Excerpt from www.aftra.com:
Veteran union member actor/artist CCH Pounder (Tri-Union honoree) is being honored for her global work with Artists for a New South Africa and her support of HIV/AIDS awareness programs; writer/producer Yvette Lee Bowser (AFTRA honoree), the first African-American woman to develop her own primetime television shows, Living Single, and later Half & Half, which were produced under AFTRA contracts, among other producing and writing credits, is being recognized for the success of her shows in encouraging a generation of young adults to reach their full potential and achieve their goals; Deaf West Theatre Company (AEA honoree) was selected in recognition of its work to re-conceive outdated definitions of deaf artists; Scheduled performances include actress/dancer Zina Bethune and wheelchair artist Lindsay Berkovitz in a signature work from Bethune TheatreDanse actors; Shoshannah Stern and Matt Jaeger; America’s Got Talent semi-finalist Hannibal Means; and performer Mylo Ironbear; Kal Penn (SAG honoree) will be recognized for his groundbreaking achievements as a pioneering Indian American actor in film and television, and also for his diverse advocacy work as a documentary filmmaker focused on malaria eradication in Ethiopia, his service on an advocacy Board of the American Red Cross, and his recently wrapped post as President Barack Obama’s Associate Director of Public Engagement, where he served as liaison to the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.
The Ivy Awards were named in honor of actress Ivy Bethune, a veteran member of all three unions who has devoted more than 80 years of her life to civil rights activism and equal opportunity rights. Honorees are selected by a committee of members from each of the three unions.