WASHINGTON, Jan. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- S&R Foundation, a non-profit organization supporting talented individuals with high aspirations in the arts, sciences and social entrepreneurship, today announced the winners of the 2019 S&R Washington Award –including one Grand Prize winner. The Washington Award is presented to talented emerging artists in select disciplines. The award is especially intended for emerging artists of great ability and potential, looking towards the next stages in their creative development. The five recipients will be honored at the S&R Washington Awards Ceremony in Washington, DC this spring. The 2019 Washington Award recipients are:

Reena Esmail, Composer (Grand Prize Winner)
Reena Esmail works between the worlds of Indian and Western classical music, to bring communities together through the creation of equitable musical spaces. Esmail holds degrees from The Juilliard School and the Yale School of Music.  Esmail is Artistic Director of Shastra, a non-profit organization that promotes cross-cultural music connecting musical traditions of India and the West. She is also Co-Composer in Residence with Street Symphony, working with homeless and incarcerated communities.

Lauren Edson, Choreographer
Originally from Boise, Idaho, Edson received her training at University of North Carolina School of the Arts and The Juilliard School, under the direction of the late Benjamin Harkarvy. She danced with Trey McIntyre Project for several years and has had the honor of performing the works of Pina Bausch, Maguy Marin, Angelin Preljocaj, Robert Battle, Johannes Wieland, and Alex Ketley, among others. In January 2015, Edson created LED with her husband, composer and musician, Andrew Stensaas.

Ani Liu, Interdisciplinary Artist
Ani Liu is a research-based artist working at the intersection of art & science. Her work has been presented internationally, examining reciprocal relationships between science, technology and their influence on culture and identity. She's been profiled on National Geographic, VICE, Mashable, Gizmodo, TED, FOX, and WIRED.  She's shown at Ars Electronica, Queens Museum Biennial, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Asian Art Museum, MIT Museum, Mana Contemporary, and Shenzhen Design Society. She is currently teaching at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Brittany Lasch, Trombonist
Trombonist Brittany Lasch currently serves as Assistant Professor of Trombone at Bowling Green State University in Ohio and as the Principal Trombone of the Michigan Opera Theatre Orchestra at the Detroit Opera House. She is a winner of the 2017 Astral Artists National Auditions. A passionate advocate of solo music, Brittany has performed with a variety of ensembles including the Bucks County Symphony Orchestra and The U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own."

Victoria Manganiello, Visual Artist
Victoria Manganiello is a mixed media artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Her work has been exhibited throughout the USA and internationally including at the Queens Museum, Tang Museum, and Museum of Art and Design. Victoria was named on Forbes 30 under 30 artists for 2019. She is a professor at NYU and Parson's. Exploring the intersections between materiality, technology, geography and storytelling, Victoria's installation work and abstract paintings are made meticulously by hand.

For more information and full biographies of the 2019 S&R Washington Award winners, visit www.SandRFoundation.org. Washington Award winners each receive a $5,000 prize to support their careers, while Grand Prize winners receive an additional $5,000.

SOURCE S&R Foundation

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