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
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
