The Queen Sofía Spanish Institute is an organization in

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, founded with the aim of promoting the

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

of Spanish speaking countries and to foster their relations with the

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. It is located at the Oliver D. Filley House on the

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History

On May 18, 1954, the institute was incorporated as a

non-political Apoliticism is apathy or antipathy towards all political affiliations. A person may be described as apolitical if they are uninterested or uninvolved in politics. Being apolitical can also refer to situations in which people take an Bias, unbias ...

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

under the laws of the State of New York. In 1965, the philanthropist Margaret Rockefeller Strong, saved the landmark building 684 Park Avenue from destruction. With her support and funding from McMicking Foundation, the institute made this building its headquarters. The institute was renamed in 2003, to recognize Queen Sofía of Spain as its patroness. In 2014, the building was sold. The institute cosponsors lectures, educational programs and other culturally relevant activities. In 2018, the Institute formed a partnership with the Hispanic Society to provide a Maps and Globes educational program in New York City Public Schools of District 6. Other partners of the Institute include the

Instituto Cervantes Instituto Cervantes (, the Cervantes Institute) is a worldwide nonprofit organization created by the Spanish government in 1991. It is named after Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616), the author of ''Don Quixote'' and perhaps the most important fi ...

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

Juilliard The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became the Juilliard School, named aft ...

, the Spanish Consulate and the

Americas Society The Americas Society is an organization dedicated to education, debate, and dialogue on the Americas. It is located at Percy R. Pyne House, 680 Park Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and was established by David Rockefeller in 1965. ...

Background

Queen Sofía Spanish Institute, Inc. (the “Institute”) is a non-profit corporation founded in 1954 to stimulate American's interest in the Art, Culture, Customs, language, literature and history of the Spanish speaking world and to promote, among the Spanish-speaking peoples of the world; knowledge and understanding of ideals, culture and customs of the people of the United States, to the end that ties of friendship may be formed, mutual understanding promoted, and bonds of peace strengthened.

Cultural events

The Institute holds a wide variety of artistic endeavors, including the co-sponsoring of exhibitions and lectures on important artistic movements, artistes and their works. Along with visual arts; the institute strives to support performance art as well, including concerts, performances, and lectures on the relevance of this art in today's society. The institute also holds gastronomy events in order to enrich American's knowledge of foods of the Spanish-speaking world and to bring people together. The Institute holds a bi-annual translation prize to recognize translators who have successfully translated a work from Spanish to English and helped to make knowledge accessible including historical and educational lectures in order to enrich American's understanding and knowledge of the Spanish-Speaking World.

Awards organized

Gala Gold Medalists

Beginning in 1978, The Queen Sofía Spanish Institute's Gold Medal was annually awarded to Americans and Hispanic people in recognition of their contributions to the betterment of relations between the United States and the Spanish Speaking World. This event brought together an array of international and American leaders and benefactors for a festive night of celebration. The Gala was a major source of funds for the activities of the institute. In 2003, to mark the 50th Anniversary of the institute, the 50th Anniversary Commemorative Medal was awarded to His Majesty

King Juan Carlos I Juan Carlos I (; Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 November 1975 until his abdication on 19 June 2014. In Sp ...

and Her Majesty

Queen Sofia of Spain Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

. The Institute no longer holds a Gold Medal Gala. The recipients of the Gold Medal were: * 1978 -

Henry Ford II Henry Ford II (September 4, 1917 – September 29, 1987), commonly known as Hank the Deuce, was an American businessman in the automotive industry. He was the oldest son of Edsel Ford I and oldest grandson of Henry Ford. He served as president ...

Andrés Segovia Andrés Segovia Torres, 1st Marquis of Salobreña (21 February 1893 – 2 June 1987), was a Spanish virtuoso classical guitarist. Many professional classical guitarists were either students of Segovia or students of Segovia's students. Segovia ...

* 1979 - George S. Moore,

Carlos Romero Barceló Carlos Antonio Romero Barceló (September 4, 1932 – May 2, 2021) was a Puerto Rican politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 1977 to 1985. He was the second governor to be elected from the New Progressive Party (PNP). He als ...

* 1980 -

Alicia de Larrocha Alicia de Larrocha y de la Calle (23 May 192325 September 2009) was a Spanish pianist and composer. She was considered one of the great piano legends of the 20th century. Reuters called her "the greatest Spanish pianist in history", ''Time'' " ...

James A. Michener James Albert Michener ( or ; February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997) was an American writer. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations, set in particular geographic locales ...

* 1981 -

Plácido Domingo José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French, ...

, Margaret Rockefeller de Larraín * 1982 - Ramón Castroviejo,

John Davis Lodge John Davis Lodge (October 20, 1903 – October 29, 1985) was an American film actor, lawyer, politician, and diplomat. He was the 79th governor of Connecticut from 1951 to 1955, and later served as U.S. ambassador to Spain, Argentina, and Swit ...

Severo Ochoa Severo Ochoa de Albornoz (; 24 September 1905 – 1 November 1993) was a Spanish physician and biochemist, and winner of the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine together with Arthur Kornberg for their discovery of "the mechanisms in the ...

* 1983 -

Juan Antonio Samaranch Juan Antonio Samaranch y Torelló, 1st Marquess of Samaranch ( Catalan: ''Joan Antoni Samaranch i Torelló'', ; 17 July 1920 – 21 April 2010) was a Spanish sports administrator under the Franco regime (1973–1977) who served as the seventh ...

, Roger B. Smith * 1984 -

Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona (Juan Carlos Teresa Silverio Alfonso de Borbón y Battenberg; 20 June 1913 – 1 April 1993), was a claimant to the Spanish throne as Juan III. He was the third son and designated heir of King Alfonso XIII o ...

* 1985 -

Victoria de los Ángeles Victoria de los Ángeles López García (1 November 192315 January 2005) was a Spanish operatic lyric soprano and recitalist whose career began after the Second World War and reached its height in the years from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s. ...

John Brademas Stephen John Brademas Jr. (March 2, 1927 – July 11, 2016) was an American politician and educator originally from Indiana. He served as Majority Whip of the United States House of Representatives for the Democratic Party from 1977 to 1981 a ...

* 1986 -

Jaime de Piniés Jaime de Piniés (18 November 1917 – 29 December 2003) was a Spanish diplomat who served for one year as the President of the United Nations General Assembly The president of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted by repr ...

, Robert Goizueta * 1987 -

Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz Infanta Pilar of Spain, Duchess of Badajoz and Viscountess of La Torre (Spanish language, Spanish: ''María del Pilar Alfonsa Juana Victoria Luisa Ignacia y Todos los Santos de Borbón y Borbón''; 30 July 1936 – 8 January 2020), sometimes kn ...

and Luis Gómez-Acebo, Duke of Badajoz, Carroll and Milton Petrie * 1988 - Angier Biddle Duke, Juan Luis Cebrián * 1989 - María Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat,

José Carreras Josep Maria Carreras Coll (; born 5 December 1946), better known as José Carreras (, ), is a Catalan operatic tenor from Spain who is particularly known for his performances in the operas of Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini. Born in Barcelona, ...

* 1990 -

Javier Pérez de Cuéllar Javier Felipe Ricardo Pérez de Cuéllar de la Guerra ( , ; 19 January 1920 – 4 March 2020) was a Peruvian diplomat and politician who served as the fifth secretary-general of the United Nations from 1982 to 1991. He later served as prime min ...

* 1991 - D. Wayne Calloway, Javier Godó * 1992 -

Paloma O'Shea Paloma O'Shea Artiñano, 1st Marchioness of O'Shea (born 19 February 1936) is a Spanish piano, pianist, Patronage, patron of the arts, founder and current president of the Reina Sofía School of Music, and founder and president of the Albéniz F ...

, Philippe de Montebello * 1993 -

Pasqual Maragall Pasqual Maragall Mira (; born 13 January 1941) is a Spanish retired politician and former President of Generalitat de Catalunya. He had previously been Mayor of Barcelona, from 1982 to 1997, and helped run the city's successful Olympic bid. ...

Oscar de la Renta Óscar Arístides Renta Fiallo (22 July 1932 – 20 October 2014), known professionally as Oscar de la Renta, was a Dominican fashion designer. Born in Santo Domingo, he was trained by Cristóbal Balenciaga and Antonio del Castillo. De la Renta ...

* 1994 -

Montserrat Caballé María de Montserrat Bibiana Concepción Caballé i Folch or Folc (12 April 1933 – 6 October 2018), also known as Montserrat Caballé (i Folch), was a Spanish operatic soprano from Catalonia. Widely considered to be one of the best sopranos ...

, Antonio Garrigues Diáz-Cañabate, Eric M. Javits * 1995 - John McGillicuddy, Ignacio Gómez-Acebo * 1996 - Martha T. Muse, John Richardson, Emilio de Ybarra y Churruca * 1997 - John Elliott,

Carolina Herrera Carolina Herrera (born María Carolina Josefina Pacanins y Niño, 8 January 1939) is a Venezuelan Americans, Venezuelan American fashion designer. Known for her personal style, she founded her namesake brand in 1980. Herrera has designed for va ...

* 1998 - Valentín Fuster,

Javier Solana Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga CYC (; born 14 July 1942) is a Spanish physicist and PSOE politician. After serving in the Spanish government as Foreign Affairs Minister under Felipe González (1992–1995) and as the Secretary Gener ...

, William C. Steere, Jr. * 1999 - Charles A. Heimbold Jr., Robert Mosbacher, Mariano Puig * 2000 - Felipe de Borbón Prince of Asturias * 2001 - Plácido Arango,

Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani ( , ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and Disbarment, disbarred lawyer who served as the 107th mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney ...

, Dave H. and Reba White Williams * 2002 - Evelyn Lauder, Jesús de Polanco, Leopoldo Rodés * 2003 - Fernando Aleu * 2004 -

Richard Meier Richard Meier (born October 12, 1934) is an American abstract artist and architect, whose geometric designs make prominent use of the color white. A winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1984, Meier has designed several iconic buildings ...

Santiago Calatrava Santiago Calatrava Valls (born 28 July 1951) is a Spaniards, Spanish-Swiss people, Swiss architect, structural engineer, sculptor and painter, particularly known for his bridges supported by single leaning pylons, and his railway stations, stad ...

* 2005 -

Julio Iglesias Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva (; born 23 September 1943) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. Iglesias is recognized as the most commercially successful Spanish singer in the world and one of the top List of best-selling music artists, reco ...

Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th National Security Advisor (United States), natio ...

, Beatrice Santo Domingo * 2006 -

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman and politician. He is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., and was its CEO from 1981 to 2001 and again from 2014 to 2023. He served as the 108th mayo ...

, Mercedes Junco Calderón and (son) Eduardo Sánchez Junco,

Mario Vargas Llosa Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa (28 March 1936 – 13 April 2025) was a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist and politician. Vargas Llosa was one of the most significant Latin American novelists and essayists a ...

* 2007 - President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

Penélope Cruz Penélope Cruz Sánchez (born 28 April 1974) is a Spanish actress. Prolific in Spanish and English-language films, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, a David di Donatello and three Goya Awards. Cru ...

* 2008 -

Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba María del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva, 18th Duchess of Alba Grandee, GE (28 March 1926 – 20 November 2014) was one of the most senior aristocrats in Spain, as well as the most titled aristocrat in the world, a record now held ...

, Mercedes T. Bass, José Esteve, José Fanjul * 2009 - no medals awarded * 2010 -

Isak Andic Isak Andic Ermay (; 1 October 1953 – 14 December 2024) was a Turkish-Spanish businessman. In 1984, he and his brother Nahman founded clothing retailer Mango (retailer), Mango. As Mango's largest shareholder, Andic was worth an estimated US$4. ...

, José Baselga,

Diane von Fürstenberg Diane von Fürstenberg (born Diane Simone Michele Halfin; 31 December 1946) is a Belgian fashion designer best known for her wrap dress. She initially rose to prominence in 1969 when she married into the German princely House of Fürstenberg ...

, Joan Massagué, 2010 National Soccer Team of Spain * 2011 -

Ferran Adrià Fernando Adrià Acosta (; born 14 May 1962) is a Spanish chef. He was the head chef of the El Bulli restaurant in Roses, Girona, Roses on the Costa Brava and is considered one of the best chefs in the world. He has often collaborated with his b ...

Javier Bardem Javier Ángel Encinas Bardem (born 1 March 1969) is a Spanish actor. In a career spanning over three decades, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, tw ...

, Kenneth Chenault,

Mario Testino Mario Eduardo Testino Silva Order of the British Empire, OBE Royal Photographic Society#Distinctions and qualifications, HonFRPS (born 30 October 1954) is a Peruvian fashion and portrait photographer. His work has featured internationally in ...

* 2012 -

Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank (born 1 June 1935) is an English architect. Closely associated with the development of high-tech architecture, Lord Foster is recognised as a key figure in British modernist architecture. Hi ...

and Elena Ochoa, Lady Foster, Luis A. Ubiñas, Gonzalo Ulloa * 2013 -

Hillary Rodham Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

Antonio Banderas José Antonio Domínguez Bandera (born 10 August 1960), known professionally as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish actor. Known for his work in films of several genres, he has received numerous accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award ...

Sophia Award for Excellence

The institute holds an annual ceremony to present the "Sophia Award for Excellence". This award pays tribute to a person or an organization that has actively contributed to the international appreciation of Spain and the Americas through a donation of time, expertise and wisdom in the areas of science, arts or the humanities. The president and CEO is David Askren and the executive director, since September, 2017 is Patrice Degnan Erquicia.

Translation Prize

With the aim of elevating awareness of Spanish literature in the United States, a triennial $10,000 prize was created by the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute to honor the best English-language translation of a work by a Spanish author. The inaugural award, celebrating the best translation published between 2006 and 2008, was given in 2010 to

Edith Grossman Edith Marion Grossman (née Dorph; March 22, 1936 – September 4, 2023) was an American literary translator. Known for her work translating Latin American literature, Latin American and Spanish literature to English, she translated the works o ...

for her 2008 translation of Antonio Muñoz Molina's ''A Manuscript of Ashes''.

References

External links

Queen Sofía Spanish Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Queen Sofia Spanish Institute Cultural promotion organizations Language education in the United States Park Avenue Culture of Spain Upper East Side Translation awards Translation award winners Language-related awards Language advocacy organizations Spanish-American culture in New York City Spanish language in the United States