Today, the U.S. Department of State and the Recording Academy® announced music icon, global philanthropist, and 10-time GRAMMY Award winner Dolly Parton as the 2024 recipient of the PEACE Through Music Award, which honors an American music industry professional, artist, or group that has played an invaluable role in cross-cultural exchanges and whose work advances peace and mutual understanding globally. Watch Parton's award acceptance video here .
Parton will be celebrated tonight at the GRAMMY Museum® in Los Angeles, at an event hosted by the Department and the Recording Academy® that also recognizes the first-ever cohort of the American Music Mentorship Program, which took place October 15-25 in Los Angeles.
An icon and force across the music industry, having reached audiences at home and abroad for generations, - with future generations to engage still - Parton embodies all that the PEACE Through Music Award represents: understanding, peace, inclusion, and unity. While her selection as this year's awardee is grounded in her music and public persona, Parton's commitment to serving others is unparalleled. Parton's Imagination Library, which provides underserved children the opportunity to learn through reading, stretches from the hills of Appalachia to the outback of Australia. She has been a champion of public health, most recently around the COVID-19 vaccine, which not only reached millions of Americans, but also people worldwide.
The PEACE Through Music Award is determined through a nomination process, with U.S. embassies from around the globe submitting nominations for consideration by a selection committee created jointly by the State Department and Recording Academy®. The selection committee is represented by Recording Academy® members, U.S. Department of State leadership, music industry professionals, and academia, and provides recommendations. The recommended honorees are approved by the CEO of the Recording Academy®, then presented to the Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, who makes the final determination.
The award is an important component of the State Department's Global Music Diplomacy Initiative, which was announced by Secretary Blinken in 2023, to elevate music as a diplomatic platform to bring people together and promote peace and democracy in support of broader U.S. foreign policy goals that expand access to education, economic opportunity and equity, and inclusion. Music icon Quincy Jones was the inaugural recipient of the PEACE Through Music Award in 2023.
