Liberty Hill Foundation’s annual Upton Sinclair Dinner celebrates and honors community leaders at the frontlines of change in Los Angeles and beyond. This year’s recipient of the namesake Upton Sinclair Award is noted Producer-Director-Writer Paris Barclay.
The 2012 fundraising gala takes place on May 9 at the Beverly Hilton. Liberty Hill expects more than 600 friends, supporters, and allies to join in celebration of Paris and their other 2012 honorees. All proceeds will support Liberty Hill’s mission of change, not charity. Through grant funds and training programs, Liberty Hill strengthens leaders and organizations in communities of color. The goal is to change hearts and minds, win concrete change, and advance equality for all.
The Upton Sinclair award is given annually to a person whose life-long crusade for equality and justice inspires us today. This year’s recipient, Paris Barclay, has made a lasting contribution to our nation’s political and social landscape through stage and screen work that demonstrates his commitment not only to artistic excellence but also to human rights. Best known as an Emmy, DGA, Peabody, Humanitas and NAACP award-winning television producer and director, and as a labor leader in his role as the First Vice President of the Directors Guild of America, Paris has been a pioneer and a mentor throughout his career. His groundbreaking Black & White music video production company nurtured people of color behind the camera, and as a philanthropic activist he has served on the boards of the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center, Project Angel Food, the Advisory Board for the Carsey-Wolf Center at UC Santa Barbara, and as a Trustee for the Humanitas Prize. Among his upcoming projects is directing the story of civil rights leader Barbara Jordan, starring Viola Davis.
Paris Barclay will receive the Upton Sinclair Award at the Liberty Hill Dinner.
Paris’ award will be given to him by Dustin Lance Black a noted screenwriter, director, film and television producer, and LGBT rights activist. Black has won two Writers Guild of America Awards for his work on the television series “Big Love,” and an Academy Award for the 2008 film Milk. Black is a Founding Board Member of the American Foundation for Equal Rights and writer of 8, a staged reenactment of the federal trial that led to an appellate court’s overturn of California’s Proposition 8.
The recipient of the Founders Award, given for unwavering philanthropic support of social justice issues, will be Wendy Chang, the Director of the Dwight Stuart Youth Fund, a Liberty Hill Board of Directors member, and an entrepreneur, investor, and giving-circle participant. Wendy has been a leader in Los Angeles philanthropy for more than 20 years, supporting social justice through her inspiring vision of “ensuring equity, promoting community leadership, valuing diversity and breaking down barriers through collective action.”
Manuel Pastor, the Professor of Geography and American Studies & Ethnicity at USC, the Director of USC’s Program for Environmental and Regional Equity, and the Co-director of USC’s Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration will receive the Wally Marks Changemaker Award for his recent trailblazing work on the economic, environmental and social conditions facing low-income urban communities.
For information on event sponsorship and tickets please visit www.libertyhill.org/dinner or call Danny Fisk at 323-556-7208.