Selena Gomez will receive the Arts Award during the 33rd Hispanic Heritage Awards, which will air Oct. 6 on PBS stations and streamed on PBS.org.
At the same ceremony, Bad Bunny will receive the Vision Award, as previously announced, and actress Jessica Alba will receive the Business Award for her entrepreneurial and philanthropic activities.
Because of COVID-19 restrictions, there will not be a live ceremony. The PBS special will feature filmed performances from across the U.S. and Latin America.
The awards were created by the White House in 1987 and commemorate the establishment of Hispanic Heritage Month in the U.S.
Jose Antonio Tijerino, president and CEO of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, said in a statement that he is “thrilled to recognize Selena Gomez with the Arts Award for her impact on American and global culture through her music [and] movies but also for her courage as an advocate for mental health.”
In April of this year, Gomez revealed that she has bipolar disorder. She has discussed her condition in several interviews.
In his statement, Tijerino praised Gomez’s courage in opening up about her mental health challenges. “There’s power in vulnerability and Selena has made it okay to talk about difficult issues we all deal with, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Selena is a role model for so many for so many reasons.”
Gomez, 28, has been a pop star for more than a decade, first as the leader of Selena Gomez & the Scene, and since 2013 as a solo artist. All three of her solo studio albums, Stars Dance, Revival and Rare, have reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200. In November 2019, “Lose You to Love Me” became her first No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100.
Remarkably, Gomez has yet to be nominated for a Grammy. That could change when the nominations for the 63rd annual Grammy Awards are announced later this year.
