The Medal will be presented to Miuccia Prada on Wednesday, May 26th at the 6th annual McKim Medal Gala at the Villa Aurelia of the American Academy in Rome. © Guido Harari.

ROME.- The American Academy in Rome announced that Miuccia Prada is the 2010 McKim Medal Laureate. The award is in recognition of Ms. Prada’s exceptional achievements in fashion and business, as well as for her contributions to the visual arts as co-founder of the Fondazione Prada.

The Medal will be presented to Miuccia Prada on Wednesday, May 26th at the 6th annual McKim Medal Gala at the Villa Aurelia of the American Academy in Rome. Proceeds from gala support fellowships that provide both Italian and American winners with important opportunities to pursue their individual studies and engage in an international dialogue of scholarship and the arts. Funds raised by the event allow Italian artists to join the Academy community each year, and support an exchange program for scholars in the humanities that links the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa with the American Academy in Rome.

Carmela Vircillo Franklin, Director of the American Academy in Rome stated, “Miuccia Prada has achieved worldwide recognition for her inimitable vision, constant innovation, and exceptional contributions to fashion and the arts. Together with her husband, Patrizio Bertelli, she created the Fondazione Prada, which has gained respect as a top international not-for-profit for contemporary art. We are honored to have her as the sixth McKim Medal laureate, joining our efforts to foster artistic and scholarly pursuits, and continuing the international dialogue that the American Academy in Rome and its supporters aim to cultivate and sustain.”

Robert Storr, Dean of the School of Art at Yale University and Trustee of the American Academy in Rome, will present the Medal. A leading figure in the art world, Mr. Storr has been awarded the medal of Chevalier des arts et des lettres by the French Ministry of Culture and was named Director of the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007, becoming the first American to hold that distinction.

The McKim Medal was established by the Trustees of the American Academy in Rome in 2005 as an annual prize that honors an individual whose work internationally – most particularly in Italy and the United States- has contributed significantly to the arts and humanities. Named for Charles Follen McKim (1847 1909), noted architect who established the Academy in 1894, the Medal recognizes an individual whose work and life exemplify creative and intellectual exchange across the arts, scholarship, language, and culture. Previous McKim Medal laureates include Renzo Piano, Cy Twombly, Umberto Eco, Franco Zeffirelli, and Ennio Morricone.