11.13.2007 - 02:46pm ET

(CSRwire) NEW YORK, Nov. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- At a star-studded gala last night at Lincoln Center hosted by CEO Patrick Heiniger, Rolex announced the six master artists who will serve as mentors in the fourth cycle of its international philanthropic program, the Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative. The 2008-2009 mentors, spanning six disciplines and hailing from five countries, are: American filmmaker MARTIN SCORSESE; German artist REBECCA HORN; Senegalese musician YOUSSOU N'DOUR; Nigerian writer WOLE SOYINKA; American actress KATE VALK; and Czech choreographer JIRI KYLIAN.

More than 500 international cultural leaders and tastemakers gathered last night to celebrate the Arts Initiative, including: film directors Stephen Frears, Julie Taymor, Anthony Minghella, and Carlos Saura; actors Anna Deavere Smith, Aiden Quinn, Lynn Redgrave, Liam Neeson, and Owen Wilson; artists Alex Katz, John Baldessari, and Christo and Jeanne-Claude; opera legend Renee Fleming; Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka; choreographers William Forsythe and Trisha Brown; and designers Diane von Furstenberg and Kate Spade.

Launched in 2002, the Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative pairs established and emerging artists in film, visual arts, music, literature, theater, and dance for a year of intensive, one-on-one collaboration, and is unique in its international scope and direct investment in individual artists.

"We are delighted to have such outstanding creative talents join the growing international community of artists who have given their time and expertise through the Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative," said Mr. Heiniger. "Rolex is proud to support excellence in the arts worldwide, and we are honored that these six masters are partnering with us to nurture the next generation of great artists."

In the coming months, Scorsese, Horn, Soyinka, N'Dour, Valk, and Kylian will each choose a protege from a group of finalists identified by international panels of nominators. Once the 2008-2009 proteges are selected, each pair will spend one year working together in any way they choose, often engaging in extended dialogue, and sharing and refining their creative work.

2008-2009 ROLEX MENTORS

VISUAL ARTS: Rebecca Horn (Germany) is an internationally admired artist whose cross-disciplinary work incorporates performance, installation, drawing, sculpture, photography, video, and film. In 1968, Horn produced her first body sculptures -- a hybrid of performance and installation -- in which she attached objects and instruments to the human body exploring the relationship between a person and his or her environment. Horn is well known for her avant-garde performances and her more recent film and video work, which explores themes of nature, culture, and technology. Her work has been featured in retrospective exhibitions at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Tate Modern in London. She is a full-time professor at the Universitat der Kunste in Berlin.

DANCE: Jiri Kylian (Czech Republic) is an award-winning Czech choreographer who established his career as guest choreographer with Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) in 1973. During his long tenure with NDT, he created internationally recognized performances such as Symphony of Psalms (1978) and the large-scale production Arcimboldo (1995). He also founded NDT II (for young dancers) and NDT III (for senior dancers). Kylian stepped down as artistic director of NDT in 1999, yet continues to have significant artistic and developmental influence there. Kylian's accolades include selection as an officer in the Order van Oranje Nassau (1995), the Edinburgh Festival Critics' Award for NDT III's Tears of Laughter (1997), the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance (2000) and the Legion d'Honneur (2004).

MUSIC: Youssou N'Dour (Senegal) is an internationally celebrated composer, singer, and percussionist whose music focuses on world issues while staying close to his Senegalese roots. Blending the musical traditions of his native Africa with eclectic influences of Cuban samba, jazz, and hip-hop, N'Dour has collaborated with other renowned musicians such as Peter Gabriel, Sting, Paul Simon, and Tracy Chapman. A charismatic musician, N'Dour is also a humanitarian and advocate of children's rights, participating in the Amnesty International Human Rights Now! tour in 1988 and serving as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 1991. He has won numerous awards for his music, including the UNESCO International Music Prize (2004) and a Grammy (2005).

FILM: Martin Scorsese (U.S.) is one of the leading filmmakers of our time. Influenced by his childhood in New York's Little Italy, Scorsese achieved early acclaim for Mean Streets (1973); Taxi Driver (1976), winner of the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or; and Raging Bull (1980), which received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. Among his other celebrated films are The Last Temptation of Christ (1988); Goodfellas (1990); Gangs of New York (2002), winner of a Golden Globe for Best Director; the much-awarded The Aviator (2004); and The Departed (2006), which won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and top directing honors from the Director's Guild of America (DGA) and other organizations. Scorsese has received numerous accolades for his contributions to cinema, among them the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award in 1997 and the DGA's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. A champion of film preservation, he is the founder and chair of The Film Foundation. Scorsese's latest film, Shine a Light, a documentary about the Rolling Stones, will open in April 2008.

LITERATURE: Wole Soyinka (Nigeria) is a world-renowned playwright, poet, novelist, essayist, and humanitarian. Considered Nigeria's foremost dramatist, he was the first African to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1986, for his inspirational works that fuse Western and African traditions, literature, and politics. Soyinka, an outspoken critic of his country's past tyrannies, has spent long periods of his life in exile. His Poems from Prison (1969) and The Man Died: Prison Notes (1972) describe his 22 months in a Nigerian prison, and his most recent play, King Baabu (2001), satirizes African dictatorships. Following a long string of masterpieces written over a half-century is his latest memoir, You Must Set Forth at Dawn (2006), about his adult years and opposition to Nigeria's corrupt regimes. Professor emeritus of Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria, Soyinka is also currently director of literary arts at the University of Nevada, a fellow of Harvard's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, and a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.

THEATER: Kate Valk (U.S.) is one of the most accomplished American theater artists of her generation. As a founding member of the highly respected Wooster Group, Valk has co-composed and performed in all of the group's productions. In addition to her memorable and experimental roles on stage, including in Frank Dell's The Temptation of St. Antony (1987) and House/Lights (1999 and 2005), Valk has also appeared in films by Jonathan Demme, Peter Sellars, and Raoul Ruiz. She graduated from New York's Tisch School for the Arts and has been awarded numerous honors, including an OBIE Award for Sustained Excellence in Performance (1998), a Bessie Award for Best Performer (2002), and a Foundation for Contemporary Art Fellowship Award (2003).

ABOUT THE ARTS INITIATIVE

Since the launch of the Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative in 2002, 214 artists, leaders in the arts, and other cultural luminaries have participated in the program, including 54 advisors who have helped select mentors, and 123 nominators who are involved in the selection of potential proteges. Program participants contribute from across the globe, building a Rolex community of artists spanning more than 40 countries that grows in depth and scope with each mentoring cycle. Among the past mentors are such renowned artists as William Forsythe, Sir Peter Hall, David Hockney, Toni Morrison, Mira Nair, Jessye Norman, Alvaro Siza, Julie Taymor, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Robert Wilson.

Rolex makes a substantial financial investment in each of its proteges, as well as providing access to its global network of participants, support for travel and expenses during the mentorship, and funding to produce a new work -- a performance, exhibition, film, publication, or other piece inspired by the mentorship. Beyond each mentoring year, the program continues to have an impact on the Rolex Proteges as guidance from their mentors leads them in new directions, both creatively and professionally.

For more information on the Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative,
visit: www.rolexmentorprotege.com.

ROLEX AND THE ARTS

The Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative broadens Rolex's long tradition of supporting the arts worldwide. Rolex has developed close ties with many of today's greatest artists, including Cecilia Bartoli, Renee Fleming, Sylvie Guillem, and Yo-Yo Ma. These relationships have led to Rolex's sponsorship of international events such as Operalia, founded by Rolex ambassador Placido Domingo, and the Verbier Festival & Academy for top classical artists.

In addition to fostering the arts, Rolex continues its commitment to the pursuit of excellence through the Rolex Awards for Enterprise, established in 1976, which supports individuals who are advancing human knowledge and well-being. For each biennial series of the Awards, a total of five Laureates and five Associate Laureates are chosen in the fields of science and medicine; technology and innovation; exploration and discovery; the environment; and cultural heritage.

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