“Black-ish” creator and “Girls Trip” writer Kenya Barris will be honored with the 2019 Visionary Award from the Producers Guild of America (PGA), the organization announced on Thursday.
Barris will accept the award at the 30th Annual Producers Guild Awards presented by General Motors on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2018 at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles.
Previous recipients of the award include producer and director Ava DuVernay, the team from Plan B Entertainment of Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, producer and founder of Illumination Entertainment Chris Meledandri, producer Laura Ziskin and Participant Media’s Jeff Skoll.
Barris joins previously announced honoree Toby Emmerich, who will receive the guild’s Milestone Award.
The Producers Guild Visionary Award recognizes television, film, or new media producers for inspiring storytelling of unique and uplifting vision or quality to our culture. The Producers Guild 2019 Visionary Award is sponsored by Delta Air Lines.
“Kenya Barris is simply a fearless producer,” said PGA Presidents Gail Berman and Lucy Fisher in a statement. “Time and again, Kenya has stepped up to tackle the difficult conversations, from the ones we have as families at the kitchen table to the ones we have as colleagues in company boardrooms and network offices. These are challenging days for many of us, but Kenya’s unique voice — honest, passionate and so very funny — has been one of our industry’s strongest antidotes to ignorance and intolerance. We are gratified to recognize his inspiring work with the Visionary Award.”