2010–Present
| 2019 | Jenny Holzer, Artist |
| 2017 | Steve Coleman, Composer, Saxophonist, and Educator |
| 2016 | Kerry James Marshall, Artist |
| 2015 | Ashley Wheater, Artistic Director, The Joffrey Ballet |
| 2014 | Josephine Lee, President and Artistic Director, Chicago Children's Choir |
| 2013 | Jeanne K. Gang, Principal and Founder, Studio Gang Architects |
| 2012 | Anne Bogart, Co-founder and Artistic Director of SITI Company |
2000-2009
| 2010 | Earl Von Freeman, Sr., Tenor Saxophonist and National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master |
| 2006 | William Kentridge, South African Artist |
1990–1999
| 1999 | Frederick Wiseman |
| 1998 | Pierre Boulez |
| 1992 | Sir Georg Solti |
| 1991 | Toni Morrison |
1980-1989
No award recipients.
1970–1979
| 1977 | J. Irwin Miller |
| 1975 | Yehudi Menuhin |
| 1973 | Members of the Juilliard String Quartet: Claus Adam, Earl Carlyss, Robert Mann, Samuel Rhodes |
| Carol Fox | |
| Paul Fromm | |
| Gerard Piel | |
| Joseph Randall Shapiro | |
| 1971 | Edward G. Begle |
| Crawford Hallock Greenewalt | |
| Robert M. White | |
| 1970 | Edward Pendleton Herring |
| Harold Joachim | |
| Ralph Winfred Tyler |
1960–1969
| 1969 | Frank Miller |
| 1968 | Lowell T. Coggeshall |
| Morris Fishbein | |
| John Schoff Millis | |
| John McFarlane Russell | |
| James A. Shannon | |
| 1964 | Howard H. Claassen |
| John G. Malm | |
| Henry H. Selig | |
| 1963 | Lenox Riley Lohr |
| 1961 | George Carol DeHevsey |
1950–1951
| 1959 | Edwin G. Nourse |
| 1955 | Marshall Field |
| 1953 | Fred K. Hoehler |
| 1951 | Maurice Goldblatt |
1940–1941
| 1948 | Paul Gray Hoffman |
| 1942 | Katharine Fredrica Lenroot |
| 1941 | Frederick A. Stock |
| 1940 | Thomas Edward Wilson |
1930–1939
| 1938 | Wendell Meredith Stanley |
| 1934 | Dr. Joseph B. DeLee |
| 1932 | Edward L. Ryerson, Jr. |
| 1931 | Salmon Oliver Levinson |
1920–1929
| 1929 | James Henry Breasted |
| 1924 | Frederick Grant Banting |
