Maya Lin, Renee Fleming, Elba couple to get Crystal awards at WEF

New Delhi/Geneva, Jan 9 (PTI) Artist Maya Lin, acclaimed soprano Renee Fleming and actors Idris Elba and Sabrina Dhowre Elba will be the recipients of the Annual Crystal Award for 2023, the World Economic Forum announced on Monday.

The awards would be given during the opening session of the WEF Annual Meeting 2023 beginning on January 16 in the Swiss ski resort town of Davos.

These awards celebrate the achievements of leading artists who are bridge-builders and role models for all leaders of society, the WEF said in a statement.

The award is presented at Davos each year by Hilde Schwab, Chairwoman and Co-Founder of the WEF's World Arts Forum.

Lin will get the award for "her extraordinary creative talent in combining science, art and architecture and her exemplary leadership in the promotion of nature and environment".

Fleming will receive the award for "her leadership in championing the power of music and its relation to health, community and culture," said WEF, the Geneva-based international organisation for public-private cooperation.

She is one of the most acclaimed sopranos and a leading advocate for research at the intersection of arts, health and neuroscience.

She launched the first ongoing collaboration between the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) with the participation of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

The Sound Health initiative explores and brings attention to research and practice at the intersection of music, health and neuroscience.

Fleming has presented her programme, Music and the Mind, around the world.

Idris Elba and Sabrina Dhowre Elba will receive the award for their leadership in addressing food security, climate change and environmental conservation, the WEF said.

Actor, filmmaker and humanitarian, Idris Elba, and his wife, the model, actress and humanitarian, Sabrina Dhowre Elba, were appointed UN Goodwill Ambassadors for IFAD in April 2020.

As IFAD Goodwill Ambassadors, they focus on issues related to food security, climate change and environmental conservation.

The couple recently visited an IFAD-supported project in Sierra Leone, where they met farmers who received support for rice production and assistance with rural finance after the Ebola crisis.

They are also board members of Conservation International.

The five-day annual meeting of the WEF will bring together governments, international organisations, business, civil society, cultural leaders, media, experts and young leaders from all over the world. PTI BJ HVA