Did You Know … - CalArts/Alpert Award in the Arts recipients director-actor-playwright Brian Freeman and dancer-choreographer Ralph Lemon

... Two of this year's recipients of the CalArts/Alpert Award in the Arts are director-actor-playwright Brian Freeman and dancer-choreographer Ralph Lemon? Currently a directing resident at the New York Public Theater, Freeman's two most recent plays are A Slight Variance and Civil Sex. From 1991 to 1995, he worked with Pomo Afro Homos. Lemon founded the Ralph Lemon Company in 1985 and served as its artistic director until 1995. In 1997 he began work on Geography, Part 1: Africa.

Administered jointly by CalArts and the Herb Alpert Foundation in Santa Monica, Calif., the awards recognize artists who are on the brink of realizing broader creative careers and prepared to take greater risks. Each artist receives a grant of $50,000.

... It was in 1899 that Scott Joplin composed and published his most famous piece, The Maple Leaf Rag, which became the first piece of American music to sell more than 1 million copies? This year's annual Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival, in Sedalia, Mo., celebrates the 100th anniversary of the rag from May 31 to June 6. Festivities include performances by ragtime musicians Reginald Robinson, Bo Grumpus, Max Morath, the St. Louis Ragtimers and the Turpin Tyme Ragsters; tours of Joplin historic sites; dance lessons; a music symposium; and silent movie showings. For more information, call (800) 827-5295, or visit www.scottjoplin.org on the World Wide Web.

... Noted artist and art historian Samella Lewis has donated her collection of Richmond Barthe sculptures and memorabilia to Hampton University? She accumulated the materials while working closely with Barthe over a 10-year period, and she plans to publish a book on his life and work later this year. Barthe (1901-1989) worked primarily in clay and bronze, creating classical sculptures that are dominated by sensual depictions of the human figure.

... Attorney Johnnie Cochran and art historian and curator Debra van der Burg Spencer have created a charity to advance the careers of black visual artists? The Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. Art Fund, based in New York City, has awarded its first annual grants, totaling $50,000, to painter and sculptor Elizabeth Catlett, painter Radcliffe Bailey and sculptor Chakaia Booker. The fund will work in tandem with its partners--Howard University, Hampton University and the San Francisco Fine Arts Museums--to promote the collection and exhibition of these artists' works.