The Doris Duke Artist Award is undertaken by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and designed to "empower, invest in and celebrate artists by offering multi-year, unrestricted funding as a response to financial and funding challenges both unique to the performing arts and to each grantee".
[1] Started in 2011, the program supports artists in jazz, theatre, and contemporary dance.
The prize was $275,000 until it was doubled 2023 in commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of the program and Doris Duke Foundation's continued commitment to supporting individual performing artists.
[4] Two classes of Doris Duke Impact Awards totaling $80,000 were made in 2014 and 2015, but the program was discontinued after that.
An anonymous panel reviews all eligible artists and recommends a class of recipients every year.