Yoko Ono will receive the Edward MacDowell Medal for Lifetime Achievement

NEW YORK — One of the country’s leading artist-in-residence programs, MacDowell, has awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award to Yoko Ono. The innovative artist, filmmaker and musician this year received the Edward MacDowell Medal, an honor previously bestowed on Stephen Sondheim and Toni Morrison, among others.

“There was never anyone like her; there has never been a job like hers,” MacDowell Board Chair Nell Painter said in a statement Sunday. “Over nearly seven decades, she has gratified the eyes, provoked thought, inspired feminists, and championed migrants through works of broad imagination. Enduringly fresh and pertinent, her exceptionally powerful work speaks to our own times, so desperately in need. of its leitmotiv: Peace.”

Ono’s son, Sean Ono Lennon, said in a statement that the medal was “an incredible honor.”

“The history and list of past recipients are truly remarkable. It makes me very proud to see his art appreciated and celebrated in this way,” he said.

Ono, 91, has made few public appearances in recent years and is not expected to attend the awards ceremony in July at the MacDowell campus in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Ono’s music manager, David Newgarden, will accept the award on his behalf.

Ono first became known as part of the Fluxus avant-garde movement of the 1960s, then achieved international fame after meeting John Lennon, to whom she was married from 1969 until his death in 1980. Their many collaborations included the songs “Give Peace a Chance”, “Imagine” and “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)”, the basis for “War Is Over! Inspired by John’s music & Yoko”, this year’s Oscar winner for best animated short.

Over the past 40 years, Ono has had a busy career as a visual and musical artist, her albums include “Season of Glass”, “Starpeace” and “Take Me to the Land of Hell”. She was recently the subject of a career retrospective at London’s Tate Modern.