The Distinguished Artist Awards 2022
Mayor Steven T. Noble and the Kingston Arts Commission are pleased to announce the 2022 City of Kingston Distinguished Artist Award will be presented to performance artist Jaguar Mary X.

Jaguar Mary X (they/them) is a performance artist, glossolalia vocalist, filmmaker, and hoop dancer. Their specific concerns, and the directives that have driven their art practice, engage black feminist discourse, questions of history, and ritual performance and practice in art. Jaguar Mary has shown and performed internationally at the Johannesburg and Havana Biennials, the New Museum, Museum of Modern Art, KARST Gallery in the UK and Dietch Projects in New York. In 2020, they were commissioned to make work for the Public Art Fund and the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation. They also received grants from the Jerome Foundation and the New York Foundation for the Arts. Jaguar Mary is a graduate of the Whitney Independent Study Program, has an MFA in Film and Video from California Institute for the Arts, and received a full scholarship from Pratt Institute and completed an MFA in Performance and Performance Studies in May 2019. Jaguar Mary X is a Kingston resident.
The panel for the 2022 Distinguished Artist Award was comprised of five Kingston residents: Dominick Hiddo, painter; Brian Mahoney, editor; Kai Navarette, visual artist; Sarah Reiter, writer/director; and Laura Victoria Ward, choreographer/dancer.
The Distinguished Artist Award ceremony, free and open to the public, will take place on Thursday, May 26 at 5:30pm in Council Chambers at City Hall. A reception immediately follows.
About the Distinguished Artist Award
The Distinguished Artist Award was established in 2018 through partnership with Mayor Steve Noble and the Kingston Arts Commission. The Distinguished Artist Award seeks to reward the achievements of local artists and creative thinkers.
Nominees for the Distinguished Artist Awards must have been a resident of Kingston for a minimum of two years. Nominees will have demonstrated a commitment to the local creative community. Awardees are selected by a panel of their peers, and are honored in a ceremony held at City Hall.
The Distinguished Artist Award was presented to artists Peter Wetzler and Julie Hedrick in 2018 and to musician Lara Hope in 2020.