Released on: May 23, 2008, 12:47 am

Press Release Author: Cintas Foundation

Industry: Non Profit

Press Release Summary: Winner for the 2008 Emilio Sánchez Award in the Visual Arts

Press Release Body: Miami, Fla. (May 21, 2008) - The Board of Directors of the
Cintas Foundation has announced Ernesto Oroza as the winner of the 2008 Cintas
Foundation Emilio Sánchez Award in Visual Arts.

Ernesto Oroza attended the Higher Institute of Design in Havana, Cuba. His BA in
Industrial Design is reflected in his highly architectural work, which ranges from
objects to installations, in various types of innovative media. Oroza recently
received the Guggenheim Fellowship (2007) for film and an artist's book.

"We congratulate Ernesto Oroza on being selected and wish him continued success,"
said Cintas Foundation President Hortensia E. Sampedro. "And we express our sincere
appreciation to this year's jury for their work with a very competitive field of
applicants."

The 2008 jury for this prestigious award included: Anne Ellegood, curator, Hirshhorn
Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.; Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, chief curator,
Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Miami; Dr. Paula Harper, art historian and
critic, Miami, and Yasmil Raymond, assistant curator, Walker Art Center,
Minneapolis.

The awards were established with funds from the estate of the late Oscar B. Cintas
(b. Sagua La Grande, Cuba, 1887 - d. New York City, 1957), a prominent Cuban
industrialist and patron of the arts. Since 1963, the Cintas Foundation has awarded
more than 300 fellowships to artists of Cuban lineage who reside outside of Cuba.

The award has been granted to many artists who have gone on to play an influential
role in the development of their disciplines. Past recipients include painter José
Bedia, installation artist Teresita Fernández, sculptor Maria Elena Gonzales and the
late painter Carlos Alfonzo, among many others. The award carries a $15,000 cash
prize funded by the Emilio Sánchez Foundation, which is used by the winner to
further his or her creative development.

The selection program is administered by the Cintas Foundation Board and the Cintas
Fellows Program at The Patricia & Philip Frost Art Museum at Florida International
University. For more information about the Cintas Foundation and past fellows and
about The Frost Art Museum at FIU, please visit the websites,
www.cintasfoundation.org and www.frostartmuseum.org or call 305-348-2890.


Web Site: http://www.cintasfoundation.org

Contact Details: Cintas Foundation
Suite 3309
1301 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY, 10019
For immediate release
Media contact: Kitty Dumas
305-348-3892 / kdumas@fiu.edu