Hello John,

America is great in no small part because she is beautiful....

To truly renew our national, civic, and cultural identity as Americans, we must preserve and promote the aesthetic ideals that have defined our heritage-rich and illustrious country.

That's why you're invited to ISI's 18th Annual Gala for Western Civilization on May 2, 2025 at our Linda L. Bean Center, to celebrate our theme: Beauty Will Save America.

In addition to a keynote address from American poet Dana Gioia, who will be receiving our Charles H. Hoeflich Lifetime Achievement Award, we will also be honoring world-renowned artist Jamie Wyeth with the Linda L. Bean Prize for Advancing American Art & Culture. Jamie has devoted his career to promoting the highest standards of beauty and artistic achievement in our culture—making him the perfect recipient for our inaugural award. ​​​​
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A celebrated contemporary realist painter, Jamie Wyeth is also a third-generation artist and member of a famed American artistic dynasty. Though many of his works reflect the eternal beauty of the Maine landscape or the enduring dignity of domestic animals and wildlife, others are intensely of their time, depicting important individuals and cultural events in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. 
 
Included among these are portraits of political and entertainment figures, including President John F. Kennedy, Rudolf Nureyev, Andy Warhol, and Arnold Schwarzenegger; charcoal drawings that documented the unfolding drama of the Senate Watergate hearings; and pictorial reporting of NASA space launches and landings.

For Learning and Leadership,

John A. Burtka IV​