On July 28, President Obama awarded the 2013 National Medal of Arts and the National Humanities Medal to distinguished recipients in the East Room.
Among the honorees was openly gay dance legend Bill T. Jones, who won a Tony Award for his choreography of Fela! Some of the other awardees included musician Linda Ronstadt, arts patron Joan Harris, director/CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles, literary critic M.H. Abrams, composer John Kander and writer Julia Alvarez.