Making Waves Award

2017-18

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is an American environmental attorney, author and activist. Kennedy serves as president of the board of Waterkeeper Alliance, a non-profit environmental group that he helped found in 1999. His books include “American Values, Lessons I Learned From My Family,” “Crimes Against Nature,” and “The Riverkeepers.”

2016-17

Melissa Manchester's extraordinary career began when the native New Yorker signed her first publishing deal at 17. Soon she was backing up Bette Midler as a founding member of the Harlettes, and also studied songwriting with Paul Simon at New York University. Following the stint with Midler, Manchester's solo career earned critical praise and commercial success. Manchester's recording, "Don't Cry Out Loud," delivered her first Grammy nomination for Best Pop Female Vocal Performance in 1979, and she won the award in the same category four years later for "You Should Hear How She Talks About You." Two of her songs, "Through the Eyes of Love" and "The Promise," were nominated for Academy Awards in the same year. Today, Manchester teaches music to students at the University of Southern California.

2015-16

Hal Linden is an actor, singer and musician whose career has spanned more than 65 years with memorable roles on stage, television, in film and a cabaret-style variety show that he tours nationally. Linden is perhaps best known for his role in "Barney Miller," where he portrayed the police precinct captain in the hit television series that aired on ABC from 1975-1982, earning multiple Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for his work.

2014-15

Elisabeth von Trapp, granddaughter of the legendary Maria and Baron von Trapp of "Sound of Music" fame, was born and raised in Vermont and has been singing professionally since childhood, enthralling audiences from European cathedrals to Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Inspired by her father Werner von Trapp's guitar-playing and singing, the young von Trapp has carried on the legacy of the internationally renowned von Trapp family singers while creating her own artistic style. Critics have called her voice "hauntingly clear," "joyfully expressive" and "simply beautiful." Her concert repertoire includes Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Favorite Things" and "Edelweiss," Mozart's "Lieder," Puccini's "O Mio Babbino Caro," and pop classics like "A Whiter Shade of Pale," along with her own compositions.

2013-14

In a career spanning more than 40 years, André De Shields has distinguished himself as an unparalleled actor, director, choreographer and educator. He is the recipient of the 2009 National Black Theatre Festival Living Legend Award and the 2009 AUDELCO Award for Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actor in a Musical (Male). In 1975, De Shields was cast in the title role of "The Wiz." Additional Broadway credits include "Ain't Misbehavin," "The Full Monty," "Play On," and "Prymate." His film and television credits include "Extreme Measures," "Sex And The City," "Cosby," and more. He also served as adjunct and distinguished visiting professor at NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where he taught Shakespeare and designed an Interdisciplinary Arts Workshop.

2012-13

Charles Strouse is a three–time Tony Award winner ("Annie," "Applause," "Bye Bye Birdie"), a two–time Emmy Award winner, and his cast recordings have earned him two Grammy Awards. He has been inducted to the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Theatre Hall of Fame. His song "Those Were the Days" launched over 200 episodes of "All in the Family" and continues to reach new generations of television audiences in syndication. "Annie" opens on Broadway this fall, with previews starting in October, and Strouse is actively involved with the creative team in the production.