacques Chirac, David Rockefeller, Helmut Schmidt, and David Rockefeller, Jr. are honorary advisors.

The Praemium Imperiale is a group of awards presented annually since 1989 by the Japan Art Association in recognition of the highest achievements in the arts. The 2001 laureates,

Painting: Lee Ufan
Sculpture: Marta Pan
Architecture: Jean Nouvel
Music: Ornette Coleman
Theatre/Film: Arthur Miller

join a roster of 61 artists awarded since the prizes began in 1989. Laureates include David Hockney, Willem de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Anthony Caro, Frank Gehry, Renzo Piano, Leonard Bernstein, Mstislav Rostropovich, Ravi Shankar, Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, Peter Brook.

For further information:
www.praemiumimperiale.org
The Japan Art Association, Tokyo
tel:(81 3) 5251 2245
fax(81 3) 5251 2247

Soyo Graham Stuart, Paris
tel: (33 1) 4265 2399
fax: (33 1) 4266 1357

Sandie Barker, London, sba@dial.pipex.com
tel: (4420) 7586 4604
fax(4420) 7722 8761

Astrid Lilja, Berlin
tel:(49 30) 893 2293
fax: (49 30) 893 2293

Francesca Martinotti, Rome, info@lagenzia.it
tel: (39 06) 8069 2424
fax: (39 06) 8066 9906

Lloyd Kaplan, New York
tel: (1-212) 575 4545
fax: (1-212)575 0519