Congratulations to CCA Graduate Program in Fine Arts alum George Pfau, who was just awarded The American Austrian Foundation’s Daisy Soros Prize for Fine Arts. The nonprofit, nongovernmental organization “seeks to bridge the knowledge gap by providing qualified individuals with fellowships to pursue postgraduate education in medicine, media, and culture.”

No one's happier about the recognition than the artist himself: "I feel incredibly lucky to have earned an MFA at CCA, while building relationships with the fantastic community of peers, professors, and administrators."

Pfau joins the ranks of recent Daisy Soros Prize for Fine Arts awardees who collectively represent such reputable art institutions as Columbia University School of the Arts, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Rhode Island School of Design, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Yale University School of Art, to name just a few.

The Daisy Soros Prize for Fine Arts, an annual award formerly called the Hayward Prize, offers fine arts graduate students in the United States an opportunity to study at the International Summer Academy of Fine Arts in Salzburg, Austria.

The academy was founded by world-famous Viennese painter Oskar Kokoschka in 1953. It offers work sites at the famous Hohensalzburg Fortress, which at a youthful 900 years old, is boasted as the “biggest and most fully preserved fortification in Europe,” and at the Old Salt Factory on Perner Insel (Perner Island) on the Salzach River, which was used for salt production up until 1989, after which it was declared a landmark and partially allocated for artistic productions used by the Salzburg Festival.

Typically up to three Soros Prize fellows are selected each year, but 2010 “boasted a record number of applicants for this fellowship,” and five winners were selected by the jury, composed of artists or arts professionals, or both, who met in May in Vienna. This year’s jury was chaired by Hildegund Amanshauser, director of the International Summer Academy of Fine Arts, and included representatives from the MUMOK (Museum of Modern Art) Vienna (the largest Austrian museum for international modern and contemporary art), departure Vienna, and the Friends of the Secession Vienna.

Eligible awardees are required to have completed their studies within two years of the time of application. The program provides fine arts graduates with an international experience, one that is steeped in cultural tradition. Awardees have the opportunity to study with well-known and distinguished international artists from around the world such as Rona Pondick, Xenia Hausne, and the Zhou Brothers.

Next up for Pfau is the Wassaic Project in upstate New York, where he'll be an artist in residence for two months before heading off to Salzburg.

About The American Austrian Foundation
In 1984, a group of Americans and Austrians interested in fostering closer relations between the United States and Austria established The American Austrian Foundation (AAF). The AAF has grown from a bilateral initiative to a multilateral, international institution partnering with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), governments and individuals, directed by committed board members in the United Sates and Austria.

The AAF's fellowship programs, initially offered to Americans and Austrians, now include participants from more than 100 countries worldwide. The AAF conducts its own programs and oversees joint programs with American, Austrian and international organizations.

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