LIBERATUM PRESENTS JOHN HURT CBE WITH ITS PRESTIGIOUS CULTURAL HONOUR
In association with artist and sculptor Svetlana K-Lié who has created the Liberatum
Cultural Honour Award

Partners include W London, Spice Market, Ruta 40 and Aesop

Global cultural diplomacy organisation Liberatum has awarded veteran British actor John Hurt CBE its prestigious annual Cultural Honour for his contribution to cinema at a glittering gala reception and dinner at London’s W Hotel and Spice Market attended by leading figures from the worlds of art, film, music, theatre, media, literature and fashion. The Liberatum Cultural Honour was presented to John Hurt by founder Pablo Ganguli, in association with artist and sculptor Svetlana K-Lié, who has created the award. Partners include W London, Spice Market, Ruta 40 and Aesop.

Liberatum founder Pablo Ganguli comments, ”John Hurt is one of Britain’s finest cultural minds. His incredible voice, which is instantly recognisable, and his magnificent talent in acting have given us countless memorable films to fall in love with over and over again. Liberatum also applauds his work in supporting Amnesty International’s extremely important causes and promoting human rights. We pay tribute to a great cultural figure.”

Previous recipients of the Liberatum Annual Cultural Honour include Gore Vidal, Sir VS Naipaul, Terry Gilliam, Sir Peter Blake, Marianne Faithfull and Dame Zaha Hadid.

The event was attended by guests including Steven Berkoff, Antony Beevor, Sir VS Naipaul, Stephen Frears, Amanda Nevill, Ron Arad, Pam Hogg, Hanif Kureishi, Gavin Turk, Geordie Greig, Christopher Hampton, Sir Norman Rosenthal, Alan Yentob, Billy Zane, and Bill Wyman. The evening began with John Hurt and director Richard Kwietniowski introducing a screening of Love and Death in Long Island to a select group of Liberatum fans who had applied for a place at the exclusive W Hotel screening. Celebrations then continued with cocktails in the Library Bar at W, followed by a private dinner at Spice Market restaurant.

John Hurt has enjoyed a celebrated film career spanning six decades and is considered one of Britain’s most cherished and versatile actors. His credits include leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York, and Caligula in I, Claudius. Further film highlights include Midnight Express, Alien, the Harry Potter series and the recent adaptation of Le Carre’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Hurt has also worked extensively in theatre and television. He is the recipient of two Academy Award nominations, a Golden Globe Award and four BAFTA Awards including a BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award and was awarded a CBE in 2004 for services to drama.

Founded by Pablo Ganguli in 2001, Liberatum’s highlights in the last thirteen years include the creation of incredible multidisciplinary festivals around the world in cities including Hong Kong, Istanbul, Moscow and Berlin with diverse talents from Pharrell Williams to Tilda Swinton, Wole Soyinka to Carmen Dell’Orefice and Kirsten Dunst, presenting James Franco’s Rebel exhibition in Venice, holding museum management workshops with V&A Museum in Papua New Guinea and Fiji, staging inspiring talks during Istanbul’s year as the European Capital of Culture between Nobel Laureate Sir VS Naipaul and Vogue Italia editor Franca Sozzani, collaborating with Valery Gergiev and Thomas Ades on opera and orchestra performances in Saint Petersburg at the Mariinsky, promoting arts and literature in New Delhi and Mumbai with participants such as Goldie Hawn and Clare Short.

Svetlana K-Lié
Liberatum collaborator Svetlana K-Lié was born in Moscow where she graduated with a MA from the faculty of applied arts completed by additional studies at the renowned I.I. Nivinsky Etching Art Studio and Babushkinski Ceramic Studio. In 2007 she graduated from the Camberwell College of Arts London with a second MA in Drawing. Svetlana’s work has been exhibited in leading museums of Moscow and St. Petersburg as well as in the Saatchi Gallery in London. She was awarded the title of best woman sculptor of Russia in 2004, best young sculptor of Russia in 2005 and was commissioned by the Third Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art in 2009. Two of her works were selected by the Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg and many of them are in prestigious private collections. Most recently, in 2010, she won runner up in the Best Sculpture category at the Battle Contemporary Fine Art Fair as well as the 3rd prize of the RK Harrison Prizes for Art Photography at the National Open Art Competition. K-Lié and Liberatum first collaborated for the 2009 Liberatum festival in Moscow followed by a further collaboration at Liberatum Hong Kong in 2012. K-Lié has created the Liberatum Annual Cultural Honour Award sculpture for Liberatum in 2013. www.svetlanarts.com

About W Hotels Worldwide
W Hotels is a contemporary, design-led lifestyle brand and the industry innovator with 43 hotels and retreats, including 15 W-branded residences, in the most vibrant cities and exotic destinations around the world. Inspiring, iconic, innovative and influential, W Hotels provides the ultimate in insider access, offering a unique mix of cutting-edge design and passions around fashion, music and entertainment. W Hotels offers a holistic lifestyle experience that is integrated into the brand’s sensibility through contemporary restaurant concepts, glamorous entertainment experiences, stylish retail concepts, signature spas and inspiring residences. With more than 13 years of proven success, W Hotels is on track to reach 60 hotels by the end of 2015. W Hotels have been announced for Bangkok, Guangzhou, Milan, Shanghai, Beijing, Bogota, Abu Dhabi, Mumbai, Dubai, Jakarta, Panama, Muscat, and Sante Fe, Mexico, while upcoming W Retreats include Verbier, Goa, and Mexico’s Riviera Maya. For more information, visit www.whotels.com. To live the W Hotels lifestyle 24/7/365, visit www.wresidences.com. Follow @WHotels on Twitter.

About Culinary Concepts Hospitality Group
Culinary Concepts Hospitality Group (CCHG) is a New York City-based restaurant management group which operates and licenses internationally-acclaimed restaurant brands such as Spice Market, J&G Steakhouse, Market, and J&G Grill, each of which was created by Michelin-starred chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Additionally, CCHG has several concepts in various stages of development to be launched within the next two years. The first Cook Hall, a modern American gastropub debuted in the W Dallas-Victory in October 2012. CCHG operates many of its restaurants in partnership with Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

Existing properties include Kauai Grill at the St. Regis Princeville Resort; J&G Grill at St. Regis Hotels in Deer Valley, Bal Harbour and Mexico City; Spice Markets in New York City and at W Hotel locations in Doha, Atlanta-Midtown and London; Lagoon at the St. Regis Bora Bora; J&G Steakhouse at the Phoenician, Scottsdale and W Washington DC; Market at W Boston, W Doha and the Shangri-La Vancouver; Cook Hall at W Dallas-Victory and W Atlanta-Buckhead; and Fern at the St. Regis Bahia Beach, Puerto Rico. www.culinaryconcepts.com

Photo courtesy of Electric Egg