N. SCOTT MOMADAY

Mitchell has received honorary membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and Tan and Momaday were named general members. (AP Photo) (Uncredited)NEW YORK — (AP) — Joni Mitchell's latest honor finds her in company with some giants from other fields. The celebrated singer-songwriter and musician has received honorary membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the venerable institution based in Upper Manhattan where general inductees have ranged from Henry James and Hannah Arendt to Dizzy Gillespie and Jasper Johns. "Thank you for including me.”On Thursday, the academy announced 18 new general members, voted in by the current membership. In music, the new members besides Lockwood are Pulitzer winning composers John Luther Adams and Jennifer Higdon and two-time Grammy nominee Christopher Theofanidis.

Joni Mitchell has received honorary membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the century old institution where general inductees have ranged from Henry James and Georgia O’Keeffe to Sonny Rollins and Jasper Johns.

(AP Photo)NEW YORK – One of the country's oldest cultural instititutions, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, is undergoing some of its biggest changes in more than a century. AdHarjo, the first Native American to be appointed U.S. poet laureate, said she looked forward to having an influence on future academy choices. “There are so many incredible Native visual artists,” she told the AP, while also citing such authors as N. Scott Momaday and Leslie Marmon Silko. But the academy will still call itself an academy, while working to make itself more accessible to artists and to the general public. Besides choosing members, the academy also gives dozens of prizes and grants each year, totalling more than $1 million.