Awards & Recognition

First Lady Michelle Obama presents The National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award to Artists Collective student Lauren Horn and Founding Executive Director Dollie McLean at the White House.
  • 2022 Connecticut Office of the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award: Dollie McLean
  • 2019 Voices of Women of Color Trailblazer Award: Dollie McLean
  • 2018 Community Healing Network of New Haven Community Healer Award: Dollie McLean
  • 2010 The President’s Committee on Arts & Humanities National Arts & Humanities Youth Award
  • 2007 Jazz House Kids Jazz Legacy Award:
    Jackie McLean
  • 2007 University of Hartford Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts: Dollie McLean
  • 2007 University of Hartford Honorary Doctorate of Music: Jackie McLean (posthumous)
  • 2006 National Association of Negro Business Women’s Club Meritorious Service Award: Associate Director Cheryl Smith
  • 2006 Jazz Journalists Association “A” Team Award for Advocacy: Dollie McLean
  • 2006 Women Organizing, Mobilizing and Building (WOMB) Destiny Encouragement Award:
    Dollie McLean
  • 2005 Boy Scouts of America Whitney M. Young Award: Jackie McLean & Dollie McLean
  • 2004 Bank of America Neighborhood Excellence Neighborhood Builder Award
  • 2004 Leadership Greater Hartford Polaris Award for Arts & Culture Awarded to Jackie McLean & Dollie McLean
  • 2004 Urban League Community Service Award Awarded to Dollie McLean
  • 2004 Neighborhood Legends Award Blue Hills Neighborhood Organizations: Jackie McLean &
    Dollie McLean
  • 2003 Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Sojourner Truth Social Activism Award Founding Executive Director Dollie McLean
  • 2003 Department of Children and Families Award for Dedicated Service to Connecticut’s Children and Families
  • 2003 Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame Inductee Founding Executive Director Dollie McLean
  • 2002 Hartford County Bar Association – Liberty Bell Award for commitment to promoting the arts and culture to the youth of Hartford county mission of the Collective to develop professional artists
  • 1999 Visited by President Clinton, who addressed local business and community leaders about private/public cooperation in economic development and highlighted the Artists Collective’s new facility as a prime example of urban development
  • 1998 Essence Magazine – Excellence in serving the youth of Hartford
  • 1998 Trinity College – Honorary Doctorates Jackie McLean (Music), Dollie McLean (Arts & Letters)
  • 1996 Connecticut State Register and Manual: Artists Collective founders Dollie McLean and
    Jackie McLean were honored for a lifetime of achievement
  • 1991 Cited by Harvard University’s Project Co-Arts as one of six exemplary community art centers in the nation and included in the Safe Haven Report published by Harvard University
  • 1983 State of Connecticut Arts Award for service and excellence in the arts Awarded to
    Jackie McLean
  • 1980 State of Connecticut Arts Award for service and excellence in the arts
  • Selected as one of 20 national jazz network sites to receive a special grant through the Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Fund for the support of jazz programs
  • Selected as one of 12 organizations nationwide to participate in JazzNet, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts and administered by the Non-Profit Finance Fund to support jazz programming