After 48 years in Congress, many of them as a white knight ridingto the rescue of the National Endowment for the Arts, Rep. Sidney R.Yates (D-Ill.) is calling it quits. Which is as good a reason as anyto give the outgoing legislator a lifetime achievement award.
Yates, 89, will be honored at 7:30 p.m. Friday during the 12thedition of the annual banquet named after him, the Sidney R. YatesArts Advocacy Awards, founded in 1986.
Sponsored by the Illinois Arts Alliance Foundation, the ArtsAdvocacy awards honor people who make a difference in the local artsscene. Besides Yates, honorees this year are Lois Weisberg,commissioner of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs; painterHollis Sigler, and the Chicago Community Trust.Jonathan Yates, grandson of the guest of honor, will play apiano piece accompanied by violinist Anthea Kreston and cellistElaine Kreston. Also performing will be the Brazilian guitar trioMestizo and blues musician Jimmy Burns with Rockin' Johnny and theLazy Boys.A member of the House Appropriations Committee, Yates has beenCongress' leading defender of the NEA, successfully helping topreserve its funding. The agency comes under frequent attack fromlegislators objecting to controversial projects or artists thatreceive NEA support.Local organizations as large as the Art Institute of Chicago andas small as MERIT Music have received NEA grants.Yates was first elected to Congress when Harry Truman waspresident and has spent more than two decades on the powerfulAppropriations interior subcommittee.The black-tie fete will be held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, 160E. Pearson, with Chicago actor John Mahoney (of NBC's "Frasier")serving as master of ceremonies.Single tickets are $200. To order, call (312) 855-3105.
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