What is American Academy of Arts and Letters?
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2020}} [[File:WTM NewYorkDolls 011.jpg|thumb|right|Audubon Terrace, the campus that the academy shares]] The '''American Academy of Arts and Letters''' is a 250-member honor society. Its goal is to support excellence in [[American literature]], [[Music of the United States|music]], and [[Visual art of the United States|art]]. It is in the [[Washington Heights, Manhattan|Washington Heights]] neighborhood of [[Manhattan]] in [[New York City]]. It is in [[Audubon Terrace]] on [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] between [[155th Street (Manhattan)|West 155th]] and [[List of numbered streets in Manhattan|156th]] Streets, with the [[Hispanic Society of America]] and [[Boricua College]]. The academy's galleries are open to the public. Exhibits include paintings, sculptures, photographs and works on paper from contemporary artists chosen by its members. Also works by newly elected members and award winners are shown. A permanent exhibit of the recreated studio of composer [[Charles Ives]] was opened in 2014.<ref>{{cite web|title=The American Academy Of Arts And Letters Announces The Opening Of The Charles Ives Studio|url=http://artsandletters.org/press_releases/2014studio.php|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Letters|access-date=March 31, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402131013/http://artsandletters.org/press_releases/2014studio.php|archive-date=April 2, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> Musicians and engineers like to record live there because the acoustics are among the city's finest. Hundreds of commercial recordings have been made there.<ref>[[John Updike]], ed. ''A Century of Arts & Letters'', Columbia University Press (1998), p. 263.</ref><ref>Barbara S. Christen and Steven Flanders, eds. ''Cass Gilbert, Life and Work: Architect of the Public Domain'', W. W. Norton and Company (2001), p. 12.</ref> == Membership == Members are chosen for life. They have been some of the leading people in American art. Members are in committees that give annual prizes to help new arti