KANSAS CITY, MO.- Julián Zugazagoitia, Director & CEO of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, has been inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The Academy, founded in 1780, is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States and is unique in the breadth of its members and scope of its work. Since its creation, it has gathered individuals with diverse perspectives to focus on both scholarly and policy issues. “I am humbled and excited to receive this extraordinary honor,” said Julián Zugazagoitia, Director & CEO of the Nelson-Atkins. “This moment is made even more meaningful because my nomination was made by two people I greatly respect and admire: Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation, and Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem. I worked with both when I was in New York and they have remained a constant source of inspiration, advice, and, above all, generous colleagues.”

The induction ceremony was held Saturday, Oct. 11 in Boston. The Academy honors excellence, convening leaders from every field of human endeavor to examine new ideas, address issues of importance to the nation and the world, and to work together, as expressed in its charter, “to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people.” Its work has helped set the direction of research and analysis in science and technology policy, global security and international affairs, social policy, education, the humanities, and the arts.

Zugazagoitia joins an impressive member list. Earliest members include John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington. Other distinguished notables are Ralph Waldo Emerson, Alexander Graham Bell, Jonas Salk, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Aaron Copland, Georgia O’Keefe, and Madeleine Albright. International Honorary Members include Charles Darwin, Winston Churchill, and Albert Einstein.

This year, many illustrious names were inducted in all fields, including A.G. Sulzberger , chairman and publisher of The New York Times Company, Alice L Walton, chair emeritus and founder of Crystal Bridges Museum of American art, Patricia E. Harris, CEO Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Ruben Blades, musician, singer, composer, and actor. Inducted into the same category as Zugazagoitia were Chef José Andres, founder and chief feeding officer, World Central Kitchen, Laurence des Cars, President/Director of the Musee du Louvre, and Joan Weinstein, Director of the Getty Foundation, among others.

Current members represent today’s innovative thinkers in every field and profession, including more than two hundred and fifty Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners. The Academy has also begun a very moving Legacy Recognition Program to address and reconcile its history regarding inequality, highlighting the contributions of scholars, researchers, writers, artists, business leaders, community leaders, and others whose past accomplishments may have been overlooked.

“The ceremony itself brought home the weight and importance of this honor,” said Zugazagoitia. “The realization struck that all of us sit on the shoulders of the many amazing mentors we each encountered on our paths. The Academy assembles active, passionate members who break the silos of their disciplines and encourage new ideas to advance the common good. I am inspired by the possibilities that working with members of the academy can do to advance the arts and humanities today and look forward to engaging with members of the arts as well as the sciences like our board member, and also member of the academy, Alejandro Sanchez Alvarado.”